A Tale of Two Chickens

Society as a whole likes big breasts. And they have a unearned reputation for being healthy.

But chicken breasts weren’t sold separately until the 60’s when federal regulations stepped up and discovered problems with parts of carcasses, so chickens began getting pieced. Add our hurried, busy lives and our obsession with weight over the decades and we have ended up with only 20% of all chickens raised being sold as whole birds- 80% are pieced out. The breasts are prized.

So what happens to the carcasses ? And what’s more nutritious ? You know how I feel about bone broth , people ! You tend not to waste any part of an animal when you raise it yourself. It’s a disservice to the animal.

The breeds pictured are birds I had processed in the fall. The one on the left is the broiler chicken queen- raised on pasture, rotated daily, chick to pot in 8 weeks and prizes for those luscious chicken breasts (so big in fact they can’t reproduce naturally).

The other three are various roosters of my backyard hatches and are dual purpose breeds (raised for eggs and meat). Like I mentioned in my previous post, when you hatch your own chicks you have to have a plan for excess roosters . Why? Because roosters will fight to the death for control of the flock.

So, at six months usually, I process any excess roosters for stewing. The bones and chicken feet make the most amazing broth. It’s full of gelatinous goodness which means healthy skin, bones, hair and nails for you in the form of collagen. You can add a splash of apple cider vinegar to your water when making broth which helps release more of the collagen from the bones.

But as you can see they look….different. The one on the left is what you see in the grocery store, although the ones on the right are so superior in so many ways.

If you are perfectly okay with going down a cup size or two.

Love Jenn xx