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What great ideas! My girls refused to eat unfamiliar pellets and crumbles when I ran out of their favorite feed. I'm going to turn those products into treats using these recipes as models. Thank you!

Not for the squeamish: These photos illustrate bee-stung duck carcasses. When I first discovered the massacre, I did not recognize that the bumps were bee stings. I assumed it was dirt or something left by other bugs. Bright light and a pair of tweezers helped confirm the cause of death. In...

Thanks, your description is right-on for honey bees. What is becoming clear is that we beekeepers need to be alert and take action quickly when hives get aggressive. A month ago I opened this hive and just removing the lid sent the hive into a tizzy! I have learned this week that when bees...

It looks like feathers are an excellent defense against stings, especially with the layer of down on a duck. However, I got to wondering about stings UNDER the wings, where the ducks would have tried to hide their heads. I thawed one of the carcasses to take a look. I found a few stingers in...

Yes they do.... I went looking for dead bees and, sure enough, I found about 80 in the duck tub. I did not find any near the carcasses, as I expected. Oh, please don't let me discourage you! It is wonderful to have all these critters, I'm looking for information on what a safe distance would...

OMG, I was going to do a necropsy on one of dead ducks. When I looked at the bird under the bright light, I tweezed out some "dirt" that turned out to be stingers! I pulled about 80+ bits of dirt and feather which mostly turned out to be stingers. Against the background of a white paper towel...

I had 5 healthy adult ducks this morning, this afternoon I found my WH drake, a WH duck, and a KC duck dead in the yard. All were on their bellies with their heads turned backwards, as though napping; all were barely warm to the touch. I cannot find a bite mark or a blood drop anywhere on them...

Well done! I can add to this one. -- Things that fall over: Like the lightweight containers, watch out for items that can fall over when chickens try to jump on them. Items leaning against a wall or fence can be knocked over and clobber or crush a chicken when they try to climb on things. I...

You could also try going to grocery store and asking the meat department for a couple of chicken necks, preferably with skin on. I found it very helpful to practice my slices and try out my knives on something that I could not hurt. You may discover you have perfectly good knives on hand...

I concede defeat for now. I tried to practice the broomstick maneuver without much success. I put 7-8 pounds of beans in a pillow case and knotted the end. I found a piece of pipe that was the perfect length and diameter. Pretending that the knot was a Pekin head, I tried to yank the pillow...

I found that learning to kill animals is like quitting smoking. You have a very clear and rational objective. The only thing in your way is that your heart, mind, body, and soul don't want to do it. A farmer in my area offered a class, so i did my first two birds under "adult supervision"...

Wow, this sounds like a great solution! It's really important to me to have the feedback of knowing the bird is not suffering, and I prefer being able to feel that the neck is really adequately broken. Yours must be the best description of this process on the entire internet. I've spent a lot...

I went shopping for a guillotine. Only found neck breakers in England and Australia. So, I tried to buy a Rabbit Wringer, but it's a 3-week wait. I tried the feed store guy's advice, but I got the same result as always. I also tried cutting the throat higher up, just under the ear, but still...

I'm in soaked and saturated Austin. Due to city rules, my coop is located at the low end of a slight slope, where the run is now a smelly mess of mud. The chickens are spending lots of time in the garage, where the floor is cleaner. The flies are horrible, traps are filling up rapidly. Mulch is...

I'm new at duck processing and am also having a difficult time with them. Today I processed my 7th duck ever and got the carcass clean in less than 40 minutes. I read somewhere that the scalding water for ducks should be hotter than for chickens, so I tried scalding in 170 deg F (per candy...

I like the idea of using the rabbit wringer and holding the duck by the body. I could probably use my whole body to give its whole body a strong yank. But wow....the price on these has sky rocketed since I considered using wringers for rabbits (which I decided not to raise). The other downside...

Wouldn't it break their legs when you yank them? how much force does it take? I like the idea of the Wringer; what I hate about processing is that you need to practice on live animals to get good at it!

My freshly sharpened Spyderco Delica knife works just fine for the cut, but I think the under-jaw slit is NOT the right spot. I think I only opened a vein. I'd like to see a diagram of the best location to make the cut. Maybe it needs to be further down the neck? Maybe it needs to be 1/3 of the...

how do you break the neck? With a broom handle? I don't have a lot of physical strength to wrestle these big ol' birds.

I recently made my first batch of head cheese with one pig's head. I canned the broth. NanaKat's tongue and noodle soup sounds like a great way to use some of it. My head cheese isn't as pretty as hers, but my recipe was similar. I recommend you have a jar of cornichons and a spicy mustard to...