I had been put in contact with a farmer down the road who was willing to come and teach me. Saturday morning was rainy and cool and I was starting to get a little anxious. This was something I had only read about, never even witnessed.
I was raised eating meat. Now that I'm an adult I personally prefer to have a mainly vegan diet with occasional meat/fish and some dairy but not often as I'm lactose intolerant. Frankly I think most people don't know where meat comes from, they just take it for granted and perhaps don't want to know. In my opinion if you are going to eat meat you must realise yes, you are taking a life and you should make sure that it had a good life and death. I remember watching a show where Jamie Oliver had to kill a pig before being allowed to cook for a family in Italy. He was profoundly effected by the experience and it made me feel I could do this.
These birds in my opinion had a great life. They were given free range during the day and put in a large coop at night. They wandered all over our farm, scratching for bugs, eating the crickets and grasshoppers my boys found for them and showing that wow, turkeys can soar one heck of a distance.
So I set up a table up at the barn, covered with plastic and a clean cardboard box spread out on top. Knives and 3 buckets nearby to hold the "extras" for the pigs, another for the necks, hearts and livers (they make the best gravy!) and the last one big enough to keep the birds chilled until I could finish them for the freezer. Once he arrived we set up his propane burner and started filling his gigantic pot. We placed a full bucket next to it to top it up if needed. The boys and Paul were up there to watch.
Warning: This is where this post may get a little graphic for some people.
Time for our first bird. We went into the barn and I brought one down from their roosts in the rafters. Outside he knelt with the pea hen (female turkey) between his legs, and put her head to the ground. I was shocked at how docile she and all the other birds turned out to be. He quickly stabbed her brain through her beak and cut the major veins in her mouth. Then held her upside down for the blood to drain out. There wasn't much, maybe half a cup.
As her nerves fired she was held tight and then it was over. Later birds I held though this and he killed them. I wanted to kill the last one but just couldn't bring myself to do it. So he took my hand and we did it together. I almost cried but kept myself together.
Next step was scalding and plucking out the feathers. The water was checked for a temperature of 150 degrees. We dunked the bird 3 separate times for a few seconds each. Then checked to see how loose the feathers were. You don't want to leave it in too long at once as it will start to cook the meat, so we made sure to give just a quick dip.
Then holding the bird up we pulled the feathers. It was remarkably easier then I had been told it was. Just grab handfuls and pull. The wings were the harder ones. After most of them were off we went to the table to start butchering. He did the first one to show me how and I did the rest of the birds. I'm quite handy in the kitchen and I loved Biology in school so I was up to the task.
First off come the feet. Then we used a machete hit with a hammer to get the head off. I'm sure we could have used an axe too. Then I pulled back the skin at the neck and loosed the crop from the surrounding tissue. Future times he told me I can keep them off feed for the 24 hrs previous. Now I'll know for next time. With the grain in the crop, once the organs are removed it will have to come out the top of the bird not the bottom. No issue just an added step.
Next came a slit across the belly being careful to make it shallow and not nick anything inside. Once through I opened it up a bit to the sides to make room to get my hand in. I was nervous about breaking the gall bladder but he said I was doing great. Just loosen the organs from the body and reach up to the top grabbing hold of the windpipe, grip and pull. You should have seen my face when it worked. Awesome! Then get your knife again and carefully cut out the vent. I carefully pulled the livers off of the gall bladders and pulled off the heart and placed them in a chilled bucket. The rest into the bucket of extras.
Last thing is to cut out the neck. I cut away at the muscle on the top and sides, reached my hand up into the bird holding on and grabbed the neck, twisting it off. This part took a bit of strength. At this point they were set to chill and we moved on to the next bird.
Due to instruction time the 4 birds took about 3 hours from start of set up time until they were ready for me to finish in the kitchen. This took me about an hour removing all the remaining feathers and making sure the birds were cleaned out and rinsed. Then into the freezer bags they went and were weighed. The chicken was 4.75 lbs and the turkeys were 7.5 lbs, 8.5 lbs and 10.5 lbs.
My fellow farmer thought I did great. He asked if I would be interested in coming to his farm to help him with his chickens in the spring as I would be a real asset. I was overjoyed at the compliment and very proud.
These birds were just for us. I will certainly be raising meat birds and layers again in the spring and hope to keep breeding flocks of each. All the meat birds will be going to a processing plant so I can sell legally to the public. I'm so happy I now know how to do it myself if I have to. It is a humbling experience.
The boys did very well, each one happily taking up the "extras" for the pigs and asking lots of questions. I even talked Anthony into plucking some feathers. Paul did great taking pictures and not throwing up. Poor guy. However he was very supportive and I was so thankful to him for cleaning up the kitchen and making us dinner.
All in all it was a tiring but great day and I was happy to relax later with a beer watching the game.
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