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Last batch of chicken came in about $1.75 per pound, dressed. But last spring, the feed I use cost $9.95 for a 50 pound bag. I just got back from the store and same bag of feed is now $15.00. So the chickens next spring are going to cost substantially more to reach the freezer, because when...

Tough turkeys patrol their borders. I've been worried about the tiniest youngest turkey. She's no bigger than the Cornish Cross that the crows killed. Crows learned that 4-5 pound white birds don't fight back and are easy to kill. She's little, not any more than 1 pound. A full 6 weeks younger...

I just roasted a home raised duck. The duck had cleaned up really nicely with smooth clean skin. I checked it again before it went into the oven. Nice and clean. At the half way mark, I pulled it out of the oven to check on it and it looked like a hedgehog. It was covered with bristling...

I ordered 6 well started poults and when I went to pick them up, one had been injured and was no longer available. The seller talked me into taking a little baby poult so that I still went home with 6 poults. Seriously, I expected her to be dead, pecked to death before I got home (3 1/2 hour...

Cleaning out all the odds and ends, or at least some of them, out of the freezer and this is what I came up with. White Chicken Lasagna I simmered 6 home raised chicken legs in the crock pot all morning, with a clove of garlic and a sliced onion, with enough water to nearly cover them...

My son's brother came to the house last night with a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. I couldn't believe how small it looked. The brother was also saying that he picked it up and set it down a couple of times before buying it because it looked so small. We were both comparing it...

Wow, am I bummed. I processed a Midget White turkey for Thanksgiving. A young bird who hadn't started to poof and who had just let out his first gobble, He dressed at 7 pounds and rested for 48 hours.. He was cooked on the barbecue with applewood smoke. The meat is nearly inedible. The...

I got the last of the birds done for the year. I'm glad to see the end of it for awhile. It had to be yesterday because it is my assistant's only day off before Thanksgiving. So wouldn't you know, I woke up to pouring rain and howling wind just to add some excitement. Any way 3 turkeys, 2...

I was given a jar of house brand peanut butter. My family doesn't eat peanut butter, but they will eat peanut butter cookies. So, I used the peanut butter to make cookies. The peanut butter seemed to be weak in peanut flavor, and the cookies taste good, but they are weak in peanut flavor...

Honey Crisp apples are $2.50 a pound in the store. That's a very good reason to plant a honey crisp apple tree for your family.

I swear, these turkeys don't care what is going on. Whatever it is, they are fine with it. We were replacing the tarp over the bird runs and racing to finish before a storm arrived. There were some structural changes and by the time they were finished, the wind arrived. Serious wind and we...

I know that several of you are interested in learning how to make capons. It's very normal to lose the first batch that you do, So my suggestion is that you start with half a dozen birds that are already dead. On butchering day, kill your birds and before you go any further with...

Now, about the rewards of going to all the work to raise and process meat birds. Last might I made duck fajitas tacos. Oh wow. You don't get that in a flash frozen microwave dinner from the grocery store. Fry up sliced onions and peppers with slices of duck. Serve on corn tortillas with...

We are having some smoke issues due to a forest fire. It's pretty bad; looks like we are in a fog bank. It's unlikely to end soon. One of the young broad breasted white turkey hens is squatting down and wheezing pretty badly if she runs or exerts herself. She looks a lot like she is...

That's right. They are my employees, and they are reliable workers and do a good job for me. Like all employees, they have rules in the workplace. There are areas that are off limits for them to go, and those areas are marked and locked so my employees don't make a mistake and enter...

It just never stops. I opened my back door today to find eight ( 8! ) Magpies in my back yard, drinking from the dog's water dish. Those boogers will steal eggs, kill small chickens, and I caught them one time trying to kill a puppy. I just barely persuaded the crows to go and find a safer...

Nobody in my family will eat the drumsticks, so those always go to the dogs. Chicken legs are "too slimy" and "to many tendons and icky stuff". Well, darn it. All that work to raise and butcher chickens and then feed it to the dogs? I took out a package of legs and put them in the crock...

I had one lonely little Midget White turkey hatch. So that he would not be alone, I put him in with a duckling. I was worried that the slightly older duck would teach the turkey to be a duck. Ducklings are suspicious of changes and run from people. I was worried that the turkey would be...

My Midget white, who is about the size of my fist, has just started puffing up. It's a riot. All puffed up, he is about the size of a softball. If he isn't careful, somebody is going to mistake him for a pouter pigeon. I'm trying to get photos, but he has just started and doesn't strut very...

My turkeys spend almost as much time in the water as the ducks do. I often find them standing in the duck pond and they love to splash in mud puddles. It's hard to imagine those skinny toes doing any paddling, but they are fat birds and fat floats, so maybe they could swim? Water around here...