Most back garden keepers have a few hens that are basically pets who give them a eggs as a bonus. There are some who keep their poultry well but raise some table birds for meat.
The reasons each have vary. Some want the benefit of organic poultry raised to the highest welfare standards with known provenance. Some want to breed their own birds and the cockerels end up in the pot. Some just aim for self-sufficiency in food.
There is nothing more satisfying than sitting down at your table to a meal where everything on the plate has been grown and raised by your own hand.
Table Birds for Back Garden & Small Scale Chicken Keepers
Traditionally cottager's and small farms kept chickens to produce their own eggs and meat. Rather than buying in replacement stock, the flock reproduced its self. Since half the eggs hatched into cocks and hens' egg production fell off with age, they...
Killing a Chicken - How to Kill a Chicken
Killing a Chicken By 'Muntjac'
If you keep chickens for meat or if you need to cull a chicken you obviously want to do it in the most humane way possible. There are sites offering advice that I think are, quite frankly, rubbish so this is how I handle...
Plucking a Chicken - How to Pluck a Chicken
This article on plucking a chicken is taken from Wrights Book of Poultry, circa 1912. It's as good a description of how to pluck a chicken as anything published since. I've added a couple of modern additions which should make the job of plucking a chicken...
Dressing a Home Killed Chicken for the Table
Preparing a Home Killed Bird for the Table
By 'Muntjac'
After killing, hanging and plucking your chicken , take your bird to the kitchen to dress it out.
Remove the Head
Taking a sharp knife, 2 inches up from the body go round the neck skin, cutting...
Trussing a Chicken for the Table – Traditional Methods
This article on trussing a chicken for the table is an edited version of the piece printed in Wright's Book of Poultry (1912 Edition). However, chickens are still chickens and this has to be the definitive traditional method.
Hopefully it will ...
