Monday
Jul142008
Oops... and then there were 34
Monday, July 14, 2008 at 8:50PM
"Oops" is the "G" rated version of the word that came out of my mouth this morning at 5:35am as I was moving the chicken pen and the dolly got caught in a hole and the pen came crashing down on top of a hen. I'm a little bigger than her - and I wouldn't want all that weight falling on my foot - much less my back - like her.
After the expletive and panic, a sliver of grief stuck my heart I scrambled around the pen in my tall black rubber boots - watching her and thinking all was lost. Thinking I had somehow failed all the chickens by putting all their clucking lives in danger. Thinking this was a terrible accident that would surely be in the news tonight.
I quickly and lifted the end with the dolly back up with my new found super-human strength - and - she flopped out of the way. It was clear her days remaining had just become minutes.
I suppose if she was a pet - this would have been followed by a frantic call to the vet and a race to save her and big medical bills... but... she's not a pet - and accidents do happen on a farm.
So - it was without further ado that the scalding pot was heated - the plucker was christened as I launched into my first throat slitting (mercy killing), evisceration - harvest. All these weeks of planning and preparation - all in a single slip of a dolly wheel - demonstrated how the best laid plans in life are often not worth a lot... it also demonstrated how fragile life is - and at any second - your would can quite literally come crashing down on you. (and to a significant degree that the boy Scout motto - "Be Prepared" - is a really good one)
The short version of the sobering slaughter is this - until you look an animal in its eye as you take it's life with the sole intent of sustaining your own - in a very different manner than all the kills I've had when hunting from afar. When you quite literally see and feel the life drain out of an animal - your connection with the earth and your food - and your place in that web is never so clear as that very moment. It's powerful, humbling, grotesque and invigorating all at once.
The torment and majesty of the experience aside - all said and done - the process is quite obviously nearly pain-free for the bird (I'm sure the pen accident was far worse) - and from the live state to a chicken that looks like something from the store was all of 5 minutes (including killing, bleeding, scalding, plucking, and butchering). She weighs in posthumously at 4.5 pounds.
After the expletive and panic, a sliver of grief stuck my heart I scrambled around the pen in my tall black rubber boots - watching her and thinking all was lost. Thinking I had somehow failed all the chickens by putting all their clucking lives in danger. Thinking this was a terrible accident that would surely be in the news tonight.
I quickly and lifted the end with the dolly back up with my new found super-human strength - and - she flopped out of the way. It was clear her days remaining had just become minutes.
I suppose if she was a pet - this would have been followed by a frantic call to the vet and a race to save her and big medical bills... but... she's not a pet - and accidents do happen on a farm.
So - it was without further ado that the scalding pot was heated - the plucker was christened as I launched into my first throat slitting (mercy killing), evisceration - harvest. All these weeks of planning and preparation - all in a single slip of a dolly wheel - demonstrated how the best laid plans in life are often not worth a lot... it also demonstrated how fragile life is - and at any second - your would can quite literally come crashing down on you. (and to a significant degree that the boy Scout motto - "Be Prepared" - is a really good one)
The short version of the sobering slaughter is this - until you look an animal in its eye as you take it's life with the sole intent of sustaining your own - in a very different manner than all the kills I've had when hunting from afar. When you quite literally see and feel the life drain out of an animal - your connection with the earth and your food - and your place in that web is never so clear as that very moment. It's powerful, humbling, grotesque and invigorating all at once.
The torment and majesty of the experience aside - all said and done - the process is quite obviously nearly pain-free for the bird (I'm sure the pen accident was far worse) - and from the live state to a chicken that looks like something from the store was all of 5 minutes (including killing, bleeding, scalding, plucking, and butchering). She weighs in posthumously at 4.5 pounds.
Reader Comments (7)
Aw... but then you needed a dry run to practice the larger operation that will soon commence. Better than practicing or a rubber chicken. At least this way you can dine on the results of your practice run.
That's very true - it did highlight some bugs in the process - need higher work surfaces, need stronger cones, and it showed all the equipment does work as expected.
As for the chicken - that certainly will be dinner sometime soon!
May he/she rest in piece(s). (Breast, thigh, wings, etc)
Meme - now that's funny!
Hi, I am a friend of Jeph's from work and have been following your blog for about a month now. Yesterday must have just been a bad day for chickens. My husband and I got some a week ago and we we lost a chick yesterday because we let it get to hot in the brooder.
I have really enjoyed reading about your adventures with chickens. It gives me hope!
vj - Welcome to Chicken Thistle Farm - it's always great to have another face revealed from the numbers of visitors I see each day who stop by to read!
And welcome to the world of chickens - they are a little work but well worth it!
If I can ever offer assistance - or if you have a chicken emergency - I'm right here for your help.
VJ - What Andy's saying is he'll be happy to run all his chicken slaughtering/cleaning gear down here to help on your big day. He's always offering to come take care of my "deer problem" in the backyard - either with gun, or bow and arrow, I'm not sure.
Andy - Sorry to hear about the accidental loss. I'm sure you'd rather have the killing under much more controlled conditions, but as you said, at least you were well prepared!