Last Saturday was my birthday, and it happened to be the best day to process the 40 meat birds I've been raising since May -- 25 French "Label Rouge" chickens, and 15 French guinea fowl. It took seven of us in an assembly line: one to put the bird in the killing cone and do the deed (that was Kenji, of goodeater.org), one to scald using a turkey fryer (that was Liz), one to use the antique plucker (that was me), one to eviscerate (that was Scott, who was our experienced leader), one to sort entrails into usable food and compost (that was Val, who came from Maine to help), and two inside to dry and pack the chilled birds (that was Lizzie and Adri). Michael helped us catch the birds and held birds in the cones and generally floated to help whoever was in the weeds. It was quite an experience, to raise birds from one day old to packed in the freezer for a year's worth of eating. I calculated that a roast chicken twice a month would be plenty for our needs (they are big 6 pound birds), with small guineas filling in when we wanted smaller poultry.
see Kenji's account here.
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