I'll admit they were long days. It was difficult, tedious and left us raw. The whizbang chicken plucker purred most of the day. Feather clogs caused a little slippage a couple of times.
The kids were unbelievably helpful. Tristan and Kassi caught every bird for the killing station.
Anyone that has tried to catch chickens know what a feat catching eighty seven birds is. They both got scratches from chickens and chicken tractors climbing around arms full. Plus, that is not all,
Tristan cut, cleaned and peeled every gizzard while Kassi cleaned the hearts and livers. They also met the demands of their younger siblings. They made sandwiches, poured juice and milk and even cleaned urgent messes in the house. It was truly unbelievable they are just eight and six respectively. When it came time to do the final clean-up on the birds they both were right there picking pin feathers and doing a secondary inspection of the internals.
Tabitha loosened crops, cut feet and heads, killed, plucked and scalded. I eviscerated and cleaned the body cavity. I also leaped to where I was needed but mostly I was the bottle neck. We chilled the birds and did the final processing at the other station.
The kids really made a huge difference, at least thirty percent increase from their input.
On top of all that Tabitha is milking twice per day. Our refrigerator is full of milk products.
Milk, yogurt, fresh cheese, sour cream, and cream. Jocelyn in making over four gallons per day.
We are trying to find another fridge on freecycle--milk fridge.
I also finished work on the Houlahan's Photovoltaic system.
We have been busy and this weekend we have another thirty five birds to kill.
WHEW...
