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Exactly the same here. Some people sell excess pullets to help pay for feed costs, makes sense to me. But for my own reasons I eat mine instead. I typically butcher my cockerels between 16 and 23 weeks but the pullets usually go to 8 months so i can see what eggs that are laying before I...

Well glad to hear someone else butchers pullets! We all have out individual goals, management techniques, facilities, and ways of doing things. I could sell pullets instead of eating them if I wanted to but that just doesn't suit me. If I only ate cockerels I'd have to hatch twice as many...

should I throw some salt in so it’s kind of brining? The main purpose of brining is so the meat absorbs moisture. You can add salt flavor anytime. If you are going to cook them by a dry process like frying, grilling, or roasting brining can help. If you are going to cook them with a wet...

They go through juvenile molts as they grow. They outgrow their feathers and need to replace them. Sounds like you hit a juvenile molt. I've seen people on here post ages for those juvenile molts but different people post different ages. I don't think there is a specific age, each flock...

That is interesting, I did not expect that with CX. What age were they? How do you handle the wings, is that what mostly slows you down more with the boys? I raise dual purpose, eat both males and females, and skin them. The difference between boys and girls is clear but I thought that was...

Not as far as I'm concerned but use common sense. I'd avoid the lesions. If one were exhibiting symptoms I'd not eat it. But if one were not exhibiting symptoms I don't see why not. But then I'd eat wild game like squirrel, rabbit, game birds, or deer and who knows what shape they are in.

Assuming you are speaking of Marek's and they are not growning the lesions, best I can tell mainly fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Some calories, and compounds like anserine, glycine, carnosine, and creatine. Probably a few other things. The same as meat from chickens that are not...

Is Marek’s disease a live vaccine? Yes. But it is Turkey Marek's, not Chicken Marek's. It does not prevent the chicken from getting Marek's and being a carrier, it prevents the lesions that do the damage from forming. The vaccine does not give your chicken the Marek's disease. It does not...

I pressure can it but it freezes too. My canner only holds 18 pints. I make three batches of broth for one canning and wind up with about 20 pints. One pint goes into the fridge for immediate use and the other goes into those 1-cup freezer containers. Do not overfill. The broth expands as...

That is a trick we use in hurricane country where loss of power is kind of expected. If you fill empty (and washed out) milk jugs with water and freeze them the freezer will hold the freeze a lot longer than if it is empty. So fill any excess space with ice. Plus you have plenty of ice for...

Or build a lager coop. Or even better, build a second shelter. It doesn't have to be a true coop with nests, just predator proof and good for your weather. You could use that to help integrate chicks or as a grow-out coop for cockerels. Or if you put a nest maybe for a broody hen. A second...

Personally I'd break one and give the other either day old chicks or eggs to hatch. I've had broody hens fight over eggs just as they started to pip, half the eggs were destroyed. Just as they started to pip. :he I know some people have multiple broodies hatching and raising chicks at the...

That's why mash feeds are typically served wet. You make a thick paste and stir it up. They can't pick and choose.

With some grain crops it is planting time. No harvest without planting. And with grains (along with many other things) it is a global market. Harvests in the Ukraine or Australia will affect global grain markets. I'm not seeing much on supply chain management in the news but to me that is...

Which vaccines? There are different vaccines out there. Two common ones are Coccidiosis and Marek's. I agree with Kusinar, with the Cornish Cross especially. Symptoms are not going to show up until butcher time or later. With Rangers, maybe but not that much. Dual purpose may be more at...

Is that weird to consider butchering 4 mo old pullets of these dual purpose breeds that I think of as more layer than meat birds? I keep a few replacement layers from my pullets and eat the rest. I typically butcher my pullets at 8 months, after I've evaluated them for laying. You won't get...

Yes

I use the hatchet and stump method. One of the secrets to that is that you need to cut into the grain of the wood, not across the grain. That's why a stump works so well. The hatchet head sinks into the wood so you get a cleaner cut. If you get a heavy board and try it the hatchet head will...

My brother was a rural mail carrier before he retired. He said they had a few idiots working for them, just like everyone else.