Winter Wrap Up! (March 19th, 2016)

With the arrival of Robins, Grackles, and Killdeer the past couple of weeks, plus some of our perennials popping up out of the ground, it is finally time to get outside and prepare for spring! Spring officially arrives tomorrow on March 20th, so here's to a "Winter Wrap Up" !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9BAeyZhAdE

Now that the snow is gone (hopefully for good) it's time to start cleaning up around the yard.  Marianne's sister, Charlene, came down from Barrie during her March Break and she helped us clean up a section of our cedar line.  It was hard work clearing out old branches (and logs), along with pulling and chopping off grape vines, loading it all into a wheelbarrow, and dumping it in our brush pile. It took us 4 hours to clear just 30 feet of fence line.  Sometime in the future we will plant some cedar trees to fill in the gaps. Thanks for all your help Charlene!

The chickens have also been enjoying the longer days and were out to scratch and eat the insects we were unearthing as we raked.  They also seemed to have no fear as they often got a little too close while we were raking, chopping with an axe, and even using a chainsaw!

Charlene and the chickens cleaning up.  Photo by Marianne Balkwill

Early spring is also the time of year we order our chicks.  This year we are going to go with the original breed we had back in 2013, the Rhode Island Reds.  They are a friendly breed that are good layers and are a decent meat bird.  We should be seeing our 16 new baby chicks on April 19th!

Unfortunately this means it is time to process our current chickens to put in the freezer.  This is never a fun job, and thankfully Marianne's Mom always comes over to help us which makes it go by faster.  In five and a half hours we got all 11 into the freezer bags.  We start by placing the chickens upside down into a "killing cone" that we made by cutting out a hole in the bottom of a flower pot to which we added a funnel.  After slicing the neck, we let the chicken bleed into a bucket. After the chicken dies we let it bleed out for 10 minutes.

Our homemade killing cone is attached to a post in the ground.  Photo by Marianne Balkwill

 

Next we must pluck the feathers.  To do this we dunked the chicken in water that is heated to 150 Fahrenheit.  Once you are able to remove a primary feather, it is time to pluck the chicken, cut off its head and feet, and place it into a cooler. 

 

Holding the chicken by the legs you dunk it in hot water. A little bit of soap is added to the water as well which helps the water penetrate the feathers to get to the skin.  Photo by Marianne Balkwill

 

Once all the birds are completed, Aaron and Marianne's Mom cleaned the chickens and Marianne took them one by one inside to rinse in a sink of cold water and clean out the rest of the organs.  After this stage is all completed, we burned off the remaining "hairs" with a propane torch and placed them individually into freezer bags for the fridge.  Here they will sit for 2 days before they go into the freezer.

 

All of our chickens from 2015 are now ready for the freezer. The white meat we often use for sandwiches, the dark meat for stir fry. We also use the stock as well for other meals. 

 

Now that that job is over we will be continuing our spring cleaning by shovelling out the coop, raking up the run, and power washing the coop both inside and out (the last item when it's not so cold out) so that it will be ready for our new chickens by the end of May. 

 

We have a lot of projects for 2016 including finishing our greenhouse, digging a pond, planting fruit trees, and creating hutches for rabbits.  The longer daylight length is a signal for us to get out there and start spring off on the right foot!  Happy spring everyone!!