From Eggs to Soup

Warning: This post contains a photo of chicken innards that some may wish to avoid seeing.  Others (like me) might think it is amazing.

The time has arrived to amalgamate the laying chicks and turkeys in with the rest of the flock.  These mergers are always a bit stressful (for me and the birds) as they involve the re-establishment of a new pecking order.  This typically involves a lot of actual pecking with is unpleasant to watch and I am sure even more unpleasant to experience if you are a hen towards the bottom of the order.

Usually the oldest birds are at the top of the poultry pyramid making them the most aggressive peckers as they strive to maintain their dominant position in the new order.  The oldest birds might be in the high power positions but they are also the poorest layers.  Most hens are at peak egg production for about two years and, after that, their egg laying frequency declines from a daily laid egg, to an egg laid every few days, to once a week, to eventually only a couple a month.

In order to simplify the establishment of the new pecking order by removing the most aggressive hens, streamline egg production by removing the very occasional layers, and top up our larder with canned chicken and stock for winter soup making, tonight nine of our oldest hens were transitioned from the coop to the canner.

This was the first time we let the older boys help with processing livestock.  Despite this being one of our least favourite farm chores, I have strong views on the importance of understanding the journey it takes to get from farm to table.  It is very important to me to raise humans that know where chicken fingers come from and can appreciate the partnership of farmer and livestock.

Ian and I did the "dirty work" but Liam held the hens' feet and both boys helped with plucking.  The best part of the evening was the amazing teaching moment that arose when Ian was cleaning out the birds' internal organs and was able to show the boys egg production in progress.  I heard them speaking together afterward saying that it this was one of the coolest things they have ever seen.  I, too, am fascinated by such things so can appreciate their awe at such an amazing biological process.

These "eggs in progress" were all inside one bird!

We are truly blessed in the lives we lead here at Gael Glen Farm.