When we entered into this world called “homesteading” we knew one of our goals would be raising meat. On our little 3rd of an acre large animals weren’t a possibility. So, we settled on Cornish Cross meat birds.
We placed our first order for 20 chicks with Murray McMurray Hatchery. When they arrived at the post office that early morning, and we received the call. Our home was filled with excitement and some nervousness. We were now responsible for those tiny little 24-48hr old baby chicks.
Our kids were younger than they are now. We were worried about the possibility of them getting too attached and they did. Deep down though they understood because they too wanted to see where their food came from.
In our experience raising regular chickens had been a fulfilling and rewarding experience with benefits beyond collecting the fresh eggs. Our chickens had begun teaching our children, responsibility and the cycle of life. Along with some very important life skills and lessons.
We raised those little chicks and watched them grow, thrive and flourish. It was amazing to see how quickly they grew! That’s when processing day came…
The day we had been planning when we first placed that online order. We’d been preparing and getting things ready. I was raised a city girl and had always gotten our chicken from the store. Having an animal die let alone have it be raised for food was something I’d never experienced. Dylan however was a country kid. He grew up with all sorts of animals and he also grew up hunting. So, when that day came, I was really trusting in his abilities and the videos we’d watched online.
We set up all the things we needed; the tent, tables, the cone, buckets, plucker, a scalding pot of water and the knives. We’d been having the conversation with the kids since the chicks had arrived, but the time had finally come. We gathered together as a family and had that final conversation. We prayed and gave Yahweh/God thanks for the ability and for our precious birds.
It was an amazing day and a life changing experience. We placed an order for 20 more birds that day. It gave us such a love and respect for our food that we hadn’t truly had before.
One of the things we wanted to do when it came to processing our poultry was doing it on a budget. A typical chicken plucker is $300-700. We knew that wasn’t a possibility. We watched some videos where people had built their own plucking machines.
Dylan being a mechanically inclined built a plucker out of an old washing machine he got for free. He wired it to a light switch that can be flipped to turn it on. It’s worked so well at removing the feathers off of our chickens. We’ve ran over 100 birds through it at this point!
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After sharing our experience, we had some local friends reach out for help they had 57 birds that needed processing. It was something they’d never done before. We loaded up our equipment and what knowledge we gained and headed over to help them.
That’s where the seed was planted to share our knowledge with others. To help teach others these important hands-on skills that seem to be lost to society.
This homesteading community that we’re so blessed to be a part of is a beautiful thing. It often feels like family or attending family get togethers.
We’ve attended the Homesteaders of America conferences a couple of times. Getting the opportunity to meet friends, followers and strangers has been amazing.
This love we have for teaching has allowed us to speak and teach at local homesteading conferences. Seeing the unsure facial expressions of attendees turn into smiling confident faces is priceless. We don’t know everything, but we have a desire for more knowledge. We know we’ve been blessed with the ability to share and inspire others to start homesteading, gardening and raising poultry.
Our Poultry Processing class at the Patriot Homesteaders Conference in April of 2023.
“God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” May we always follow HIS leading in the teaching of others.
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God said, “Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature — each kind of livestock, crawling animal and wild beast”; and that is how it was. God made each kind of wild beast, each kind of livestock and every kind of animal that crawls along the ground; and God saw that it was good..”
Genesis 1:24-25
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