The chook that was affectionatly known as Debeaky after our dog got over friendly has left the building. Well, in truth she's entered the building and is precicely located on the bottom shelf of the fridge. This was my first experience in dispatching and preparing a chook and it wasn't as bad as I feared. It had been a point of discussion for a while because she wasn't laying and the other chooks were pushing her around. We were catching the bunny before lunch and Rebecca dared me. When I got the axe out and she realised that I was actually going to do it Rebecca ran and hid but it was quickly over and then the plucking began. What joy! It took a while but I imagine after a few more goes the whole process would be done in under 10 minutes. Once the chook was relatively clean I took it inside to gut it. With Rebecca yelling out instructions from Jackie French's Chook Book we managed to get the smelly bits out. We decided not to experiment with offal or feet at this stage so the dog got to have another taste of Debeaky. Anyway, because she's now too old for roasting we are thinking of using Jackie French's Coq au vin recipe.
Even given the unfortunate incident with D'art (the dog) she had a good life. The chook tractor gets moved onto fresh ground every two weeks, she got plenty of greens and she had space to move. I even put a swinging perch in there for my girls. If you compare that to the horrible life of a battery hen or a broiler as seen in this picture we really should be happier eating our own chooks than the cheap breasts on polystyrene trays from Coles. Is it tastier? I'll let you know! 
