Why did the Eygptian chicken cross the road?
To get to the Afterlife!


Are you a student or teacher whose 6th grade class is studying ancient Egypt? If so, here's my 'recipe' for a Chicken Mummy (see below). This project is a fun, educational and not-too-smelly way of learning more about the history, culture and science of the early Egyptians.

The recipe is reproduced here from my novel 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher (Dial/Penguin; copyright Lee Wardlaw, 2004). In one of the plot lines of the story, several students speedily embalm their own version of King Cluck in order to enter him, uh, her in the upcoming History Faire - - with disastrously fowl (foul!) results. If you follow the directions, below, carefully, your poultry prince will not meet the same fate. HAVE FUN!


HOW TO MAKE A CHICKEN MUMMY


YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 whole fresh chicken, about 3 pounds. (Do not use a frozen or defrosted chicken.)
• 1 box gallon-size Zip-loc (or other brand) self-sealing freezer bags.
• One large mixing bowl
• One large metal spoon
• 4-6 (one for each week) four-pound boxes of salt (granulated, not rock salt)
• 4-6 (one for each week) one-pound boxes of baking soda
• 1 bottle of olive oil
• 1 box each of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
• Rubber gloves
• Paper towels
• About 2 yards of linen, bandages, or an old sheet, cut into 1” strips


DIRECTIONS:


1. Put on rubber gloves.
2. Remove chicken from wrapper; take out the giblets (neck, gizzard, liver, heart, etc.) and set aside. (You may place the gizzard, neck, liver, etc., into separate glass baby food jars filled with lemon juice, rubbing alcohol or vinegar, to simulate the canopic jars the Egyptians used to bury the heart and other organs of the great pharaohs.)


Lee and her chicken wave hello to fans.


3. Wash the chicken, inside and out, with cool or cold water.
4. Pat chicken completely dry with paper towels. Remember to thoroughly dry the inside of the chicken, too.



Lee makes sure Miss Chick is clean and dry.

5. In a large bowl, pour in one box of the salt and one box of the baking soda. Mix well.
6. Coat or dredge the outside of the chicken in the salt and baking soda mixture.
7. Place the chicken inside a Zip-loc bag. Fill the inside cavity of the chicken with the salt and baking soda mixture.



Get in the bag, Missy!


8. Pour the remainder of the salt and baking soda into the bag, making sure it evenly coats all sides of the chicken, especially the wings and drumsticks.
9. Seal the bag. Place the bag inside of a second Zip-loc freezer bag. Set in a cool, dry place for one week.



Here's what your chicken should look like after Stage One. Remember to keep her sealed in this bag for one week.


10. After the chicken is in the bag, thoroughly wash the bowl, spoon, rubber gloves and any surfaces the chicken may have touched, with HOT, soapy water. Dry.
11. At the end of the first week, put on the rubber gloves and remove the chicken from the freezer bag. (You will notice a faint, but not unpleasant, poultry odor.)
12. Using paper towels, wipe off the salt into the trash. Pour or wipe out the salt from the inside cavity as well.
13. Repeat with steps 5-9.

14. Each week, until the chicken has dried out (about 4-6 weeks), you will need to remove the chicken from the bag, wipe off the salt, and repeat steps 5-9.
15. When the chicken has completely dried, wipe off the excess salt with damp paper towels. Pat the chicken dry.

16. Rub olive oil into the skin of the chicken.
17. Sprinkle the chicken with ground clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and rub into the skin.
18. Wrap the linen or bandage strips around the outside of the chicken until the oil no longer soaks through.
19. Decorate your chicken mummy with “jewels.” She is now ready for his funeral procession and entombment!




Here's my chicken mummy, wrapped and bejeweled and ready for burial! I didn't have strips of linen, so I cut up an old pillow case.

MORE PICTURES TO COME!


20. You can have extra fun with this project by: naming your chicken mummy; writing a history of his life, reign, great deeds; build a sarcophagus or tomb for him; create special treasures for him to take into the Afterlife, such as games, books, foods, jewels, etc.

21. You may wish to bury your chicken. Some teachers report they have dug up and unwrapped their chicken mummies more than a year later, and not only did they still look fresh (some with red meat on the bones!), they did not smell!


Has your class made a chicken mummy? Enter it in the Chicken Mummy Contest. Coming soon to this blog! Watch for details . . .