Sunday, August 22, 2010

FIRST MEAT HARVEST

We (J and I since he did most of the work) decided to harvest one of the chickens last night.

We picked the largest bird, weight it at 4 pounds. Bigger than I thought.



He really wanted to do the killing part so I let him. We had the water ready and dunked it for 10 seconds.

As it was over 100 degrees outside I decided to process in the kitchen. The feathers came off easily with only a few stragglers.



PS...I don't take chances. Everything was wiped down with soapy bleach water when I was done.

I cooked the gizzard, liver, heart for cat food and my cat did not appreciated it at all so I will be giving the innards to the dog. He on the other hand made short work of 100% of the leftovers...head and feet included.

I cooked the neck and back/rib section into a rich broth and got almost a quart. That is in the freezer.

J and I cooked the meat on the grill without any seasonings. I wanted to taste what it really tastes like before beginning to use marinades, bbq sauses etc.



A little rice and harvard beets and we had an amazing meal.



Now...had I not had a hungry 14 yr old boy with me....this 4# bird which dressed out to 3#....would have provided me with 5 meals...2 leg/thigh combos, 2 breasts and broth for soup. And actually the soup or rice if that is what I used it to cook with, would probably provide 2-3 meals. I am very impressed.

I will be harvesting the rest next saturday and will prep for the next 50 birds.

50 birds = 200 meat servings and 50 qt of broth or 100 pints
9 remaining birds = 36 meat servings and 18 pints of broth

If I am assuming that I want a serving of meat every evening of the year, that is 363servings...not counting the feast days.

With a breeding trio of rabbits I will easily be able to provide all of the meat I want on my own. This is a very good thing.

2 comments:

Faith said...

ah, some of your cornish rocks? Seems I remember reading you lost some due to heart failure. That happens pretty frequently.

I envy your bird and rabbit production!

~Faith

Tracy Bruring said...

No envy Faith! Remember you and I are in the position to live our dreams....we just have to take it 1 step at a time!