Poor Chickens

    "Poor Chickens", my 3 year old munchkin said looking down at the freshly butchered chicken. The Cowboy and I were divided on how to introduce our daughter to the "life and death" part of ranching. If you remember, one of my first memories (at about the same age as her), was of a headless chicken chasing me down the driveway. I was of a mind of, "go play somewhere else". He was of the mind of, "she needs to learn where our food comes from". He was right and I knew it, so she stayed.

    It wasn't as nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Having said that, I must admit, I wasn't doing all the dirty work either. We only butchered 2 as a "trial run" kind of thing. The Cowboy must have felt bad for my ignorance, and actually helped me a bunch. Much more than he first said he would. After a "wring" of the neck, there wasn't even any flopping or running or anything. In my daughter's words, "swing 'em like a rope (swish swish)".

    At this point the munchkin wasn't too concerned anymore and went back to riding her bike. The now headless chickens were hung up to bleed out while the water finished heating up.  After the Cowboy dunked the first one, we hung it back up and I was off and plucking. Repeatedly I was told to take off my bright yellow rubber kitchen gloves and construction dust mask, but I wouldn't have any of it. Admittedly, it did take me longer to pluck a chicken than it did the Cowboy, but I'll chalk that up to inexperience, not the gloves.

   During the plucking, the munchkin got curious again and came to investigate. She inspected the chicken and stated, "Chicken has an owie, him have no head." She then went back to playing with baby kitties and feeding the rest of the chickens.

    We had a box full of feathers and heads, now we had to gut them. When I say "we", I mean that I helped hold the chicken to make it easier for the Cowboy to gut. Again, the child was curious and watched with a wrinkled nose. I'm quite proud of myself for not gagging until the second one was in the de-gutting process. Guess what got me? The mixture of the hot gut smell and of course the kicker was the suction noise (it didn't happen with the first one). I didn't let go though, I gagged and held the chicken at the same time. That's dedication! hahaha

   I carried the chickens into the house to wash, weigh and wrap. We kept one for ourselves, and the bigger one went into the freezer to sell. They weighed in at 3.75lbs and 4.25lbs.  A little lighter than I thought they'd be, but still a good weight.

    A couple days later, I made chicken and noodles with our home raised chicken. The munchkin watched as I prepared and put it in the pot to boil. She was asking about the dead chicken, so I tried to explain that sometimes we kill chickens so we have food to eat, just like the chickens kill grasshoppers so they can eat. She left and went to play. I heard her playing with a box and overheard her talking to herself. "Here's a box for the chicken heads, chicken feet, chicken fedders (feathers), and chicken guts. Now frow it away and eat da chicken."

    The Cowboy was right all along (hopefully he won't read this post with all these good words about him, and me admitting that he was right so many times!). Kids take things much better than we give them credit for. Sometimes I forget how black and white their world is. She knows to be nice to the chickens (and all animals for that matter) while they're here and how to care for them. She also knows that chickens need to eat grasshoppers to live, and we eat chickens to live. I'd say that's a pretty good grasp on life in general for a 3 year old.

    I'm sure this weekend might have a few more headless chickens in sight. 2 down, 18 to go! As long as the Cowboy helps like he did, I think I'll survive! 

Comments

[Sian]

well done! Sounds like you did good. I have no idea if I would would be able to stomach doing it. Bless your little one she took it all in her stride x

[ted kathan@best home security system]

It's very smart of you to tell her 'we eat chicken to live'. But I suppose she'll find out some day when she grows up, that we don't need meat to live. Human being can be vegetarian, as lots of us being. For me, it's hard to explain such things to a kid, because eventually it breaks his/her fantasy world then release we human are so cruel.

[The Ranch Wife]

Dear Ted Kathan,
Yes that's why I didn't put the words "need" in there when refering to us eating chicken. Believe it or not, this Ranch Wife isn't against someone being a vegetarian. A very close friend of mine has been one since the moment I met her and before. The only time I see a problem is when myself or those in my profession are painted to be monsters for raising animals for meat.
That's why I've seen it so important to other ranchers and farmers to teach their children from an early age to respect the life and death process. I've yet to find or even hear of a ranch kid that's been brought up on charges for animal cruelty like their piers that weren't raised the same all too often are.
You are very correct that taken as a whole this race of humans is very cruel. I guess as a parent all we can do is pick up our kids when they fall, teach them right from wrong, and show them the importance of never being involved in cruelty of any form.
Thanks so much for the great comment!
The Ranch Wife