It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

YoungBlueEyes

*raises hand*

I’ll be hen dispatcher and plucker to earn my keep if that’s ok? 

When I was little (ish) me and my uncle James used to kill hens/ducks/geese wholesale (on the farm in Ireland).  Hens were easy - as I’m typing I’m trying to work out how to describe this - I would draw a thick chalk line on the ground. James would lay the bird down so it’s face was at the end of that line. While it was mesmerised I would put a broom handle across it’s neck and jump on each end (think hopscotch). Dispatch complete.  You could do ducks like this too, but geese were above such nonsense.  James would wring their necks old style. 

Then he’d plunge them into buckets of scalding water and I’d rip feathers out by the handful, kept carefully in a clean sack cos they’d go to make pillows. 

I bet it’s all very hi-tech and wizzy now!

Edit: also I can skin and gut rabbits, but I can’t eat them. The smell of them cooking makes my insides heave 🤢

TheAble

YoungBlueEyes said:

*raises hand*

I’ll be hen dispatcher and plucker to earn my keep if that’s ok? 

When I was little (ish) me and my uncle James used to kill hens/ducks/geese wholesale (on the farm in Ireland).  Hens were easy - as I’m typing I’m trying to work out how to describe this - I would draw a thick chalk line on the ground. James would lay the bird down so it’s face was at the end of that line. While it was mesmerised I would put a broom handle across it’s neck and jump on each end (think hopscotch). Dispatch complete.  You could do ducks like this too, but geese were above such nonsense.  James would wring their necks old style. 

Then he’d plunge them into buckets of scalding water and I’d rip feathers out by the handful, kept carefully in a clean sack cos they’d go to make pillows. 

I bet it’s all very hi-tech and wizzy now!

Edit: also I can skin and gut rabbits, but I can’t eat them. The smell of them cooking makes my insides heave 🤢

Lovely! Thanks for sharing

YoungBlueEyes

Ha haa! Sure I left all the grim parts out! 

London_1

Gosh I can remember plucking the dispatched chickens when I was small with my brother in the late 1940s. We had to save the feathers in a seperate pillow case for Mum to sort out, and after we had plucked the bird my late Mum went over the stubbly bits with a candle stump and burnt the bits off.
iIs amazing how many blooming feathers a chicken has, but she would 'draw ' it and clean its innards and we know it would end up cooked and golden on the table . usually at Christmas or New Year .
Chickens were far to valuble to eat all the year round as they are today I never ever tasted a turkey until I was in my twenties and married, can't say I was impressed as I find them a bit tasteless and dry TBH.

My Dad would wring their neck very quickly and could snap its neck in seconds. Life was a lot different back then nothing came in cling film or neatly boxed up

JackieO xx

GaleSF63

Working in MOD we had rolls of shiny TP till about the mid-eighties, with Government Property stamped on each sheet but I think the paper itself must have been far more of a deterrent to stealing than the labelling.

Woolsery

Elsien, looks like your prediction on the doorbell thread came true. This is what came through to me:

elsien commented on WWYD - workmen caught on video doorbell

Come back DT all is forgiven. To be honest I'm surprised that it has lasted this long, given that most threads nowadays that veer towards discussion have a ten…

I assume that was....  'a tendency to disappear.'

YoungBlueEyes

I knew I shoulda bookmarked that page, it’s gorn! The last post I saw was bendy-house’s this morning 😧

sammyjammy

YoungBlueEyes said:

I knew I shoulda bookmarked that page, it’s gorn! The last post I saw was bendy-house’s this morning 😧

Was it just folk giving their two pennies worth or was there an update from OP?  Did they complain/approach the men in question?

elsien

No, just the usual heading off at tangents (guilty as charged ) and people saying “I’ve not read the first 12 pages but” and repeating something that’s been said several times already. 

CKhalvashi

sammyjammy said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

I knew I shoulda bookmarked that page, it’s gorn! The last post I saw was bendy-house’s this morning 😧

Was it just folk giving their two pennies worth or was there an update from OP?  Did they complain/approach the men in question?

I didn't see an update from the OP, but do agree that it's unacceptable of the workmen in this case.

For the record, I definitely would say something and wouldn't be overly polite about it.