Saturday, June 18, 2011

How to weigh a chicken...

Did you ever wonder how to much chicken is in a chicken?

I did because I was wondering how big our used-to-be-chickies needed to be in order to be big enough to butcher and give a decent amount of meat. So I asked a professional chicken grower I know and this is what he said: Put the chicken in a bucket and weigh the bucket.

Hmm. have you ever tried to put a chicken in a bucket?? Bet not.

Here's how it goes:

First off you need: a 5 gallon bucket, a scale to set the bucket on and a chicken.

Step one: Grab the chicken. Easier than you think, esp if you have as many chickens as we do because it doesn't really matter which one you get. Wear boots and old clothes. You will get dirtier than you think.

Step two: Put the chicken in the bucket. NOT so easy. After first trying to put the chicken straight in the bucket I realized I would have to subdue the chicken or it would flap too much and break a wing.
Here's how to subdue a chicken and get him in the bucket:
a) grab the chicken by its feet
b) hang it upside down by its feet
c) make sure Jack isn't nipping at it's face so it can relax
d) wait for the chicken to calm down
e) when the chicken goes limp walk to the bucket and quick flip the chicken in the bucket
f) ignore chicken noises, he will be OK but if you stick your face in there, you may not be.

Step three: Weigh the chicken-filled bucket.

Step four: Carry the bucket back to where all the chickens are and gently ease the disoriented chicken out of the bucket.

Step five: Stand guard while the chicken gets his wits back.

Step six: Weigh the empty bucket...subtract this amount from the chicken in the bucket weight.

Step seven: Subtract 30% off the weight of the chicken (without the bucket). and that is how much chicken meat you will get from of your chicken.

Step eight: Take a shower.


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