My Cornish X experiment

[Luvmybob]

Headcheese, never tried it but I will try anything once. I have a big hog outside ready for slaughter but I lost my dog recently and he kinda got attached to me... bacon or love... he will actually sit in my lap all 230pounds of him ANYWAYS... Sounds like your chickens are happy and healthy, and your doing a great job with them. I'm going to have to cut back on my big Cornish x baby, he hogs the food and scarfs it down like he hasn't eaten in days.

Take care and good luck!

 

[duluthralphie]

Headcheese, never tried it but I will try anything once. I have a big hog outside ready for slaughter but I lost my dog recently and he kinda got attached to me... bacon or love... he will actually sit in my lap all 230pounds of him ANYWAYS... Sounds like your chickens are happy and healthy, and your doing a great job with them. I'm going to have to cut back on my big Cornish x baby, he hogs the food and scarfs it down like he hasn't eaten in days.

Take care and good luck!

If you do make headcheese, boil it down outside, It stinks, but after I added the spices it is smelling good....... Lots of work for a little cheese.

 

[Luvmybob]

LOL! I don't know if I could even attempt that... my hat off to you and yes it is camo..

 

[LindaB220]

Linda My chicks were hatched on August First at the hatchery, I got them 2 days later.

They have been raised on lower protein limited feed. I am just now starting to give them unlimited feed, but they have such good eating habits they are not over eating or sitting in their own poop and scarfing down food!

I just saw an amazing sight, all my birds are under cover, lying about like me on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I throw them scraps now an then.

Yesterday I started a batch of Headcheese, I know some of you will vomit at the thought of it, but I like it.

I boiled the heads all day yesterday and picked the meat off last night. I threw the bones fat and stuff I do not use in the finished product to the chicks. They really picked the bones and fat over. I think they ate half the fat and cleaned the skulls! Now they are full and resting, all of them. I doubt there was a lot of protein in what they got, but they sure filled up on fat.

I have my birds in a pen now, they have been there for about 2 weeks, since my fur bearing predator attack and my needing to go to my sons in Iowa for a few days. With the cooling weather I do not think I will free range them again. Their pen is huge for the 23 birds I have left. It is about 100ft by 100ft, with lots of play things and cover. They are very happy , I think.

Ralphie, they weren't laying under the cover, they were in a food coma.

A good treat for them. I do like headcheese and haven't had any for 30 years or so. The stuff in the store is not the same. As a young bride I visited my MIL one day and she was making it. I thought I was going to die. Truly. ha But she also sucked the brains out of squirrels heads. I had to leave the table at that.

But I finally grew up and realized that I had been protected from anything but 1950's cooking. Urban. I later became more adventurous and began eating things that my kids despised. Fried chicken livers, oysters, sweetbreads (pancreas) ummmm one of my favs. Good memories

 

[duluthralphie]

I have never made headcheese before, I used an OLD (in like she has been gone for 35 years) Norwegian womans recipe my Mother had.

About half way through the process, I was ready to throw it all out and never eat headcheese again. It smelled so bad!



Anyways back to the chicks, I forgot to mention, I threw the heads to them last night after I put them in the coop, allowing them to ripen a tad. At noon when I looked in on them they were eating like crazy, but not just the heads. There were the huge black flies all over the heads. The chicks were picking them off as fast as they could.


I was thinking that is great protein and wondered where I could get some car kills to feed them, it would be cheaper than feed.

 

[duluthralphie]

I put wood chips into the tractor/brooder today. Instead of moving it. I thought they would enjoy the chips.

It scared the silly birds. They refused to go into the tractor tonight. What normally takes me 5 minutes took me over an hour tonight. I had to pick up almost every bird and put them into the tractor...


Teach me to do something nice for them,,,

 

[duluthralphie]

I am noticing the birds sitting around more and walking less. Some are getting quite thick in the waist.

I am cutting the feed down a little. Today I gave them only 45 minutes to eat in, the rest of the day they had to pick scraps or forage.

I do throw them kitchen scraps and junk from the garden. Like pumpkins and cukes.

 

[LindaB220]

I am noticing the birds sitting around more and walking less. Some are getting quite thick in the waist.

I am cutting the feed down a little. Today I gave them only 45 minutes to eat in, the rest of the day they had to pick scraps or forage.

I do throw them kitchen scraps and junk from the garden. Like pumpkins and cukes.

How old are they? How big? Have you weighed any yet?

 

[JacobH]

Hello all. I've been kinda scarce lately, but I keep up on reading the posts. Just don't have time to reply. Two jobs and school get to ya. Our chicks are still happy and healthy. Definitely getting bigger, but also behind on growth. I kinda accepted it. Still only at 100 lbs of feed so far, which isn't bad from what I've seen. I'm only looking at buying 50lbs more from what I can see. They're almost 7 weeks, definitely not butcher size yet. I'm kinda planning on 9-10 weeks. We'll see. I'm just uploading a bunch of pictures. The best is the group dust bath. I love the people that say they won't act normal. They scratch around like crazy and dust bathe with the best of them.

 

[duluthralphie]

I must be feeding little more than you Jacob.

My chickens look about the same as yours but I think the breasts are more filled out.

Mine are 49 days old today. so just over 7 weeks, they lived longer than my last bunch!!!