Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

ok quick question, my husband says my chickens that are fed FF taste terrible, i dont know what hes talking about, hes trying to say the clear fat blobs that apear under the skin is where the taste comes from, says his chickens dont have it only mine do... i find that hard to believe, ive seen that gel on store bought birds too, i just dont look for it as its just something thats there to me... i cannot find any info on this, any insight? (we hit a new record, butchered 6 birds in less than an hr, go us!) and i was right, the EEs i had were all larger with massive fat stores, the red crosses were skinny with fat, but very little, all had bright yellow feet and skin, and yolk colored fat

Taste is subjective and it could be merely his perception of a difference because he knows they are being fed something different. I've been eating home grown chickens since I was a little girl and I can honestly tell you that the FF has improved the flavor of the meat to such a degree that I almost couldn't believe I was eating an old yard bird...it has a gourmet flavor, mild, nutty and clarified~no gaminess at all.

I've also used the fat rendered down from the birds fed the FF and it was phenomenal! Even my 79 yr old Mom couldn't believe the taste of the meat, the stock and the dishes made from the fat...said she had never tasted better in her life and she isn't a woman for flattery.

How do you think they taste?

 

[Triple Willow]

I know!! What's with that???  When I had to carry one for work they were always calling me about nothing or my oldest son would call me.  Well, where I lived and worked I was constantly on the road seeing patients in two large mountain filled counties, so the number of cell towers are few and cell reception is nigh nonexistent outside the town limits of the largest towns~a total of 3 of those and I was rarely ever in those towns while working. 

So, here I am traveling through a rare service pocket and the phone is dinging like crazy, I pull off and retrieve several messages and the majority of those messages are demands to know exactly WHY I'm not answering the phone.  Really?  You live here too and you don't know why I'm not answering the phone?  Well...let's go through the options:

1. I'm wrist deep in a melanoma tumor that smells so bad you can smell it when you pull up to the house and get out of the truck and cannot easily answer the phone~do you really want that funk on this work phone?...OR

2.  I do not have cell service until I happen to drive back to the office, where you can just tell me to my face what it was you so desperately needed.....OR...

3.  I'd just like to have whole blocks of time~at least 10 min~in which I don't have to hear anyone's voice in my ear telling me things I already know and have already done and are no longer pertinent just because you love to micromanage your employees so you'll have something to do while you sit behind that desk and fiddle with papers.....OR...

4. For Son~I am a grown woman, have been driving back roads in the snow since before you were ever a gleam in your daddy's eye, you know my job has no set hours, no one has ever worried about me before and they don't need to now just because you now have a fancy cell phone that you don't get to use very often because we have no cell service in the mountains but you want to use just willy nilly because you simply must be like the rest of the world and live the American dream of being always, constantly, continually, ad nauseum updating one another on every single fart you have let in the past 15 min. since you called last.  Busy here, Son, and am running like mad through my day of patients to just get home and relax, so I'd get there a lot faster if I didn't have to answer the phone every 10 min. so you can ask me why I didn't answer the phone 5 min. ago. 

Yep...not a fan of the cell phone. 

hahahahahaha I hear ya! If I left my phone at home by accident "somebody" would accuse me of doing it on purpose so they couldn't call me! LOL I couple months ago I forgot to put the new card on my phone so nobody could call or text me. The internet worked so I didn't know the other wasn't working, thought it had been awfully quiet all day. lol One ding dong was trying to call me (you can guess who!) and ohhh my gosh they were calling other people trying to get ahold of me and thought the other was lying because they SAID they couldn't get ahold of me either! Lawd have mercy what a life I lead! LOL Don't think for a second that I haven't considered making a special trip to the river just to get the satisfaction of tossing this phone in! hahahahaha

 

[KrazyChromatics]

usually he puts them into a soup, but i plan to do something different this time... i think they taste great lol idk but i may be partial because im feeding them special and i feel mine are superior anyway lol but do you know what that clear gel is? or what its called?

 

[Beekissed]

usually he puts them into a soup, but i plan to do something different this time... i think they taste great lol idk but i may be partial because im feeding them special and i feel mine are superior anyway lol but do you know what that clear gel is? or what its called?

Clear gel? Not sure what he's talking about...there is always a certain level of slime between skin and meat on most animals, it's just interstitial fluids that help keep things lubed up so they slide easily over one another.

 

[Triple Willow]

usually he puts them into a soup, but i plan to do something different this time... i think they taste great lol idk but i may be partial because im feeding them special and i feel mine are superior anyway lol but do you know what that clear gel is? or what its called?

It may just be water. If you run water over a bird water will collect in places like you are talking about. It does look like slime or gel.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Sounds like silverskin full of water to me!

 

[sarahsunshine]

Ooops - I intended to quote whoever it was who was commenting on how southern snow was always colder than northern snow!

Oh I can attest to that. When I moved here (Edmonton alberta) from southern Ontario, I was dreading the cold - but I can tell you that -25 out here with practically 0 humidity is great - put a jacket on over your sweater and you are fine (I mean a rain jacket!). Just keep moving.

In southern Ontario, the wet snow and humidity made those temperatures miserable! I swerar the coldest temperatures and most dangerous temperatures are between -5 to +5C (25-40f) because everything gets WET - and then the moisture saps the haeat right out of your body. BRRR!

 

[KrazyChromatics]

Quote:
it looks like gel, and its impossible to grab, usually i have seen it by the neck and over the breast, but hes found it under the wing on the ribs i guess *shrug* i looked up silverskin and it doesnt loo like that :/ ... ill grab batteries from work and get pics if i remember ... they are resting in the fridge right now

 

[Lacy Blues]

I'd tell him that I used his chickens for this pot of soup and see what he says.

 

[Beekissed]

it looks like gel, and its impossible to grab, usually i have seen it by the neck and over the breast, but hes found it under the wing on the ribs i guess *shrug* i looked up silverskin and it doesnt loo like that :/ ... ill grab batteries from work and get pics if i remember ... they are resting in the fridge right now

It's just part of collagen or some type of protein or interstitial fluid that helps the skin slide over the muscle tissue....and since FF is very high in amino acids, I'd say the collagen is more abundant in animals fed on FF. Just a guess, not a fact, mind you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collagen