Thanks for watching! Here's my How to Butcher a Chicken blog post with more details on the whole process; www.theprairiehomestead.com/2016/07/how-to-butcher-a-chicken.html
Totally off the chicken subject but on the subject of meat for the freezer. Listening to your podcast on grass/grain finished beef. As a ranch wife in Central Oregon I have to thank you for getting the right info out there. I personally like grain finished better myself in the way of steaks but grass finished hamburger is pretty good. And hang time! Longer the better!
I love your videos, they're so helpful and enjoyable. I like your modest genuine manner and your honesty with a topic that is not easy for you. My only concern is children being so close to a red hot water tank that could topple over onto their bodies and feet. When I see children in dangerous situations, it makes my stomach knot up and I hope that others watching won't copy or think it's safe to do. I'd keep them well out of harms way (at least a few feet away) so they can watch but if it toppled over, no harm to them. I mean this with goodness, not rudeness. God bless your lovely family. Long may you continue with this wonderful channel.
Exactly. I use to work for a lady that would always say how horrible my family was because we butchered our animals instead of getting them at the grocery store. I tried to explain the whole grocery store process to her, but she would not listen. To her the meat just came from the magical room in the grocery store.
Amen! That is one of our greatest blessings is that we are able to show our grandchildren are able to have a relationship to their food. They know that it takes time, energy and in some cases, such as our chickens and goats - an emotional attachment to our food. We honor our food because we cared for it and invested ourselves in the food we eat. Most people today have no appreciation for where their food came. If you get a chance, check out our small family farm channel and consider subscribing! Thanks.
My grandson was about 4 when he was over and asked for some milk. I poured a glass, he took a drink and asked for the other milk. I asked 'what other milk'. He said 'you know, the kind we drink. It comes from a cow.' Kids that grow up in the country have a different outlook. 😄
I personally think, for myself (don't come at me), if I want to eat meat, I have to be willing to take that life to do so. You gain a certain appreciation for your food when you grow it yourself. That goes double for when you raise your own meat. And those birds had such a happy life, much happier than at Perdue or Tyson
Veronica, most things we eat, is alive. If cut a tomato in half, eat one half and pant the other, the tomato will grow... Rice, beans, even water is alive...
Nah broyler chickens grow to fast for their body to handle so they wont have a good life unless they are carefully taken care of and they ended up getting brutally killed so no not a good life
As a vegetarian (my husband isn’t), I love how tasteful and humane you made this video. We are trying to educate ourselves on homesteading for our future and sustainable living so this was very educational! Thank you! ❤️
I dont know if I could do it. We started raising egg chickens last year and they are like family members....The guinea hens on the other hand :P, there would be no problem...
I don’t often comment on videos but your message is very necessary for the community. In today’s “cancel culture” posting this is an act of courage becoming rarer by the day. Today as I have my morning coffee and catch up on the latest postings my own family is preparing for butcher day. Thank you for your message and let’s keep moving forward for our families and world.
I eat meat. If you ever watched how a factory processes 12500 chickens an hour, your method is so much more humane. Plants have their own way of screaming, we just can't hear them like animals. So, I don't think vegans are morally better than meat eaters. We have to eat to survive. As one homesteader put it, all his animals have a very wonderful life with just one really bad day. Nature isn't as kind as that.
Homestead animals have an amazing life with every day better than any day of most animals raised for commercial purposes. As for that bad part, there's not one of us getting out of this alive, and we can only hope for that we have the few brief bad seconds that one of these homesteader animals has.
I’m really glad that even though people push back on these videos, you continue to post them. It’s good for people to understand where their food comes from.
You are great parents for involving your children in the process of harvesting your chickens. You are so patient as you teach about the chicken parts and then let the kids help clean out the birds. You are a wonderful family and a huge blessing.
When you harvest your own animals I believe you gain a more humble respect for the life that was taken. Thank you for making this video, very informative.
Just listened to your podcast about ditching AMAZON & truly loved it ! You are spot on ! I remember when Home Depot made its debut and so many local mom & pop hardware stores lost their livelihood , was a turning point in our society of instant gratification that we live in now . So sad to see that all die away .... also appreciated your finding local food information . Thank you !!
This is so timely to read your comment. I'm in Australia and for a raft of reasons have decided to boycott our big box hardware store. I didn't like it when they squeezed out the mom and pop hardware stores, but we have accepted this as inevitable for so long.
I didn't mean to make someone angry a few weeks ago but I did. They said Amazon destroyed small businesses, and I said no you did, not you specifically but you know YOU, when you started buying on Amazon. Amazon provided what you needed and you used them. If it is so important to you to buy local then you should and better yet, supporting your local community will bring local community prices back down. Then you need to go back to buying from your local community.
Thanks for the video. I did cry a little, but I was determined to watch because I like meat. I'm thankful it was tastefully done. I loved the kids being involved and the way they handled it. I don't know if I could do it but grateful that you guys can.
When kids grow up with it, they understand that it's just part of life. Most people live their entire lives in a bubble that protects them from that which keeps their bubble in tact.
We have this discussion with folks almost daily! Folks are so removed from where our food comes from. It's so sad how many people tell us that we shouldn't name or love our animals if we plan to eat them. There is just so little appreciation for the life it cost for us to eat. We love each of our animals and strive to give them the BEST life possible. It's hard when processing day comes around, but we honor and appreciate that sacrifice like most folks would never understand. Thank you for bringing awareness to this and teaching your little ones to carry the tradition!
So glad I grew up on a farm. The man in this video scalded the chicken in order to soften the flesh for plucking. Dad and our neighbors did that with our hog in a 55 Gallon drum heated over a rip-roaring fire. Also Dad and my Grandfather made steers out of our bull calves by removing their gonads. All of us kids watching oblivious to what was actually happening until that moment of understanding years later. Life is what you miss out on when you live in the city. I once had an argument with a playmate that cows can also have horns. He wouldn't believe me, but when a cow doesn't have horns, it could be they should have, but had their horn buds cut off when they were very small heifers. I helped with that on the farm too.
Not only do you know where your animals are raised and what they eat, but they are 10 times tastier and 100 time more healthy for you! We also appreciate that your children are so knowledgeable about things on the farm! City kids, for the most part, haven't got a clue about how to feed themselves if the food doesn't come from a store. They are too busy playing video games and engaging God knows who on social media! Thank you for the amazing example that you are giving everyone!
Our nephew and his mom are raising a future lilly livered wuss. They know we process our own food. The dad gets creeped out about the turkey every Thanksgiving at our house but sees no problem with having an abused and cruelly butchered turkey from the store. The kid asked where the eggs come from on our chickens. They won't tell him the truth because they're scared he'll never eat eggs again. So much stupidity in my husband's family.🙄
That was a great video! I'm vegetarian, but I think if you're going to eat meat (which, of course, you have the right to do) you should know where it comes from and how it found its way onto your plate. So thank you for sharing that process with your viewers! :)
Loved our old chicken plucker! It was a game changer!👍🏻 when you can have a source of quality meat that you know is has not been compromised, that means everything for anyone’s family!
I live in Ontario, CA and my mom raised her chickens to have fresh eggs also butchered them plucked them manually n cooked the best tasting chicken soup. She now is 92 years n I wish I would've learned from her to raise my own chickens, sadly I didn't n regret it now . I like ur videos n think ur doing a great job.
It's not too late! My grandparents raised their own and so did my husband's family. We didn't pay too much attention but decided to take the plunge about 4 years ago. We learned mostly from homesteading youtubers. We made some mistakes starting out but learned and are doing it better now. I only had to buy eggs twice from the store! Raising chickens is very rewarding, don't ever shy away from it. There's a huge wealth of information on UA-cam. Learn the basics first, and then get your chicks🙂
You did this so well!! So informative and I love that you are teaching your kids to be grateful and appreciate the animals for providing food for you/others.
I would love to raise pigs, and other animals here at home, but as we live in a residential area, the only animals I can "get away with" are rabbits and chickens, as long as my chickens don't irritate my neighbors. I agree that we should all learn to do this though, because it gives us more respect for the food we eat. Eating meat from a store is simple, buy it and eat it. Whereas if you raise it yourself, you feel the loss of that animal, and get a sense of respect for the food that they provide.
Great video. Wonder where people think store bought chickens come from? I have a seal a meal machine. Game changer. It really keeps things sealed and quickly.. Glad to see the kids there as well.
That chicken plucker is indeed the best thing in the life of those of us who raise chickens for food. There was a time we raised 100 birds one time a year with the family -- 6 of us -- processing from start to freezer. The time saved over hand plucking is incredible. Thanks for the video. Folks need to know how to do this. Very informative. Well done. Thanks.
I’m from a farming community, I love your chicken plucker; simply fantastic! I love that your children are involved with every aspect of farming details. I pray that your family is kept safe and blessed.❤️
I love that you said you have the gratitude & you show you are very appreciative. People who can sit behind a computer and come for you and your family have no clue what y’all go through. Thank you for everything you show and do.
Love how the kids ask their dad questions...reminds me of when us kids would ask my dad all kinds of questions when it was time to butcher our chickens on the ranch in Oregon.
This is such a brilliant video. So interesting. Isn't that just the dream, to be able to raise your own animals and live sustainably! I hope one day to raise my own food xXx
I personally think it is great that individuals, like yourselves, are able to live as homesteaders and both live off the land and from the various farm animals you raise. In a time when COVID has been the major headline of 2020, where people are struggling to feed themselves because their jobs disappeared overnight, to be able to depend on yourselves and these life skills are indeed a blessing. Go back in time, even when I was a child in the 50s-60s, there was no grocery store cooking thirty chickens every three hours to sell to the public. Most people today lack even the most basic skills to survive on their own and these videos are reminders of just how our own ancestors lived and thrived in this country before everything was simply made for them. I consider such videos as great educational tools.
I am a lifelong city girl (48 years old) getting ready to start homesteading and have been watching so many U tube homesteaders and how they do things, just soaking up their knowledge. I have to say, you are one of my all time favorites. I like meat and have always buried my head in the sand, so to speak, on where my food really comes from because I love animals and didn’t really ever want to put a face to my food. I cried watching this video, but not in a bad way. What you said before you pulled the chickens out of the tractor (around 11 or 12 minutes) really resonated with me. I really want to thank you for your video. The information is so valuable and I will continue to watch and learn from you. 💕
THANK YOU for sharing this video. You said that videos with butchering in them usually ends up getting you bad feedback. But I really appreciate this. I did not grow up on a farm, no one in my family raises or processes their own meat. Learning from books is great, but I’m very visual and hands on. This is the way I learn best. So I really appreciate your family taking the time to teach those of us who never learned these skills. I’d love to see the building of your chicken tractor.
Great video! Love how the kids were directly involved, lots of questions. They'll grow up so much more sensible than so many other kids! Good comparison of the coop-raised versus tractor-raised birds!
Butchering day is also not my favorite, but I know how well I cared for them, and they only have1 bad day in their life! the meat is awesome!! Love your rogue pigs!! Love your plucker!! Love love your chicken tractor!
We have found that two chickens in the plucker get the feathers off better. That may depend on the size of the plucker though. Your right best purchase ever!
I do exactly the same job. The feathers are manually cleaned. All waste goes into compost pile and covered with dry grass cuttings. Good idea the ice bath. My birds are all around 4 -4,5 Kg. I cut them in quarters and freeze them alternating breast with thighs and wings. That saves a lot of space in the freezer. Thank you for sharing.
I think I will show this to my son. I keep trying to explain that chickens come from farms before we buy at the store. Maybe with a visual he will understand a little better now. Great video!
I’m a vegetarian and my husband is not. I’m so grateful that we have meat sources local to us that are like you so we can know that the meat we bring into our home comes from animals who lived healthy lives and were butchered humanely. I love gardening and cooking so I get a lot out of your channel too. Thanks for all you do :)
Thank you for this - I like the chicken plucker and the shrink bag method. My only experience with butchering chickens was as part of the US Army's survival portions for the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol and French Commando Schools that I attended. We did not have the chicken plucker and you had a choice of manual plucking or removing the skin, which most of us did. We also were taught to wring the neck just like grandma did in the old days - it's been close to fifty years since those days and I have never forgotten those lessons. I have respect for those that raise their own meat.
I grew up doing this. I haven’t done it for years and this will be the year I start back up again so I can teach my grandchildren how to do it. Thank you for an excellent video to remind me of all the steps involved. I have a friend with one of those defeather machines, I can’t wait to use it!
Superb, honest presentation. What the nay-sayers and complainers forget is - if it were not for generations on generations of people around the world living this style of life - they probably would not be here to complain.
I remember visiting my Grandparents on their farm in Mexico and butchering was a part of life. I think it's a lost art and very useful to know. Thanks for sharing.
When I saw the topic of this video my first thought was, oh my Jill is feeling brave!! I am happy to see the support from your UA-cam community. This is a great learning experience for the kids and city folk. Thanks for loving your animals.
Don't explain anything to me...i love the country life. Everyone has an ancestor who did things like this 100 years ago! That's life and its the natural way. Love your channel
I have previously watched this video but I'm watching again. You are the reason I decided to raise meat chickens. I have learned so much from your channel. I posted a video on my channel how we processed our meat chickens. Thank you for helping me find the courage to do this 💚
This is such a good way to do it. And i love the calm and natural manner you guys have while teaching the kids the how and why So with love from Denmark to the The prairie - keep being you
25 yrs ago - my X left. My kids got to learn how food was grown. We grew geese. One thing we did - was thank the animals for their food to us. Cheers to you. PS - we just skinned our geese. They were delicious.
Great video! I was raised in rural Puerto Rico and raising and butchering our own meat has always been a part of life in our comunity. I believe that responsibly raising your own food and humanely safrificing your animals is a very important part of the future.
Stumbled upon your potato storage video last night and I’ve been watching all your videos this am with coffee! You inspire me to want to buy more land and homestead! We have a chicken coop and small garden but no land! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! 🙏🏼
We are too distant from where meat comes from. My dad taught me to butcher pheasants deer and the like, and given the chance I will butcher and eat road kill. So good for you ad your family.
So good you have kids a part of this. This is how things were back in the founding of the nation (S). It’s still the way people survive all over the world. So good to have the next generations learning and living along side this. Bravo to you Christian and Jill. Bravo for letting them talk as you do this and to not mind kids “slowing” you down because they want to learn.
Thank you, for sharing this. There is nothing wrong or bad in what we are doing. Thank you! Carin Friedenberger from Argentina! (Your little ones are THE BEST!)
Let us not forget, that we humans are, in fact, omnivores. So raising and taking responsibility for your own meat is very human. When did it become a rebelious act to grow your own food?
hugelpook 5678 just as soon as the authorities legislated mandatory inspections for all meats..... Thankfully, they have largely relaxed that requirement for stuff killed by the ultimate consumer. Try to sell this stuff at your farm gate and see how long it lasts before they send a goon squad to shut it down and destroy all your uninspected products.
From an evolutionary perspective, humans are lipovores. Over the course of human history we were on the hunt for animal fat as priority, as that is our best energy source. Of course muscle meat and organs were consumed, but animal fat is extremely beneficial for humans.
@@jasonbateman3424 absolutely. Most animals seek fat out. Butter, lard, tallow all maner of animal fat is needed by the human body. They are healing to our bodies.
Thank you for sharing. The Lord has blessed you and I thank you for creating this content. While it's not easy, it truly makes you appreciate the time and effort into raising your own meat.
My family has done their own meat processing for generations and as long as you do humanely and respectfully that is the most important thing that people learn in how the process is done. Animals are what has been put in the earth to use as our supply for many things. I have the last pillow of the down feathers my grandmother used to make her mattress. Another way animals give back and provide. Hugs and love from Texas. Thank you for sharing!
This is a fabulous video and it is awesome including your children in the day because it provides a hands on teaching tool thank you for having a humane teachable video
Thank you for showing this video... being raised on a farm, we did this 4x a year. Now we are on a smaller Homestead and just started our chicken starter... our Gbabies are loving seeing and helping to raise where their food comes from!! Blessings to y'all
This video was so informative. I wasn't sure I would be able to butcher a chicken on our homestead but now I see that I can. Thanks for making this tough video.
I know this video is 3 yrs old, but i just found it.... and i could barely WAIT to see you use your chicken plucker!!! It's an amazing machine and one of the best inventions of all time!😂
Hey I just have an idea for your scalding pot. What I do is get 2 metal posts, put one through each handle of the scalding pot, and then sink them about a foot or a foot-and-a-half into the ground. That way there is zero chance of getting tipped over spilling
Seeing how calm, collected and intrigued your kids were, made me remember a little over a decade ago, when I was in high school and we had to dissect a chicken. We were 15 years old. Some of my classmates vomited, some more refused to eat chicken for almost two weeks. Most of them overreacted during the entire class. Your kids are smart and they're going to grow up strong.
In my personal opinion, people have been providing food for their families for a very long time! I think that being even a little bit self sufficient is a grand thing. If it's meat or vegetables that one produces it makes them less of a burden on an already overwhelmed system. Usually overwhelmed by those folks that choose to complain about anothers self sufficiency! But this of course is just my opinion, always good to see folks being self producers. I'm slowly on my way there. Great job!!
When I was a young lad 60+years ago, Mom and I would butcher chickens. We had layers for replenishment, we had young stock to butcher, and we had eggs galore. We would take them to town and sell them to grocery store for those who wanted to buy fresh eggs, and meat. Mom was pretty handy with the hatchet and I got fair at catching them.
Great video! Thank you so very much for sharing. My adult children are just beginning to raise chickens and I shared this with them. You make it look so very easy!!!!
Very well done video on processing your birds. Most people have no idea on where there meat comes from other then the store. If they were to watch a video on a chicken factory , I don't believe they would ever eat chicken again.👍👍
Thank you for sharing this video. 🙏🏻 I’m sure you’ll get the usual grumbling from people who don’t embrace this lifestyle, but this video was invaluable to my family. My husband and I are looking to start our homesteading adventure, and this was one area we both felt extremely uncertain about. We were concerned with processing being done as humanly as possible, and you did a fabulous job of showing that. You’ve answered so many of our questions and made this area of uncertainty seem much less scary. Thank you for taking the time to pass on your homesteading knowledge.
Good job on the video. I haven't plucked a chicken in decades but my parents taught us when we were young. I love how patient you guys are with teaching your kids about life. Best wishes.
I just gotta say, I want those pigs!! We dont eat pork (we eat according to Leviticus), but I love me a pig! They are so adorable and smart! Whenever we have our homestead, I am will have one named Hamlet, and if I have anything to say about it, he will sleep by my bed, lol!! (Hubby has different ideas...) I appreciate you showing this process. I believe that The LORD means for us to show respect to the animals He provided for us to eat, and the way you have done this is AMAZING!! And it is so important for your children to see this process and appreciate where their food came from. We cant wait to be able to provide meat for our family that has been prepared in a Biblically kosher way (humanely). Seriously, this was fantastic!!I have subbed and can't wait to see more of your sweet family!!
I can tell that this is not you're favorite thing by your voice. I get that. I really liked the details you showed us. Thank you. My questions... How many birds do you raise for this in a year? And where do you get your supplies? Thanks Jill
I grew up on a farm and we did all of our own butchering (hogs, cows, ducks, chickens, rabbits, etc) but I distinctly remember chicken butchering time because I got to participate a bit more as a young child. It was a big affair. That chicken plucker looks AMAZING! We dunked them in hot water and plucked them by hand. Mommy would use the gas burning to singe off any missed pin feathers. The smell of that part was awful. I was the youngest in the family of eight and had the smallest hands, so my job was to pull all the insides out of the chicken. What do you do with the organs....gizzard, heart, liver and such? We ate it all.
I’m a city girl but my mother was from the country so I know how it used to be done. This is way better. My kids know chickens don’t grow in the supermarket but lots of kids now think they do. Back to nature is the way. By the way well done & explained without seeing the killing. 😁
I am a meat eater. No vegans in this household. I just wanted to say thank you for not showing the actual killing of the chicken. I have nightmares of that scene as a child when my father butchered chickens in the basement. It was a scene that as a 5 year old, I will never forget, even 50 years later. I appreciate the kindness and care that you raise your chickens in. I personally couldn't do it, but I love knowing that your chickens had a great life and were treated with kindness and respect all the way to the end. Thank you for your caring and respect of life!
Thanks for watching! Here's my How to Butcher a Chicken blog post with more details on the whole process; www.theprairiehomestead.com/2016/07/how-to-butcher-a-chicken.html
Question : I heard chickens attract Rats....how do you deal with Rats ? What months do you raise Chickens ?
Totally off the chicken subject but on the subject of meat for the freezer. Listening to your podcast on grass/grain finished beef. As a ranch wife in Central Oregon I have to thank you for getting the right info out there. I personally like grain finished better myself in the way of steaks but grass finished hamburger is pretty good. And hang time! Longer the better!
where did you get your chicken tractor plans?
I love your videos, they're so helpful and enjoyable. I like your modest genuine manner and your honesty with a topic that is not easy for you. My only concern is children being so close to a red hot water tank that could topple over onto their bodies and feet. When I see children in dangerous situations, it makes my stomach knot up and I hope that others watching won't copy or think it's safe to do. I'd keep them well out of harms way (at least a few feet away) so they can watch but if it toppled over, no harm to them. I mean this with goodness, not rudeness. God bless your lovely family. Long may you continue with this wonderful channel.
I just followed you on @twitter and @IG. I look forward to seeing what next on your pages. I'm learning so much.
I don't care if you're an omnivore or vegetarian, there is a huge part of the population who have no clue how any of their food gets to the table.
Yes-- I want to educate as much as possible!
Exactly. I use to work for a lady that would always say how horrible my family was because we butchered our animals instead of getting them at the grocery store. I tried to explain the whole grocery store process to her, but she would not listen. To her the meat just came from the magical room in the grocery store.
Amen! That is one of our greatest blessings is that we are able to show our grandchildren are able to have a relationship to their food. They know that it takes time, energy and in some cases, such as our chickens and goats - an emotional attachment to our food. We honor our food because we cared for it and invested ourselves in the food we eat. Most people today have no appreciation for where their food came. If you get a chance, check out our small family farm channel and consider subscribing! Thanks.
My grandson was about 4 when he was over and asked for some milk. I poured a glass, he took a drink and asked for the other milk. I asked 'what other milk'. He said 'you know, the kind we drink. It comes from a cow.' Kids that grow up in the country have a different outlook. 😄
Great point
Those children are going to grow up incredibly well balanced and with a firm view of reality. Good parenting.
Farm kids are so cool and self-confident.
And most importantly eating real food
I personally think, for myself (don't come at me), if I want to eat meat, I have to be willing to take that life to do so. You gain a certain appreciation for your food when you grow it yourself. That goes double for when you raise your own meat. And those birds had such a happy life, much happier than at Perdue or Tyson
I agree with you 100% Veronica!
Veronica, most things we eat, is alive. If cut a tomato in half, eat one half and pant the other, the tomato will grow... Rice, beans, even water is alive...
Nah broyler chickens grow to fast for their body to handle so they wont have a good life unless they are carefully taken care of and they ended up getting brutally killed so no not a good life
@@thejack9178 Do you have references and evidence for everything you just said?
So true
As a vegetarian (my husband isn’t), I love how tasteful and humane you made this video. We are trying to educate ourselves on homesteading for our future and sustainable living so this was very educational! Thank you! ❤️
Thank you! I love it when we can have different diets and still find common ground.
@@thejack9178 who is? These people can get along? How is that idiotic sir? Or are you just trolling?
@@louperkins5497 he’s a troller
I share your feelings, Jill. It's always the hardest day on the farm, but it's also very necessary. Thanks for making this video.
I dont know if I could do it. We started raising egg chickens last year and they are like family members....The guinea hens on the other hand :P, there would be no problem...
Hi gold Shaw farm
I watch your vids
I don’t often comment on videos but your message is very necessary for the community. In today’s “cancel culture” posting this is an act of courage becoming rarer by the day. Today as I have my morning coffee and catch up on the latest postings my own family is preparing for butcher day. Thank you for your message and let’s keep moving forward for our families and world.
I eat meat. If you ever watched how a factory processes 12500 chickens an hour, your method is so much more humane. Plants have their own way of screaming, we just can't hear them like animals. So, I don't think vegans are morally better than meat eaters. We have to eat to survive. As one homesteader put it, all his animals have a very wonderful life with just one really bad day. Nature isn't as kind as that.
Yes. I agree 100%
Homestead animals have an amazing life with every day better than any day of most animals raised for commercial purposes. As for that bad part, there's not one of us getting out of this alive, and we can only hope for that we have the few brief bad seconds that one of these homesteader animals has.
I’m really glad that even though people push back on these videos, you continue to post them. It’s good for people to understand where their food comes from.
It is important to show how you get food on your table👍🏻keep it up don’t ever give in to the hate👍🏻 we support you
You are great parents for involving your children in the process of harvesting your chickens. You are so patient as you teach about the chicken parts and then let the kids help clean out the birds. You are a wonderful family and a huge blessing.
I loved watching your children learn with an honest curiosity. They’re already miles ahead of others their age.
Could you possibly show how y’all built that chicken tractors for the meat birds?
Yes please!
Please 😊
I'd love to see a video of how to build those tractors.
This should be something anyone living a sustainable rural life knows how to do. Hormone & antibiotic free.
When you harvest your own animals I believe you gain a more humble respect for the life that was taken. Thank you for making this video, very informative.
Just listened to your podcast about ditching AMAZON & truly loved it ! You are spot on ! I remember when Home Depot made its debut and so many local mom & pop hardware stores lost their livelihood , was a turning point in our society of instant gratification that we live in now .
So sad to see that all die away .... also appreciated your finding local food information .
Thank you !!
Do you know what episode that was? I can’t seem to find it
This is so timely to read your comment. I'm in Australia and for a raft of reasons have decided to boycott our big box hardware store. I didn't like it when they squeezed out the mom and pop hardware stores, but we have accepted this as inevitable for so long.
I didn't mean to make someone angry a few weeks ago but I did. They said Amazon destroyed small businesses, and I said no you did, not you specifically but you know YOU, when you started buying on Amazon. Amazon provided what you needed and you used them. If it is so important to you to buy local then you should and better yet, supporting your local community will bring local community prices back down. Then you need to go back to buying from your local community.
Thanks for the video. I did cry a little, but I was determined to watch because I like meat. I'm thankful it was tastefully done. I loved the kids being involved and the way they handled it. I don't know if I could do it but grateful that you guys can.
I love that you are willing to acknowledge and watch it, even if you aren't sure you want to do it yourself!
When kids grow up with it, they understand that it's just part of life. Most people live their entire lives in a bubble that protects them from that which keeps their bubble in tact.
We have this discussion with folks almost daily! Folks are so removed from where our food comes from. It's so sad how many people tell us that we shouldn't name or love our animals if we plan to eat them. There is just so little appreciation for the life it cost for us to eat. We love each of our animals and strive to give them the BEST life possible. It's hard when processing day comes around, but we honor and appreciate that sacrifice like most folks would never understand. Thank you for bringing awareness to this and teaching your little ones to carry the tradition!
So glad I grew up on a farm. The man in this video scalded the chicken in order to soften the flesh for plucking. Dad and our neighbors did that with our hog in a 55 Gallon drum heated over a rip-roaring fire.
Also Dad and my Grandfather made steers out of our bull calves by removing their gonads. All of us kids watching oblivious to what was actually happening until that moment of understanding years later.
Life is what you miss out on when you live in the city. I once had an argument with a playmate that cows can also have horns. He wouldn't believe me, but when a cow doesn't have horns, it could be they should have, but had their horn buds cut off when they were very small heifers. I helped with that on the farm too.
Not only do you know where your animals are raised and what they eat, but they are 10 times tastier and 100 time more healthy for you!
We also appreciate that your children are so knowledgeable about things on the farm! City kids, for the most part, haven't got a clue about how to feed themselves if the food doesn't come from a store. They are too busy playing video games and engaging God knows who on social media!
Thank you for the amazing example that you are giving everyone!
Our nephew and his mom are raising a future lilly livered wuss. They know we process our own food. The dad gets creeped out about the turkey every Thanksgiving at our house but sees no problem with having an abused and cruelly butchered turkey from the store. The kid asked where the eggs come from on our chickens. They won't tell him the truth because they're scared he'll never eat eggs again. So much stupidity in my husband's family.🙄
That was a great video! I'm vegetarian, but I think if you're going to eat meat (which, of course, you have the right to do) you should know where it comes from and how it found its way onto your plate. So thank you for sharing that process with your viewers! :)
Thank you so much Lisa!
Loved our old chicken plucker! It was a game changer!👍🏻 when you can have a source of quality meat that you know is has not been compromised, that means everything for anyone’s family!
I live in Ontario, CA and my mom raised her chickens to have fresh eggs also butchered them plucked them manually n cooked the best tasting chicken soup. She now is 92 years n I wish I would've learned from her to raise my own chickens, sadly I didn't n regret it now . I like ur videos n think ur doing a great job.
It's not too late! My grandparents raised their own and so did my husband's family. We didn't pay too much attention but decided to take the plunge about 4 years ago. We learned mostly from homesteading youtubers. We made some mistakes starting out but learned and are doing it better now. I only had to buy eggs twice from the store! Raising chickens is very rewarding, don't ever shy away from it. There's a huge wealth of information on UA-cam. Learn the basics first, and then get your chicks🙂
You did this so well!! So informative and I love that you are teaching your kids to be grateful and appreciate the animals for providing food for you/others.
Thank you Carolyn!
Every meat eater should do this at least once for every kind animal they eat.
I would love to raise pigs, and other animals here at home, but as we live in a residential area, the only animals I can "get away with" are rabbits and chickens, as long as my chickens don't irritate my neighbors. I agree that we should all learn to do this though, because it gives us more respect for the food we eat. Eating meat from a store is simple, buy it and eat it. Whereas if you raise it yourself, you feel the loss of that animal, and get a sense of respect for the food that they provide.
I have ... And every generation before me ... And 2 generations after me ... So far ...
Great video. Wonder where people think store bought chickens come from? I have a seal a meal machine. Game changer. It really keeps things sealed and quickly..
Glad to see the kids there as well.
That chicken plucker is indeed the best thing in the life of those of us who raise chickens for food. There was a time we raised 100 birds one time a year with the family -- 6 of us -- processing from start to freezer. The time saved over hand plucking is incredible. Thanks for the video. Folks need to know how to do this. Very informative. Well done. Thanks.
I’m from a farming community, I love your chicken plucker; simply fantastic! I love that your children are involved with every aspect of farming details. I pray that your family is kept safe and blessed.❤️
I love that you said you have the gratitude & you show you are very appreciative. People who can sit behind a computer and come for you and your family have no clue what y’all go through. Thank you for everything you show and do.
Mechanical chicken pluckers are the best invention ever. Nice explanation and very tastefully done ✅
Love how the kids ask their dad questions...reminds me of when us kids would ask my dad all kinds of questions when it was time to butcher our chickens on the ranch in Oregon.
This is such a brilliant video. So interesting. Isn't that just the dream, to be able to raise your own animals and live sustainably! I hope one day to raise my own food xXx
I personally think it is great that individuals, like yourselves, are able to live as homesteaders and both live off the land and from the various farm animals you raise. In a time when COVID has been the major headline of 2020, where people are struggling to feed themselves because their jobs disappeared overnight, to be able to depend on yourselves and these life skills are indeed a blessing. Go back in time, even when I was a child in the 50s-60s, there was no grocery store cooking thirty chickens every three hours to sell to the public. Most people today lack even the most basic skills to survive on their own and these videos are reminders of just how our own ancestors lived and thrived in this country before everything was simply made for them. I consider such videos as great educational tools.
I am a lifelong city girl (48 years old) getting ready to start homesteading and have been watching so many U tube homesteaders and how they do things, just soaking up their knowledge. I have to say, you are one of my all time favorites. I like meat and have always buried my head in the sand, so to speak, on where my food really comes from because I love animals and didn’t really ever want to put a face to my food. I cried watching this video, but not in a bad way. What you said before you pulled the chickens out of the tractor (around 11 or 12 minutes) really resonated with me. I really want to thank you for your video. The information is so valuable and I will continue to watch and learn from you. 💕
THANK YOU for sharing this video. You said that videos with butchering in them usually ends up getting you bad feedback. But I really appreciate this. I did not grow up on a farm, no one in my family raises or processes their own meat. Learning from books is great, but I’m very visual and hands on. This is the way I learn best. So I really appreciate your family taking the time to teach those of us who never learned these skills. I’d love to see the building of your chicken tractor.
Great video! Love how the kids were directly involved, lots of questions. They'll grow up so much more sensible than so many other kids! Good comparison of the coop-raised versus tractor-raised birds!
Butchering day is also not my favorite, but I know how well I cared for them, and they only have1 bad day in their life! the meat is awesome!! Love your rogue pigs!! Love your plucker!! Love love your chicken tractor!
Me too...its never easy or fun. I just take a deep breath and do it... I dont want to, it's not "fun" I just do it and don't think too much into it.
Thank you for sharing! What a great learning opportunity for your kiddos too!
We have found that two chickens in the plucker get the feathers off better. That may depend on the size of the plucker though. Your right best purchase ever!
Ooooh.... I didn't even think of that. GREAT idea!!
Superb and thanks for showing such a well made video. Its brilliant that the children are taking part and asking so many questions!
It's great to see a family working together, the children learning, and seeing how all of this is done. Well done!
I do exactly the same job. The feathers are manually cleaned. All waste goes into compost pile and covered with dry grass cuttings. Good idea the ice bath. My birds are all around 4 -4,5 Kg. I cut them in quarters and freeze them alternating breast with thighs and wings. That saves a lot of space in the freezer. Thank you for sharing.
I think I will show this to my son. I keep trying to explain that chickens come from farms before we buy at the store. Maybe with a visual he will understand a little better now. Great video!
I’m a vegetarian and my husband is not. I’m so grateful that we have meat sources local to us that are like you so we can know that the meat we bring into our home comes from animals who lived healthy lives and were butchered humanely. I love gardening and cooking so I get a lot out of your channel too. Thanks for all you do :)
Thank you for this - I like the chicken plucker and the shrink bag method. My only experience with butchering chickens was as part of the US Army's survival portions for the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol and French Commando Schools that I attended. We did not have the chicken plucker and you had a choice of manual plucking or removing the skin, which most of us did. We also were taught to wring the neck just like grandma did in the old days - it's been close to fifty years since those days and I have never forgotten those lessons. I have respect for those that raise their own meat.
I ABSOLUTELY love how you include the whole family and the kids!!!! That’s what life is all about!! Our family is the same way! Thanks for sharing
I grew up doing this. I haven’t done it for years and this will be the year I start back up again so I can teach my grandchildren how to do it. Thank you for an excellent video to remind me of all the steps involved. I have a friend with one of those defeather machines, I can’t wait to use it!
I would love to be able to grow and process our own chickens. I think it's great for kids to grow up this way and see where food comes from.
I built a plucker a few years ago a great tool saves so much time.
As a city boy/man I always wanted to see this. Thank you
Superb, honest presentation. What the nay-sayers and complainers forget is - if it were not for generations on generations of people around the world living this style of life - they probably would not be here to complain.
I remember visiting my Grandparents on their farm in Mexico and butchering was a part of life. I think it's a lost art and very useful to know. Thanks for sharing.
Well I think you are a brave lady to do these videos. I need help in my own yard and I am a 65 year old widow. This video has helped me so much.
When I saw the topic of this video my first thought was, oh my Jill is feeling brave!! I am happy to see the support from your UA-cam community. This is a great learning experience for the kids and city folk. Thanks for loving your animals.
Lol-- yes.... I had to pump myself up before I posted it, ha! But so far, people have been good about it. :)
Don't explain anything to me...i love the country life. Everyone has an ancestor who did things like this 100 years ago! That's life and its the natural way. Love your channel
I have previously watched this video but I'm watching again. You are the reason I decided to raise meat chickens. I have learned so much from your channel. I posted a video on my channel how we processed our meat chickens. Thank you for helping me find the courage to do this 💚
This is such a good way to do it.
And i love the calm and natural manner you guys have while teaching the kids the how and why
So with love from Denmark to the The prairie - keep being you
25 yrs ago - my X left. My kids got to learn how food was grown. We grew geese. One thing we did - was thank the animals for their food to us. Cheers to you. PS - we just skinned our geese. They were delicious.
Great video! I was raised in rural Puerto Rico and raising and butchering our own meat has always been a part of life in our comunity. I believe that responsibly raising your own food and humanely safrificing your animals is a very important part of the future.
Stumbled upon your potato storage video last night and I’ve been watching all your videos this am with coffee! You inspire me to want to buy more land and homestead! We have a chicken coop and small garden but no land! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! 🙏🏼
Kudos to you for allowing your kids to learn the entire process. They won't take food for granted. God Bless.
Thank you for this video! I have 50 Cornish Cross arriving on Tuesday. First time raising meat birds, and I appreciate this information.
Those chickens lived a beautiful life with you, and now they give back for all the love you gave them.
We are too distant from where meat comes from. My dad taught me to butcher pheasants deer and the like, and given the chance I will butcher and eat road kill. So good for you ad your family.
So good you have kids a part of this. This is how things were back in the founding of the nation (S). It’s still the way people survive all over the world. So good to have the next generations learning and living along side this. Bravo to you Christian and Jill. Bravo for letting them talk as you do this and to not mind kids “slowing” you down because they want to learn.
Thank you, for sharing this. There is nothing wrong or bad in what we are doing. Thank you! Carin Friedenberger from Argentina! (Your little ones are THE BEST!)
Let us not forget, that we humans are, in fact, omnivores. So raising and taking responsibility for your own meat is very human. When did it become a rebelious act to grow your own food?
hugelpook 5678 just as soon as the authorities legislated mandatory inspections for all meats..... Thankfully, they have largely relaxed that requirement for stuff killed by the ultimate consumer. Try to sell this stuff at your farm gate and see how long it lasts before they send a goon squad to shut it down and destroy all your uninspected products.
From an evolutionary perspective, humans are lipovores. Over the course of human history we were on the hunt for animal fat as priority, as that is our best energy source. Of course muscle meat and organs were consumed, but animal fat is extremely beneficial for humans.
I would say what theyre doing on this channel is the ultimate respect towards animals even though their death is the ultimate outcome.
@@jasonbateman3424 absolutely. Most animals seek fat out. Butter, lard, tallow all maner of animal fat is needed by the human body. They are healing to our bodies.
Except we didn’t evolve. We were created.
The most human way to provide protein for your family. Way better than commercial.
I love that your children are involved. Best kind of living 👌
Thank you for sharing. The Lord has blessed you and I thank you for creating this content. While it's not easy, it truly makes you appreciate the time and effort into raising your own meat.
Thought I wasn’t going to be able to watch but it was well done! I am a meat eater so I felt I needed to watch . You have a great life and family!
Thanks Lisa!
My family has done their own meat processing for generations and as long as you do humanely and respectfully that is the most important thing that people learn in how the process is done. Animals are what has been put in the earth to use as our supply for many things. I have the last pillow of the down feathers my grandmother used to make her mattress. Another way animals give back and provide. Hugs and love from Texas. Thank you for sharing!
We use to butcher 100 chickens at a time. It was a lotta work but we loved the results!
This is a fabulous video and it is awesome including your children in the day because it provides a hands on teaching tool thank you for having a humane teachable video
Thank you for showing this process so tactfully. It was informative (..without being sensationalized, like some other UA-camrs have done).
Thank you for showing this video... being raised on a farm, we did this 4x a year. Now we are on a smaller Homestead and just started our chicken starter... our Gbabies are loving seeing and helping to raise where their food comes from!! Blessings to y'all
This video was so informative. I wasn't sure I would be able to butcher a chicken on our homestead but now I see that I can. Thanks for making this tough video.
I know this video is 3 yrs old, but i just found it.... and i could barely WAIT to see you use your chicken plucker!!! It's an amazing machine and one of the best inventions of all time!😂
Good for you! These chickens are so much better than any you could get at the market!
I'd love to see a video on how you build your chicken tractors.
Thank you for this video. Thank you for showing us how our food should be made.
Hey I just have an idea for your scalding pot. What I do is get 2 metal posts, put one through each handle of the scalding pot, and then sink them about a foot or a foot-and-a-half into the ground. That way there is zero chance of getting tipped over spilling
Seeing how calm, collected and intrigued your kids were, made me remember a little over a decade ago, when I was in high school and we had to dissect a chicken. We were 15 years old. Some of my classmates vomited, some more refused to eat chicken for almost two weeks. Most of them overreacted during the entire class.
Your kids are smart and they're going to grow up strong.
In my personal opinion, people have been providing food for their families for a very long time! I think that being even a little bit self sufficient is a grand thing. If it's meat or vegetables that one produces it makes them less of a burden on an already overwhelmed system. Usually overwhelmed by those folks that choose to complain about anothers self sufficiency! But this of course is just my opinion, always good to see folks being self producers. I'm slowly on my way there. Great job!!
When I was a young lad 60+years ago, Mom and I would butcher chickens. We had layers for replenishment, we had young stock to butcher, and we had eggs galore. We would take them to town and sell them to grocery store for those who wanted to buy fresh eggs, and meat. Mom was pretty handy with the hatchet and I got fair at catching them.
Thanks for sharing and showing how you and your family go about your daily life.
The plucker was Awesome!.
✌🏻🖖🏻👊🏻
Great video! Thank you so very much for sharing. My adult children are just beginning to raise chickens and I shared this with them. You make it look so very easy!!!!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who uses a torch to light everything. Lol
Very well done video on processing your birds. Most people have no idea on where there meat comes from other then the store. If they were to watch a video on a chicken factory , I don't believe they would ever eat chicken again.👍👍
Thanks, I haven't had much experience butchering chickens. Its good to see it being done in an efficient humane way.
Thank you for sharing this video. 🙏🏻 I’m sure you’ll get the usual grumbling from people who don’t embrace this lifestyle, but this video was invaluable to my family. My husband and I are looking to start our homesteading adventure, and this was one area we both felt extremely uncertain about. We were concerned with processing being done as humanly as possible, and you did a fabulous job of showing that. You’ve answered so many of our questions and made this area of uncertainty seem much less scary. Thank you for taking the time to pass on your homesteading knowledge.
I follow several homesteading families and your chicken processing was the most organized and cleanest I have seen.
Thanks Rebecca! We tend to err on the side of OCD, haha. ;)
Totally understand. 😊 Also, love how y’all used the teaching moment with your children.
Good job on the video. I haven't plucked a chicken in decades but my parents taught us when we were young. I love how patient you guys are with teaching your kids about life. Best wishes.
SO happy I stumbled on your channel!! Thank you so much for sharing all you do! ❤
Thank you for teaching me how to butcher. I appreciate it. 😊
I just gotta say, I want those pigs!! We dont eat pork (we eat according to Leviticus), but I love me a pig! They are so adorable and smart! Whenever we have our homestead, I am will have one named Hamlet, and if I have anything to say about it, he will sleep by my bed, lol!! (Hubby has different ideas...)
I appreciate you showing this process. I believe that The LORD means for us to show respect to the animals He provided for us to eat, and the way you have done this is AMAZING!! And it is so important for your children to see this process and appreciate where their food came from. We cant wait to be able to provide meat for our family that has been prepared in a Biblically kosher way (humanely). Seriously, this was fantastic!!I have subbed and can't wait to see more of your sweet family!!
I can tell that this is not you're favorite thing by your voice. I get that. I really liked the details you showed us. Thank you. My questions... How many birds do you raise for this in a year? And where do you get your supplies? Thanks Jill
Good learning real time those kids are learning life skills nice job guys
I grew up on a farm and we did all of our own butchering (hogs, cows, ducks, chickens, rabbits, etc) but I distinctly remember chicken butchering time because I got to participate a bit more as a young child. It was a big affair. That chicken plucker looks AMAZING! We dunked them in hot water and plucked them by hand. Mommy would use the gas burning to singe off any missed pin feathers. The smell of that part was awful. I was the youngest in the family of eight and had the smallest hands, so my job was to pull all the insides out of the chicken. What do you do with the organs....gizzard, heart, liver and such? We ate it all.
I’m a city girl but my mother was from the country so I know how it used to be done. This is way better. My kids know chickens don’t grow in the supermarket but lots of kids now think they do. Back to nature is the way. By the way well done & explained without seeing the killing. 😁
Thanks Carol!
I am a meat eater. No vegans in this household. I just wanted to say thank you for not showing the actual killing of the chicken. I have nightmares of that scene as a child when my father butchered chickens in the basement. It was a scene that as a 5 year old, I will never forget, even 50 years later. I appreciate the kindness and care that you raise your chickens in. I personally couldn't do it, but I love knowing that your chickens had a great life and were treated with kindness and respect all the way to the end. Thank you for your caring and respect of life!