Today was a busy and hectic day on our little homestead...
It's never easy on butchering day, none of us enjoy the job, yet, if our family is going to become self sufficient enough to get through the Canadian winter, raising and processing animals is a skill we need. Obviously we are still in our infancy stage of self sufficiency.
The only animals we keep are chickens, we have egg layers, and meat birds. Other than that we grow as many vegetables as we can on our small homestead that we rent, yet we haven't grown enough yet to get us through a winter. Next year we will be incorporating pigs and that should help stretch out the food for a lot longer. We will also be adding even more garden space. We do it as we can afford it, so each year we grow our homestead more and more.
Our eventual goal is to be on a similar path as White Walking Feather's clan 
Next, butchering and processing chickens.
I will go through a few of the steps here, and will spare you any traumatizing photos, if you do need step by step directions on how to properly and humanely butcher your own chicken read this invaluable blog: How To Humanely Butcher Your Own Chicken Dinner.
fabricated, there are other cones you can make or buy that would work fine too). A bucket to catch blood, which I later mix with water and use in our garden beds to add nutrients to the soil. You put the chicken upside down, his head comes through the cone hole, and you quickly slit its throat and allow the blood to drain.
We are so grateful for all the plants and animals that help us survive. We could not live without them. Our dream is to live without so-called 'corporations' and 'governments', to be in total control of our own survival and cut the proverbial umbilical cord to those slave making institutions.
Thank you for witnessing our journey...