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With yurt construction wrapped up, Jean-Paul and I were ready to pack up the van (again) and head east to begin Phase Two of our big adventure. Before heading out though, we helped Dad slaughter a few chickens to pare down the flock a bit. I think that there were about 13 hens and 1 rooster, but we were only getting 4-6 eggs per day so obviously a few of the ladies weren't pulling their weight and had to go. But how to know which hens were laying and which weren't?!?!

Well, Dad found an article from Backyard Poultry (a magazine to which he subscribes) which explained how to tell if your hen is laying eggs. Here are the signs according to them: somewhat less yellow legs than hens that are not laying; a bright red, waxy comb; a moist vent with supple skin; and something about the pubic bones that I can't remember. The first hen that we pulled out seemed to exhibit all of these signs, but Dad said "well, I'd like to get rid of this one anyway." so on to the chopping block she went.

My favorite part of this slaughtering endeavor was the method for heating water that you can see in the picture above. Yes, that is a flame weeder pointed at a trash can full of water. Brilliant...and terrifying.

The only step we didn't get a picture of here is the plucking, which is too bad because that is really where the magic happens: when you turn a fully feathered chicken into something that looks like what is in your freezer. It is also very messy and the feathers stick to you fingers which makes it very difficult to take pictures.

We found quite a few partially formed eggs (and one fully formed!) during evisceration indicating that the Backyard Poultry methods worked! oh..wait...

As it turned out, the oldest hens (and thus the best candidates for slaughter) seemed to all still be laying, but perhaps now that they are out of the picture, the newer hens will step up to the plate. Only time will tell.