In two days. 20 broilers. 2 girls.

These are “buffer” photos for those who would prefer not to see the blood involved in transferring chicken from pasture to freezer. We did have our first salads this past weekend. Amazingly yum.

We love our chickens. We both carry them down to the “lick log.” I create the kill sack. Michael beheads them. We started early in the morning Saturday, racing rain.

We had all chickens hanging and started the plucking/gutting process both Saturday and Sunday before our children arrived. Sunday we tried to beat the heat (and flies). Successfully.

Saturday the only Grand in attendance was the one dependent on her mama for sustenance. I got to introduce her to the Cresap mania for word puzzles between outside and inside processes. Always good to rest a bit between times.

They are beautiful: excellent at transforming feed to protein while still keeping their individuality. We love our birds.

Chickens breathe without benefit of a diaphragm. Their lungs are attached to their ribs instead. It makes removing them from the carcass a challenge. Amazing to have such perfect specimens. Marvelous!

This is what 40 pounds of chicken parts look like. Those are soup bones in the far bowl. The extra 2+ pounds were from hearts and gizzards (for making sausages) and livers (which neither of our girls like).

But we do! We have 14 more broilers to do in. We will package 10 soonish, letting the smaller ones grow a bit while it rains. We got an inch today. More rain due tomorrow. Four will grow up to the ten pound range, graciously providing holiday dinners. We have some Speckled Sussex to process as well. They will weigh half as much in twice the time, but will be delicious in a slow food kind of way. We love our birds.