Recent content by wsmoak

We usually do meat chickens (Freedom Rangers) but this year we decided to do turkeys. I got the assortment from Murray McMurray. Any guesses on what the brown ones are? -Wendy

This will probably help: http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-properly-scald-chicken-my-never.html I set the temperature to 150F, realizing that because I spray the birds while they are in the killing cones, I will be lowering the temp a bit when I dunk the wet birds...

Well... you don't need to feed a Freedom Ranger to 12 weeks -- I know this because due to various things happening (or not happening, like the plucker not being finished!) I just did. They were enormous and had way too much fat. They're supposed to be ready from 9-11 weeks, and that's been my...

If you are buying direct from the mill, do they not have a higher protein broiler feed available? Surely the layer feed is not their only product... You might also want to ask them what their minimum order is for a custom mix. If it's half a ton and you're raising 50 at a time, that could...

Yeah... there are lots of things I can do myself, but electrical wiring is a) not something I already know how to do, and b) not something I'm terribly interested in learning. Not that I *couldn't* figure it out by reading the instructions and watching YouTube videos... but there are only so...

Matt, welcome to BYC! You've commented on an old thread from 2010, and I don't think the user 'atd' is still around. (In fact, the post above looks like his only one.) Just didn't want you to think everyone was ignoring you, but you many not get a response on that query. You might try...

Like just about everyone else, I started out heating water on a propane camp stove and stopping before every scald to get the temperature right before dunking the birds. I also tried an electric heating element, but with no thermostat it had the same problem of fiddling with the temperature...

Livers and hearts get cooked and diced as a treat for the cats. Also another little red organ -- there's only one so perhaps it's the spleen? Backs and necks go to make stock -- but I typically freeze whole birds, then roast them and make stock from the carcass. I tried burying the heads...

If you rinsed it well, don't worry about the bile. It happens occasionally, and I sure don't throw away a whole chicken because of it! Next time you need to do one quickly, don't bother to eviscerate it. Just split the skin up the breast (I use kitchen shears) and slice off the boneless...

I think you have just solved my problem. I already have a bucket heater that will heat a decent quantity of water -- but it has no thermostat and has to be babysat just like the propane burner method. ETC Supply not only has the part you mentioned, but for $15 extra they will pre-wire it...

Congrats on processing your first! Did you withhold food before you processed? Without food in it, the crop can be hard to locate. If it's empty, though, there's no reason to worry about it. I generally take their food away when I do night check (around 9pm) if I'm going to process in the...

I leave them in the fridge (or in a cooler with ice water if I'm out of space) for about 3 days -- until rigor mortis passes and they become floppy again. Then I shrink-bag them and put them in the freezer. I would give your friend the ones that were frozen on Monday, just to be safe...

Here is some information published by Georgia Organics, which is trying to promote on-farm processing: http://georgiaorganics.org/advocacy/pastured-poultry Here is a small farm near me that offers pastured chicken processed on the farm. Perhaps they can answer some questions about how they...

(Somewhat off the thread topic, but since I just looked it up to make one I thought I'd link to this thread on constructing a killing cone: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/389035/how-to-build-a-killing-cone . I've also seen people use the orange vinyl traffic cones, with the top cut off...

Resurrecting an old thread... I am also struggling with this. After just two birds the water is nasty. :( They are on grass, but it's not so thick that they can't find dirt scratching around. Not to mention the manure, even though I move the tractor twice a day. Do you just figure, well...