There are about 8 households that have gone in on a meat chicken-raising expedition.  Sean and Adam are heading up the operation and they purchased the 50 chicks via mail in March or so.  We received the chicks in a box about 9 weeks ago, they lived at Jill and Phill and Murray's house for several weeks and then migrated to Adam's property where work parties had put up a chicken house and chicken run.  Last weekend was the first round of slaughtering.

John and Colleen were there, along with Adam, Sean, Lenore and Enid.  We all took part in something.  I was a little hesitant and waited around to see what it was all about before giving my hand at gutting a chicken, but in the end, I emptied out 2 of them.  The process wasn't as gory as I was thinking - thanks to a $15 set-up that gives you all you need to do your own home slaughter.  We had 4 metal inverted cones for holding the live chickens before we slit their throats, a big vat for heating water to 150 degrees, a plastic rotating tumbler with rubber fingers for de-feathering, and a stainless steel gutting table.  

I admit that I didn't take part in the slitting of the throats, but what I saw of it wasn't too horrific.  The poor birds are so heavy to start with (a breed we probably won't get again), that they hardly stand up and rarely walk around, even though they are "free range".  All they wanted to do was eat all day long.  So it wasn't much of a life for them anyway.  They didn't like being picked up and inverted into a metal cone, but once that part was over, the rest seemed to go pretty quickly.

We got through all 23 of the big guys/gals in just a few hours.  Bagged them up in ziplocs and packed them nice and tight in coolers.  We put 3 of the chickens straight on the grill - little did we know that it's common to let the meat "relax" for 2-3 days before actually eating it.  We were all surprised to note that the freshest chicken we'd ever eaten was pretty darn tough.  The meat wasn't that juicy melt in your mouth salty flavor we were salivating for.  Regardless, we had good salads and vegetables from people's gardens, as well as Lenore's famous 'burnt sugar cake' that she makes for Adam and Enid's Birthday every year (they're twins).  

So, our first slaughter was a success.  We have 3 chickens in our fridge "relaxing".  We'll probably do this a few more times at least, as we like the idea.  Sometimes we wonder if the $10 charge for a chicken at the coop isn't such a bad idea - now that we've experienced the real thing.  At this point, I think it will be up to Adam and Lenore.  They take the brunt of the work since the chickens live at their house.