Grandma Stella Smith and Chickens

Hatching Chickens

My Grandmother, Stella Smith somehow knew when a hen was ready to set. She also knew which eggs were fertilized and would put the eggs under her. I guess Grandma knew all about the science of chickens hatching. She would watch the hen and the eggs. If any of the chickens were having trouble getting out of the egg, Grandma would help them a little bit. She would have my sister and me come over to where the hen was sitting and the chicks were being born. We would watch along with Grandma very quietly. Thinking back on it now, it was all so miraculous. 

Once the chicks were old enough, they would be released into the chicken pen. Grandpa would buy special food for them but we also fed them scraps from the table. It was fun watching them grow up but we knew that they would someday be food right from the start. They would either become food or they would produce food.


Getting Ready for the Table

At one time, my Grandma was a very large woman but she was always on the move and always working. Grandma would kill the chickens as a first step for getting them ready for the table. The way she would do it was to wring their necks which would break them. I remember Grandma getting out in the chicken pen with a chicken in each hand. She would swing her wrist around in circles until the chickens necks broke. Sometimes, she would do this to several young fryers so she could prepare them for the freezer in order to have chicken for the winter. I remember chickens flopping all around Grandma in the chicken pen.


Time to Pluck

I loved my Grandma so much that I wanted to be just like her and do everything that she did. She took care of my sister and me when our parents worked which was a lot. I followed my Grandma around everywhere she went and slept in the same bed as her often. 


When Grandma killed the chickens and plucked them, so did I. I remember that I was probably about 4 to 6 years old and I was helping Grandma to pluck chickens. My baby sister was almost exactly two years younger than me and I don't remember her doing any chicken plucking. If she was 2 or 3, I can see why she wouldn't or even 4 or 5. Tudy and I were different. Maybe she was hanging out with Grandpa but he was still working in the fields at that time so maybe she was taking a nap. I just don't remember her being there. I do remember helping Grandma to pluck chickens 2 or 3 times.


I remember that this chicken plucking took place when the house was still two rooms. Grandma would heat a big pot of water on the stove. She would give me a small aluminum tub and she would have one. She would dip a dead chicken into the water to soften up the feathers to make them easier to pull out. Then she would put the dead chicken legs in my little hand and I would go to plucking. I loved plunging my hands into the feathers and I was being just like my Grandma. I know that I must not have done a great job of plucking but Grandma told me that I did. Once all of the chickens were plucked, she would clean them, and burn the pin feathers off by holding them above the burner on the stove. She would then cook some up and freeze the others if she had killed a bunch of them. 


Fast Forward to Today 2023

Please Do Not hand me a dead chicken now to pluck!!!