Morning Chore

This morning we began setting up our work station so we could butcher some of the roosters. I normally prefer to do this in the fall when the weather is cool but our poor hens were having a hard time with the roosters constantly bothering them. Normally we pluck the feathers off the birds while dry but this time we decided to dip them in hot water first. Several years ago we would dunk the birds but I never liked how the meat on the neck would begin to cook so we stopped doing it this way.
It's so much faster removing the feathers after the dipping; the time saved more than makes up for the gross looking cooked neck meat.

And I love how smooth and clean the bird looks once all the feathers are gone and it's nice not having the skin tear which happens often when plucking a dry bird.

One of today's roosters was our old mean one; just look at how big his spurs are! I will be cooking him in the pressure cooker tomorrow.

We are getting better and faster at butchering chickens. It's not my favorite thing to do but I am very pleased at how much we have learned and how much easier it's getting.