I must've done something wrong... They didn't seem dead. They were flapping and cheeping and lifting their heads. And I cut through the throat. Took under a minute for it to stop, but didn't like it one bit. When I was 13, I was in an agricultural school and we had to process two chickens...
Aoxa, your Barred Rock boy is a beauty! I just got my first trio of Barred Rocks and hoping to cross the Rooster with some of the current Cornish X pullets I have. I got the trio because I saw the result of your BR over CX and really liking it, so I will try the same thing. How are those...
Yes I do hang them by their legs and then cut throat, but they flap and mess blood. I feel so sorry for them! I'm going to try and construct some kind of killing cone so that their wings are restrained.
Thanks for this "recipe" :) Your chickens are looking good! Good luck with processing. I didn't do any this weekend. Maybe this coming weekend. I need to construct a killing cone... The last batch I did were flapping and spilling blood all over the place while they were bleeding out (Is...
I live close to Cape Town now I prefer "the big city" as opposed to "small dorpie". Not that I don't miss Vryheid sometimes. Small town has its advantages as well, but nothing beats living close to the ocean
Whew! I had such a busy week
Started with processing 6 of the birds over this past weekend, which took up a lot of my time, since I am not very experienced.
They came out well, at 3 weeks and 5 days the one I weighed dressed at 600g (1 pound, 5 ounces roughly) without the innards. I...
Oh yeah... Thanks for this. It sets my mind at ease. I was so scared I'm asking too much of her, and may be putting her own litter at risk, but now I feel better.
Thanks for all the advice. My hubby tries to pick them up and pet them, and persists stubbornly (often saying they WILL become tame if they like it or not). I just shake my head as these buns came from a huge rabbitry where they were never petted and to suddenly "force" them to accept petting...
Great thread! I have 4 NZW rabbits, and two does had litters on Sunday. I am very jealous of your setup! Your rabbits look happy, healthy and well cared for - well done! I'm not having any success trying to get my breeders tamed though, but I suppose it's a patience/persistence thing. The...
The chicks are 3 weeks old today. Some pictures:
A close-up of one of the chicks. I opened their cage for them to roam a bit today (supervised) They didn't roam very far and the poor things were traumatized by my layers!
It's a big, scary world out there...
It IS hard finding info on the shows, but there are a few listed on this page: http://www.agriexpo.co.za/agricultural-show-societies.php
Another way would probably be to contact SASPO, their details being on www.saspo.org.za (South African Show Poultry Association)
I actually saw some Brahma's shown at the Worcester show in February, and there is a show there again today. Klein Plasie, Worcester. Probably too short notice... I can't go today because I'm out of petrol
Shows are a good place to see the chickens and meet the breeders. I can also contact...
That's a great point about GMO. I tried to go GMO free, but once you become aware of it, you realize most things contain GMO or are raised on GMO feed. I try to cut back where I can, ie conscious reading of labels and going GMO free where I can, but when it comes to feed, it's just too...
I had the same problem. Started with one 10 liter (3 gallon?) bucket and it soon became too small. Added a 15 liter bucket (5ish gallon?) so now have two buckets. That is also going to be insufficient soon so I am busy sterilizing a big garbage bin... What I do is leave about one sixth of the...
Thanks. They still have plenty of space to run in that cage, so will stay there until they're a bit bigger. I'm still scared to let them out. I've lost much bigger chickens to mongoose and they are so fast. They run, grab and hide before you can even see them