My First Chicken Harvest

Yesterday afternoon, and this morning, Lara (aka 4 year old chicken mother), Olivia (2.5 year old chicken whisperer) and I, all said our goodbyes to our thirteen week old chick chick, Frizzle. At just thirteen weeks of age, our cute little black and white frizzle chicken, who's crop was different to all the others started to make a funny noise one day, and the next day we were able to identify that it was indeed coming from him. The time had come for our family to face the reality that we knew was coming, the moment we agreed to purchase day old chickens. 

Day old chickens can be purchased as 'sexed' but in reality, its a 50/50 shot, so we started off with seven adorable little chicks with the hope of ending up with most being hens to add to our existing flock. This meant that I talked with my children about the reality of us not being able to keep roosters in our backyard (due to council rules, and we like our neighbours), and that most farms don't need any more roosters for breeding, so they would probably just slaughter our pet and eat it, or turn it into pet meat. I told them that I felt better about the idea of us raising super happy, healthy chicks, that were loved and well cared for, and I would learn how to gently kill our boys so that we could use every part of them and truly show our respect to our pets. This included me having the intention to eat the rooster (providing it wasn't one of our favourites). My youngest daughter is very happy with this situation, I think she must have been a chicken farmer in her previous life. However, since my eldest daughter became a Mother of Chickens she has taken it upon herself to not eat meat, something I recall doing in my late primary school days, for the same reasons.....and to be fair, I am eating considerably less meat these days-pate doesn't count though. I'm proud of both of my children for understanding the situation, and making their own choices, and they knew I would support them in their choice.

As a family yesterday, we decided that I would harvest Frizzle whilst the girls were at kindy. I watched a few videos on YouTube (which I told my children would be confronting, and scary, but they both chose to sit on my lap and watch them with me, regardless), and after watching two methods, Lara asked me to break Frizzle's neck first, as she thought it was more humane than cutting his throat. Watching the videos I don't know how she came to this conclusion, but a few weeks ago, my friend who is a vet convinced me that swinging a chicken to break it's neck was the kindest way, so I'm glad that my daughters agreed with this method.....because I was always going to take my educated friend's advice.

Last night Frizzle went into a box to fast, I placed that box in the laundry, and this morning as I was almost finished on the loo (only wees!) Olivia walked in cuddling Frizzle, with Lara hot on her heels. They were both saying goodbye. Then Lara said "I don't want to eat Frizzle" to which Olivia responded "We have to eat him Lara, his a rooster". I informed them that no one had to eat Frizzle if they didn't want to, but I did have to do the difficult job of ending his life....because our suburban farm does not allow for happy neighbours if you have a rooster.

With the girls off at kindy I set up a rope from our marigold tree to hang our rooster from to pluck his feathers, a pink kids wading pond (that had been deemed redundant) to catch the feathers, a table and two bowls for the harvest, and a large pot of warm water to dunk the rooster in to loosen his feathers for plucking. There was no more putting this off, the time had come. As I held Frizzle, stroked his head and thanked him for being such a lovely pet, he went to sleep in my arms, and for a moment there I thought "I can't do this, look how much this little guys trusts me", and that reminded me of a split moment in time laboring my babies when I thought "I can't do this", which instantly lead to "if you can make life gracefully, you can take life gracefully. No one can harvest this beautiful creature as kindly as you will". And that was what it took for me to realise that I was doing the right thing-I understand that a lot of people may not think so, and I value their opinions too. But, If I decide to keep chickens to give us eggs, then occasionally I will have to help a rooster stop crowing.

The whole process was difficult, it was very emotional, but I am proud to say that we raised a very happy, healthy animal, that my family are going to appreciate for dinner another night-my emotions had enough to deal with today.

As I swung Frizzle and felt his neck break, I was so focused on sending him peaceful vibes, that I didn't realise how much the kill had take out of me emotionally  until I was holding him upside down by his legs, with his wings flapping around, for what seemed like eternity. Luckily my husband was there for me to express this to, and to distract me a little. Next I had to bleed Frizzle, which meant chopping off his head. I wasn't expecting this to be so confronting, as I had already done the hardest part, but if you are preparing to harvest your first chicken, you should know that that part is also really tough. 

With the hard parts over, I set to work plucking Frizzles feathers, and thanking him for what he was giving our family, telling him that we were going to use his beautiful feathers to make dream catchers. No doubt anyone witnessing this process would have been shocked, and concerned by the way I was talking to an animal I just slaughtered, but it felt right, it felt like I was showing him respect, and that we were helping each other on our respective journeys. At one point, I even said to my husband "it's somewhat calming to think that your great Grandmother used to do this every Sunday, just down the road, for their Sunday roast". 

Luckily for my husband, he needed to go and pick the kids up from kindy, before I got to the gutting stage (plucking took so much longer than the video I watched). Mark wasn't keen on the whole gutting thing when I asked him to watch this tutorial with me, but his knife skills are so much better than mine, so I asked him to try to learn, because I really didn't want to waste any part of the rooster. Turns out I did a great job....and when I found Frizzle's heart I was genuinely surprised by how big and healthy it was for such a little guy and said to him aloud "of course you have a big heart, my sweet little fella". I am proud to say that I raised a super healthy animal, that lived a very happy life, and he was peaceful when I put an end to it.

But when I went up to the compost to put his gizzards in there, and I heard another chick chick testing out it's vocal chords I stopped, looked at them all (only six of them now) and said "who said that? Who ever it was better pipe down, because Frizzle is no longer with us because he was making that noise, and I'm not ready to do that again for quite some time".....again mother nature forced me to see my emotions, hopefully she will pass me a solid and help me keep my other little boys quiet for a while-Mark decided not to cook Frizzle tonight and put him in the fridge "to enjoy with his friend tomorrow". Clearly my husband is proud of my lady farmer skills, but has no idea the emotional roller coaster I went through today.

I'm proud of myself. Anyone who eats meat should have to at least witness what I did today. I totally understand that most people won't be able to do it, I didn't know if I could at one stage today, but it has become far too easy to walk into a supermarket, pick up an animal and burn it on the BBQ without a second thought. Our great grandmothers would not believe the way we are living today.

TONIGHT'S UPDATE

We enjoyed a very special, emotional family dinner, thanks to our efforts and our backyard. I asked Lara if she wanted to have a tiny taste of the chicken, and to our great surprise she did, and put it perfectly when she proudly stated "that is the best chicken I've ever tasted, thank you Frizzle". We talked about that being because he was super fresh, and also that I think it's because he had a wonderful life, and a peaceful death. My little family has learnt so much this week, and we are grateful.