Dead chickens aren't much fun -- but you can eat 'em

I spent the morning helping a group of folks cull seven rosters and one hen. We'd run down a couple. I was surprised by both how fast they could run and by how calm they were once caught.

(note: this gets a little graphic -- warning to the squeamish)

One of us would hold the wings, another the feet, and a third would slit the throat over a pan to gather the blood as it drained. Then a half minute dunk into some hot water. Then an interminable amount of feather plucking. We would then make a Y incision and pull out all the organ bits. Then one of the group would harvest the bursa for use to make anti-bodies for some research projects. A quick hit with a butane torch to clean up the little hairs and then off with the feet into a zip-lock and off to the fridge.

(end of graphic stuff)

Overall it wasn't as gross as I was expecting.