Four roosters have gone to heaven

I believe that I had previously commented that my host family had 80 chickens.  The chickens belonged to my host family and my host father's two brothers' families.

Before the move

A couple of weeks ago after the construction was complete on the brother's chicken house, half the chickens moved next door.  So we were down to 40.  Well, we are now down to 36. My host sister has been wanting fresh chicken so last night after dinner four roosters bit the dust.  It was quite a production, witnessed and participated my members of my extended family. I think at one point we had around ten people in the yard.

First there was the selecting of chickens.  Since my family hopes to get eggs from the females, roosters were the target.  This was accomplished by entering the chicken coop with flashlight, spotting a rooster and then shutting off the flashlight and grabbing the rooster.  According to Nunu, chickens can't see in the dark.  I did not participate in the chicken selection, but was sipping tea in the kitchen with my host mother. The chickens were brought up to the yard to meet their maker.  I did dishes while the first two were dispatched, but did pluck up enough courage to witness the demise of the final two.  An uncle was in charge of this aspect of the process.  He stood on the wings, while the chickens faced Mecca and cut off their heads.

Once the roosters were dead and stopped moving the women swooped in.  One-by-one boiling water was poured over the chickens to loosen up the feathers.  The primary plucking was done at one table, with the finer plucking at another.  I gathered my courage and assisted in the fine plucking.  Somewhere there is a picture of me.  I was doing fine and only jumped once when a headless neck swung my way.  I believe that my primary goal in this process was to provide comic relief.

After assisting with the finer plucking of two of the roosters, I sat down and watched for a while but headed to bed prior to the gutting.  To honor the roosters that would be providing my next day's diinner, I ate  package of Trader Joe's Meyer lemon cookies.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner