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  1. Sundown_Farmer

    Questions about raising the "extra" male chicks in my hatchery order as meat birds

    We rarely get packing peanuts anymore. IF I specifically order a couple of roosters with my pullets they almost always double the rooster order. To this point we have raised all roosters, picked the best and butchered the rest. 10 extra birds really isn't a problem when you raise 300 at a...
  2. Sundown_Farmer

    Questions about raising the "extra" male chicks in my hatchery order as meat birds

    Packing peanuts could be anything. We find roosters to be tough in every respect. It's even hard to pull their heads off at butcher time. Long legs and razor breasts but flavorful, if tough, meat. You'll need 6 or 7 months to raise less bird than you could raise in 6 or 7 weeks if you had CX...
  3. Sundown_Farmer

    How to render a chicken unconscious before killing?

    A stun knife will do a pretty good job of it for you. Otherwise, a clean cut on each ear from a sharp knife doesn't hurt them (a shaving nick usually hurts later) and they pass out from blood loss in about 5-10 seconds.
  4. Sundown_Farmer

    Whizbang Plucker

    I have a whizbang. I also have a Featherman Gamebird Plucker. The Gamebird fingers are softer, shorter and much, much more numerous. There is no comparison between the whizbang and the Featherman. To channel Ferris Bueller, "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."...
  5. Sundown_Farmer

    how do i save the giblets?

    Well, not just a tug on the liver. Be careful when scooping the guts out so you don't crush the liver and as you remove the liver you also have to carefully remove the gall bladder. Carefully!
  6. Sundown_Farmer

    First meat birds ever in the freezer

    With birds that large you should be looking for recipies, not recipe. You could brine and smoke one. You could roast one stuffed and basted with a peach sauce. You could just use a little salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary and onion to bake the bird. I could keep going. You could follow the...
  7. Sundown_Farmer

    Processing question

    Where are you? We teach a lot of farm visitors how to process chicken. A lot. First time through? Plan an hour to get ready and maybe 15 minutes per bird as you figure things out and get over the gross factor.
  8. Sundown_Farmer

    It's hot everywhere How do you keep pastured birds alive, cool and eating?

    We planned to finish up our broiler production before July 4 this year with our next butcher date mid-October. We avoided the heat wave. Our cow panel hoop tractors, lower numbers of chickens per tractor, full and functional waterers and early morning feeding seem to do the best you can with...
  9. Sundown_Farmer

    A How come you don't question

    Chill quicker? Maybe. Taste salty? Yup. Other things too. The salty bird will absorb more water...weighing more. My customers appreciate that we don't bleach or salt our chickens. They may or may not brine them. By not salting, they are free to choose. A fair portion of forum members do...
  10. Sundown_Farmer

    are cornish x natural?

    Quote: No, I think Pekins are awesome. They breed true, they get a high percentage of their diet from grass and they are good to eat. How do we pluck them though?
  11. Sundown_Farmer

    pasture planting suggestions?

    I second BRF. I raised mine in a pure alfalfa stand this year after watching them race to pick the clover clean year after year. They did very well. In fact, they were the healthiest birds I have ever raised.
  12. Sundown_Farmer

    How many meat birds would you suggest per year?

    We try to keep 50 for ourselves each year. That gives us a bird/week each week minus the week we eat turkey and the week we eat ham...lol. There are 6 of us and we work to stretch each bird out over several meals. Plus we keep a few backs and necks in the freezer for additional soup stock...
  13. Sundown_Farmer

    Anyone else nervous about this heat?

    We just finished butchering for the season so I don't have any meaties in the heat but I did lose 3 layers a few days ago. The next day I brought the house up from pasture and placed them under the maple trees in the front yard. It has been much hotter since the day I lost three but everybody...
  14. Sundown_Farmer

    Did I freeze them too soon?

    You're fine. They can rest while they thaw.
  15. Sundown_Farmer

    when will we stop calling them "cornish cross"?

    Well, we could call them a "Ross 308" or whatever but that doesn't roll off the keyboard as well as "Cx" They are cornish-ish-rock-ish-ish if you squint your eyes...
  16. Sundown_Farmer

    how to finish meaties. . . I think I did something wrong

    Fish Meal. We grind the Fertrell ration and there's a note on the Fertrell page saying: "For brooder chicks needing a 21% protein chick starter mix, add two pounds of fish meal to 20 pounds (or a five-gallon pail) of 19% Broiler Grower"
  17. Sundown_Farmer

    how to finish meaties. . . I think I did something wrong

    There are a lot of variables there. We offer 21% protein feed while they are in the brooder, 19% while on pasture and slaughter at 8 weeks. Also, we grind our own feed. I find that the bagged feed just goes right through them but freshly ground feed sticks to the ribs. They are averaging 5.5...
  18. Sundown_Farmer

    Difference between chickens and ducks

    I would appreciate some pics and a description of your experience with the ducks. They grow so much faster than CX even it's tempting to hatch them for meat.
  19. Sundown_Farmer

    "Runt"??

    Recently I had several like this. All had heart issues when I opened them up. Birds with heart problems taste weird so we keep them for ourselves and soak them in brine. I don't believe their heart condition was due to my skill as a farmer, they were just born defective. Just like the birds...
  20. Sundown_Farmer

    Too much fat?

    I have a number of Chinese customers who don't want any fat on the bird. More specifically, they don't want any fat in the broth. To this point we haven't had a problem. I never know how many birds they will buy so I can't dress birds differently for Chinese customers. They'll just have to...
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