According to Chad Mills, almost anyone can process their own meat chickens if they have some land. But he said it’s also a “humbling experience to really realize where food comes from, to realize how detached we are.”
“I have killed animals for food since I was 8, 9, 10 years old. The first time killing a chicken was emotional,” Mills said.
Mills and his wife Deb run Life and Liberty Farm in Francestown, and on two Saturdays in the upcoming weeks, June 25 and July 2, they are offering chicken-processing classes to the public. They’ve held the classes at their farm before, but this year they’ve gotten a lot more interest. Mills said after posting the classes online last week, there were two dozen people interested within two hours, a lot more than they were expecting.
“Compared to 2018 and 2019 the world is a different place,” Mills said, “People are realizing the fragility of our food system.”
The class involves learning how to raise and process eight-week-old Cornish Cross chickens. Mills said processing the birds takes 10 minutes start to finish. He teaches participants how to slit the chicken’s throat, then they dunk the chicken in a tub of hot water called a scalder and then into a plucker to remove the feathers. The chicken is then placed in a chill bucket, gutted and inspected, and participants bring home a locally raised shrink-wrapped chicken ready to be cooked and eaten.
“Barring local town restrictions, you can raise chickens and process them yourself,” Mills said. This is true for chickens and rabbits but not all livestock. Mills said lamb or goat meat, for example, has to be processed by a USDA butcher.
“There’s such a backlog for processing food, for processing meat,” said Mills, adding that animals are being dumped when processors can’t keep up. He thinks now is more important than ever to raise and grow his own food, and he and his wife mostly only eat what they produce on their farm.
“The whole reason I’m doing what I’m doing is to get healthier food,” Mills said, explaining that grocery store chickens have had pretty terrible lives. They don’t move much and are killed young. Mills said his chickens actually “act like chickens.”
“I do not take that for granted,” Mills said, “I know that the animal had a great life. I’m in control of it. I want people to experience this. When people eat one of these chickens they are amazed.”
Cornish Cross chickens are bred to eat a lot and grow quickly, which is why they are popular meat birds. However, Mills processed some of his roosters in December and he said they are “the best-tasting bird.” They have laying hens on the farm, as well, and Mills hatched 87 chicks this spring.
“You can get a rooster and six chickens and hatch your own eggs,” he said. “You can very easily have an endless supply of food in your backyard.”
But Mills warned, “Chickens are the gateway animal to a full-blown farm.”
In addition to the dates this summer, Life and Liberty Farm will offer more chicken-processing classes in September. Classes cost $55 and include a chicken to take home. To learn more about the farm or sign up for a class, Chad Mills can be reached on the Life and Liberty Farm Facebook page. The farm can also be found at the Greenfield Farmers Market Sundays.