Friday, July 23, 2010

Update on Chickens

Last night we slaughtered the last of our meat chickens. We have 2 left and those are going to be added to our laying hens. One we named Lilly, she was pounced on by the dog a few weeks ago and he broke her leg and some other injuries. We didn't think she would live and we didn't have time to slaughter her. So we said tomorrow we will and then another tomorrow we will. Till about 6 weeks have gone by and she limps but we have all gotten attached and feel bad that the dog hurt her. So Lilly was pardoned, the other got away last night and since it is a hen we thought we would see how she does laying.
 Last week when I canned up the 6 chickens we did I used our roaster and sterilized the jars. It worked great and was a big help.

The lids I washed and threw in a few minutes before using. I heated the jar and rings and kept them hot till I needed them. I just pulled a couple out at a time while filling.

To can chicken I don't keep the meat on the bones. I cook the chicken till it is 2/3's of the way done and pull it out of the water, then let it cool a little so I can pull all the meat off and start stuffing it in jars. I use the water I cooked it in to pour over the meat add a little salt and cap the jars. Leave a 1 inch headspace.

Pressure can pints at 10 lbs pressure 1 hour 15 minutes, Quarts 1 hour 25 minutes.

Have a Blessed Day and Weekend!

For my LDS readers Happy Pioneer Day!
Hope your celebrations are wonderful. Tomorrow, we'll have a horse and buggy, livestock for the kiddos to see, a pony they can ride on, and a wonderful cookout. What kinds of ways has your family, ward or branch celebrated Pioneer Day?

Erika

3 comments:

  1. I never thought of using the cooker to sterilize the jars...what temp do you put it on to do that? We are probably doing meat chickens next year. This year started with layers and we are still waiting for our first egg!

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  2. What a great idea Erika, to use the cooker to sterilize the jars. Very ingenious!

    I just purchased two meat chickens from a friend who raises them...those chickens were quite large, they were as big as a small turkey!

    Since I only bought two, I decided to freeze them to use in the winter.

    Thank you for sharing.

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  3. I washed the jars in hot water and placed them and the rings in the roaster and filled with hot water. I then turned on the roaster to about 350 and let it heat up. Your not suppose to boil the lids just a light simmer so I don't put them the water till I actually am in the process of canning and while I fill the jars they are heating and when the jars are all full I start topping with lids.

    erika

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