Mastering Chicken Processing: From Feather to Fork
Saturday, June 10th 10am - 1pm
With the rising cost of food, many people are looking closer to home to start producing more of their own food. If you're like many people, you want to know what your meat animals ate and that they lived humanely. Backyard gardens are on the rise, and many people are starting to raise their own chickens for eggs. Meat chickens are one meat source that can be raised with minimal space and can be processed at home with not much more than a sharp knife and a big pot. If you want to raise meat birds, backyard chicken processing is a great skill to have. Check that item off your bucket list, put in your prepper tool kit, or have it as an available option for when your backyard hens get too old to produce eggs.
This workshop will cover:
- Basic meat poultry care and nutrition
- Tools required to butcher at home
- How to humanely and safely process
- Sanitation and best practices for home processing
- Cooking techniques for using the whole carcass
- Real time hands on Q&A throughout the entire class
Supplies provided include:
- A humanely raised Cornish Cross chicken for processing
- Food safe gloves (optional)
- All supplies to process chicken including knives and bags
Bring with you:
- A snack and water bottle
- A hat or sun screen we will be outside most of the time.
- Pen and paper for notes
Leave at home:
- Rings and bracelets
- Pets
During this course you will learn how to raise and process your own poultry from day old chick to putting it in the oven. We will provide you with a free range Cornish cross we raised on our property this spring. These are fast growing, ready to process 8-12 weeks of age but you can use the same techniques on any poultry from quail to turkeys. We will use chicken kill cones, a scalding pot, and a feather plucker. You'll learn about several alternative methods as well. We will have an outside sink, table, knives, and bags available for processing.
(You do not need a physical ticket for this event but all attendees must purchase a ticket.)