Labor Day Weekend

So, we didn't go on any fun vacations or anything over Labor Day weekend. Instead, we got to process our Cornish Cross meat chickens. It actually needed to be done a few weeks before that, but we've just been so busy. They were the fast growing chickens and were supposed to be processed at about 8 or 9 weeks. When we finally got around to it, they were 12 and a half weeks. Nathan turned them from birds into chicken resembling something on a supermarket shelf (an interesting process) and we both worked to pressure can them. Nathan weighed them as he processed them and the rooster weighed in at 9 lbs. before all the de-boning, skinning, etc. and the two hens weighed in at 8 lbs. We ended up getting 13 pint jars out of the three chickens. I'm excited to have chicken on my shelf that doesn't have to be cooked ahead of time and doesn't take up freezer space and will still be good if the power goes out for an extended period of time. I was nervous to do it (I hadn't canned anything with a pressure canner since helping my mom with beans when I was little), but now I feel more comfortable and I'm excited to can more chicken later. It was easy!! Here are some pictures. Don't worry, we kept out the inbetween ones.

Here's the before picture. The white chickens are the Cornish Crosses. They are SO much bigger than the Easter Egger also in the picture. We were afraid that the one on the far left wasn't going to make it to processing day. Cornish Crosses are known for getting so big that they have hip problems and can have a heart attack. She was extremely sluggish at the end, but made it!

Here's the after picture. 13 pints of chicken. YUM!!