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’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.
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.🙄
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.
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.
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!
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! :)
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 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. 💕
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 RUclips. 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 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 RUclips community. This is a great learning experience for the kids and city folk. Thanks for loving your animals.
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
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 :)
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 💚
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.
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 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!
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!
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 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!
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
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.
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 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!
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.
We know that spring is a SUPER busy time. But, we just wanted to check in and make sure everything is ok. We are always praying for you and your family! Phil & Virginia
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.
This video was really well done. I love that your children were involved and are learning where their food comes from! So many people don't. It is so important.
Big beautiful chickens ! I love how involved and interested the kiddos are! Most people don’t realize how much better they taste this fresh!!! Nice video thanks for bringing us along!
I just want to say thank you for explaining it that way. Consciously raised and processed. That is exactly how we do it. We thank each bird for their contribution for our family and we treat each respectfully. We also do it ourselves at home and Congrats on your new plucker, we hope to get one eventually. We only raised for our family this year.
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.
Oh my gosh! New to your channel. Love that your kids are involved in everything, really helps create a well rounded person. I'm 70 now but It was my job (baby of the four kids) to help mom harvest the chickens. I was the official plucker!That plucker you have is amazing!
great to involve your kids, and showing them the entire process. i think you gain an appreciation for the animal that gives it's all for you. thank you for sharing.
Thank you Jill! We are getting ready to start our homestead and want to raise and butcher our own chickens. I love your setup and how you butcher consciously. Thank you for sharing and teaching us new things.
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
So I’m watching this mesmerizing video from LA and amazed at the whole process. I can imagine trying to do this myself as they would have 150 years ago without the plucking machine, preservation bags, and cold storage.
It's so important to teach your kids these life skills and their appreciation for their food increases..I've found that they realize the work that goes into food and their farm animals..you guys are awesome 👌 👏
It is great that you have your kids involved. They learn where they're food comes from, and appreciate it. And they also got a good biology lesson as well. Thank you, as well, for your explanation at the beginning. Yes, we need to appreciate these animals, for what they give us.
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.
Thank you for posting this. :) Too many folks nowadays do not know how their food ends up in the store and on their table. I grew up raising our own animals and vegetables from our own garden, and I will be forever grateful to my parents and grandparents for the life skills they instilled in me.
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!)
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.
Superb video!! Love that the kids are getting a REAL education. My parents used to process chickens when I was a child but I had forgotten much of how it was done. So even I, a 70 years old farmer learnt something. Because of the unnatural feedstuffs used in commercial meat production, I am considering raising my own meat chickens!
This is very educational video! Greatly appreciated. That feather plucking machine is amazing! Showing trick of holding bagged chicken in hot water to heat that then creates a vacuum after cooling was neat idea.
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.
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.
Just found your channel! We started building our chicken coop this spring and started our channel last year. We our building our ten acre homestead in the prairie of South East Idaho. God Bless!
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.
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
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.
I loved watching your children learn with an honest curiosity. They’re already miles ahead of others their age.
This should be something anyone living a sustainable rural life knows how to do. Hormone & antibiotic free.
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 !!
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.
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.
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.🙄
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 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. 💕
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 RUclips. 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!
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.
It's great to see a family working together, the children learning, and seeing how all of this is done. Well done!
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.
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.
Kudos to you for allowing your kids to learn the entire process. They won't take food for granted. God Bless.
Mechanical chicken pluckers are the best invention ever. Nice explanation and very tastefully done ✅
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!
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 RUclips 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. :)
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.
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
Superb and thanks for showing such a well made video. Its brilliant that the children are taking part and asking so many questions!
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 :)
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 💚
As a city boy/man I always wanted to see this. Thank you
Those chickens lived a beautiful life with you, and now they give back for all the love you gave them.
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.
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.
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 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!
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!
Loved learning with you all! So wonderful the children are taking part too!
I love that your children are involved. Best kind of living 👌
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 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!!
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
Thanks for not playing into anti meat folks preferences. This video helps alot of people.
Thank you for sharing! What a great learning opportunity for your kiddos too!
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.
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 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!
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.
We know that spring is a SUPER busy time. But, we just wanted to check in and make sure everything is ok. We are always praying for you and your family!
Phil & Virginia
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.
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!
This video was really well done. I love that your children were involved and are learning where their food comes from! So many people don't. It is so important.
Big beautiful chickens ! I love how involved and interested the kiddos are! Most people don’t realize how much better they taste this fresh!!! Nice video thanks for bringing us along!
I just want to say thank you for explaining it that way. Consciously raised and processed. That is exactly how we do it. We thank each bird for their contribution for our family and we treat each respectfully. We also do it ourselves at home and Congrats on your new plucker, we hope to get one eventually. We only raised for our family this year.
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.
Oh my gosh! New to your channel. Love that your kids are involved in everything, really helps create a well rounded person. I'm 70 now but It was my job (baby of the four kids) to help mom harvest the chickens. I was the official plucker!That plucker you have is amazing!
I'd love to see a video on how you build your chicken tractors.
great to involve your kids, and showing them the entire process. i think you gain an appreciation for the animal that gives it's all for you. thank you for sharing.
Thank you Jill! We are getting ready to start our homestead and want to raise and butcher our own chickens. I love your setup and how you butcher consciously. Thank you for sharing and teaching us new things.
This is one the best videos on chicken butchering I have seen. Thank you so much. This is inspiring.
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.
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
So I’m watching this mesmerizing video from LA and amazed at the whole process. I can imagine trying to do this myself as they would have 150 years ago without the plucking machine, preservation bags, and cold storage.
The most human way to provide protein for your family. Way better than commercial.
Thank you for this video! I have 50 Cornish Cross arriving on Tuesday. First time raising meat birds, and I appreciate this information.
It's so important to teach your kids these life skills and their appreciation for their food increases..I've found that they realize the work that goes into food and their farm animals..you guys are awesome 👌 👏
It is great that you have your kids involved. They learn where they're food comes from, and appreciate it. And they also got a good biology lesson as well.
Thank you, as well, for your explanation at the beginning. Yes, we need to appreciate these animals, for what they give us.
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.
One of the best videos I've seen on butchering...nicely done. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for posting this. :)
Too many folks nowadays do not know how their food ends up in the store and on their table.
I grew up raising our own animals and vegetables from our own garden, and I will be forever grateful to my parents and grandparents for the life skills they instilled in me.
A bit of dish soap in the scalding pots will help tremendously. Great job with getting the kids involved and excited.
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!)
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 ...
Thanks for show everything from start to finish. Hadn't seen it since I was a kid and that plucker rocks
Superb video!! Love that the kids are getting a REAL education. My parents used to process chickens when I was a child but I had forgotten much of how it was done. So even I, a 70 years old farmer learnt something. Because of the unnatural feedstuffs used in commercial meat production, I am considering raising my own meat chickens!
This is very educational video! Greatly appreciated. That feather plucking machine is amazing! Showing trick of holding bagged chicken in hot water to heat that then creates a vacuum after cooling was neat idea.
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.
Thanks for sharing and showing how you and your family go about your daily life.
The plucker was Awesome!.
✌🏻🖖🏻👊🏻
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 glad you did this, we are butchering chickens this year and its been a real pain so this really helps, thank you!!
That Christian is a real farming man and very handy at making real nice appliances.
Just found your channel! We started building our chicken coop this spring and started our channel last year. We our building our ten acre homestead in the prairie of South East Idaho. God Bless!
you guys are the real deal. appreciate you and your authentic way of life!