Good Bye Earl - Thank You

We butchered Earl our rooster this morning. It was a learning adventure. Stephen had constructed a killing cone out of aluminum sheeting and attached it to a stainless steel sink unit we got from a friend. We watched a lot of you tube videos. They make it look so easy! The problem was we had dull knives. We thought our knives were good enough. They were not. Earl was a mature 1 1/2 year old rooster and his skin was tough! So we struggled a bit. Also our water needed to be 150F for the dunking. The feathers came off ok but hotter water would have been better we think. However too hot water is not good either. We butchered on the east side which in the morning is in direct sun. This was also not a good idea either. We wanted the cooler morning temps but in the sun is always a bad idea. So next time we will wait until the sun has moved behind the house. On the bright side Earl gave AMAZINGLY yellow fat for our bone broth. Really the best looking chicken fat I have ever seen. That is the advantage of waiting for chickens to be more mature. Tougher meat but better quality fat. No wonder the french love rooster in Coq Au Vin. We cooked the chicken in a pressure cooker which took about 25 minutes. Earl was so large I could have gone longer. The remaining chickens are really freaked out. It was harder to catch Earl than I had hoped. He knew what was coming I think. And he crowed so much early this morning, simply reinforcing his fate. But we wanted to give the four chickens we have a break from roostering and now when we integrate the two flocks I won't have to worry about giant Earl attacking any chickens. Good Bye Earl and Thank You. I think you had a good if short life and one bad day.