Yard Kill

I was out this afternoon taking my kid to a friend’s house, and as I pulled back into our driveway, I spotted the hawk immediately. His red tail was splayed out in my direction across the ground and I was surprised at his size. He was sitting on top of my favorite egg layer – an Araucana chicken.

The hawk was in a place that allowed me to drive straight up to him. Without a plan, I pulled right up, and as I did, his head turned like an owls, straight to me, his eyes round and huge. The hawk stared me down. It’s a rare moment to make eye contact with a hawk.

As I jumped out of the car, for one second panic hit me. What if he attacked me?! I was so close when the hawk took flight. I was relieved as I yelled at him. He was two feet tall and left my chicken dead with the breast nicely plucked of all feathers. He had not done any damage to the skin that I could see. I wondered if I should leave it in the yard for him to come back or leave it for the other critters? I called Caitlin at Mermaid Farm to ask her what she would do. “Throw big rocks at the hawk and yell and then get rid of the chicken” was her advice.

I put the chicken in the back of the car and could feel how freshly killed it was. I drove the car up to the house, parked and went in. I wasn’t in the house but 3 minutes before I reconsidered. Should I clean it and cook it?

I got a big pot of water boiling and went to the car to fetch the chicken. I wasn’t really sure where to start. This is my first yard kill that I decided to keep for myself. I wondered if it would be okay considering the chicken did not bleed the blood out as it does when you slit their throats and let the blood flow.

As far as I could tell, the hawk made one clean bite into its neck and had started to pull it’s feathers away from its breast. There was a huge pile of feathers next to the scene of the crime, but now that the chicken was lying on my counter, I was able to recreate the crime scene. I decided to start where the hawk left off.

The feathers came out so easily that I did not think the hot water would be necessary. It wasn’t until I got to the wings and found myself tearing the skin that I decided to dip the wings in the hot water. One second in the boiling water and the feathers came out easily from the wings. My bird seemed truly thin, however, the gullet and the intestines were stuffed full of digested grain and grass. This bird was well fed. It made me think that perhaps I should feed my birds more fat, like lard or a better combination.

As I gutted the bird, I pulled out three perfectly formed yolks. Golden eggs! Such a prize! I was making codfish cakes just before getting distracted with hawks and yard kill. The recipe called for eggs, so I threw in my three new yolks.

Now I am letting the chicken rest in my fridge for a few days. Then I will ever so gently slow roast it nice, long and low for a few hours with lots of moisture and onions and garlic. Who will know?