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Best wishes! The housing market is so high now. People are paying over asking price and it is a seller's market.

When nobody buys them & it’s time to downsize the flock, pullets are on my menu. Since I didn’t want cockerels, I ordered the minimum 25 birds & made meat. Learned a lot about chickens. Marketing is my weak point. That & I think I was priced high. But then again, these girls ate & they were...

@Mixed flock enthusiast Instead of soaking the birds in ice water, I'd drain the water and let them sit in ice. I've done this with game for several days until I could process it for the freezer. No, I don't think that is the way the livers work. I've seen the yellow livers and was told it...

Little more game like. Stronger tasting. Not quite as strong as wild duck. Close to domestic duck. Similar to dove. No, they don't taste like backyard chicken, but close. Taste nothing like store bought chicken. Not sure this helped. Cook just like chicken. Soup, stew, laid on a bed...

How to butcher around the molt? I'm still learning. For broilers, they are lightly feathered and not as big a deal. For the Barnyard Surprises, I went to first crow and butchered. 2 pound birds, so they weren't optimal. I have neighbors. No crowing. I read that you can look/feel/inspect...

Get a higher table. Helps immensely with the back pain. If you are on a banquet table, cut 1" or 1.5" PVC pipe to raise the table to a more comfortable height. I use a stack of pallets (bleached the top one) at chest height. What a relief! Don't torture yourself. You will get faster with...

Duck wax works on the little fluffy hairs and down. Really doesn't touch the pin feathers that are still in the sheath. Good idea though. Easier to butcher around the molt, but that is tricky on thick feathered dark birds. I had some production black or Australorp cockerels from last year's...

I pluck and ignore the little black specs. By the time the skin is crispy, it is all good and scrumptious. If there is someone who is sensitive, leave the skin on to cook and slice the meat for presentation with or without the skin. Gotta get that flavor.

Y'all aren't helping. Trying to decide if I need to have a winter hatching for Spring meat right now. It will be barnyard mixes for soup birds since the spring hatch only produced 2 (pullets I believe). The Broilers are still filling the freezer and we have been eating them. Delicious...

if you are not 100%, don't lose another cycle. Off with his head.

And this is why we are hanging out on a meat bird forum. Healthy and happy taste better.

You are most welcome. Please ask detailed questions and I will try to answer. the general questions have so many ifs, ands and buts attached to them and what I like may not be suitable for you. I don't want to steer you wrong. Do buy eggs from MyShire. I thought farming was a lot more work...

14 butchered. 12 in the freezer and 2 heading for supper. Easier? Maybe? Different, yes. Figure 6-8 ounce carcass weights. Do you want to mess with such tiny things? 8 weeks to maturity and butcher. If you like hatching, you can hatch a lot. Keep a net handy. Useful for the escapes...

Yep. About to butcher 20 or so of the delicious little things. Did you read the Quail forum? Lots of tips, tricks & to dos.

I'm not a big turkey fan either. I'll eat it, but won't go out of my way for it. The sole cockerel from the last batch of Imperial Broilers has Thanksgiving written on him. We do like the skin for rotisserie. Still haven't had time to mess with the smoker.

It’s a year old and times change. Google much?

I think they be fine. @jolenesdad is talking about one he kept back from last year. She is in with his egg layers. Butcher at will. I took mine to the freezer at 15 weeks for the last set.

How thick? The paper shelled eggs had me change from oyster shell on the side to layer feed with oyster shell on the side. Got the calcium up but I've still got one girl laying thin shelled eggs. With 3 hens laying cracked eggs, the nests and other eggs were a mess. Found that a 1 year old...

3 years old. Yes, she was older. Her eggs were breaking in the nest making a mess. Not always, but often enough to be an issue & were super jumbo from such a little girl.

Yes. I thought there was something wrong with the EE, but everything appeared fine. She laid thin shelled eggs and was acting off and thin.