I've made two small test batches of turkey sausage this week that are delicious. The problem is my meat grinder plugs up almost immediately with the connective tissue in turkey meat. I would like to purchase a new electric grinder but from what little I have seen on line, turkey plugs up many...
Hit by winds in excess of 60 mph we quite literally came within inches of disaster. After viewing the devastation It is difficult to believe both coops survived. There was very minor damage to the chicken
coop and no damage at all to the turkey coop in the background.
That big section...
From this…
To this…
in fifteen short weeks.
During those fifteen weeks those five little buggers consumed 400 pounds of feed (150 pounds of 28% medicated crumbles and 250 pounds of the 21% non-medicated variety.)
Processed, the two hens weighed 17.98 lb. and 20.74 lb., the Toms weighed...
According to a posting I've seen, at 14 weeks a BBW hen will weigh approximately 16 lbs. live weight and 12 lb. dressed. I would prefer our birds to come in at around 15 lb. dressed and was thinking about butchering at 16 weeks. Is this realistic or do the hens top out around that 12 lb. range?
Our seven little BBW at 48 hours. The NEPPA (North East Pastured Poultry Assoc.) hatchery near Fort Plain, NY is only a little over an hour south of us so I drove down and picked the birds up rather than have them subjected to the ministrations of the US Postal Service.
By the way, the...
This guy sits drooling on that old grape post for hours. Fortunately, six foot of chain link fence with black plastic bird net over the top means it will be rabbit for dinner one more time.
As can be seen in the preceding photographs, our chicks have quite a disparity in both age and size. In the second picture for example, the little Orpington is almost the exact same size as the head and neck of the sex-link to her immediate left.
The first batch of sex-links came in on March...
It was two degrees outside this afternoon when I happened to look out back and saw something large and black lying on top of the chicken coop that had not been there several hours earlier. At first I thought it was an animal. On closer inspection however, the object turned out to be a dead...
I went into this past winter with a small flock consisting of nine Leghorns, four EE's, four red sex link, and two Black Jersey Giants. The birds were all one year old in February. I am now down to 7 Leghorns. As near as I can determine both of the birds I have lost succumbed due to...
We have eight hens laying at the present time - 3 EE's, 4 red sex linked and 1 Black Jersey Giant. Taken in order clockwise, the egg second from the top is a true pink. the egg at the 3:00 position is baby blue, and the egg at 9:00 is quite a dark olive green. The other eggs are all shades of...
This afternoon we had a very severe line of thunderstorms pass through the area. According to reports, a few miles to our south folks were hit with inch and a half hailstones along with a possible tornado. It was not that bad at our place. (When all said and done, we had windrows of hail...
The project began simply enough with two major goals; A) To house a permanent population of 8 to 10 chickens comfortably and B) to remain within a $500.00 budget.
There was one additional consideration. Well into my 70’s, I can no longer safely manhandle heavy objects. For example: where...
Hoping to stock the freezer with broilers, many years ago I made the mistake of bringing home 50 inexpensive male White Leghorn chicks. I doubt a more bloodthirsty bunch of cannibals could have been located. Nothing stopped the carnage entirely, not topical treatments, not red light in the...
It seems awfully early for around here (forecast is for below zero most nights for
the next ten days) but when the chicks are in it is difficult to resist. Difficult? Ha! My wife took one look and said "I want that one... and that one over in the corner and... well, you know how it goes...
By way of introduction, I thought folks might enjoy seeing the old (1860/1870'ish ?) lithograph we have hanging on our wall. I found it at a garage sale some years ago and despite the condition of the frame could not resist. The picture measures 18X30 and is titled "Shoo". While not quite as...