➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[RUNuts]

Happy Hatch Day

 

[007Sean]

Happy Hatch DayView attachment 1814963

Yay!!!!

 

[RUNuts]

And Done!

 

[ketojenn]

Livestock... pets... it’s a POV thing. DH thinks my meaties are pets. I don’t know why he thinks this. He doesn’t pet them. He doesn’t feed and seldom looks at them. But he’s visibly distressed that I’ve been processing them the last two days. I couldn’t possibly ask him to help except peripherally. He’s such a tender-heart. (Coyotes don’t qualify as pets.)

But man! Processing chickens is HARD WORK. Who knew? Not me, that’s for sure. Fifteen in the fridge and freezer; six to go. I figured I’d have them all done first day. I’m getting faster, though.

It’s sad killing them. I didn’t think they’d take so long to die. (I’m bleeding them. My book says that’s best but I’m not sure whether it’s really that much better results-wise than cutting off the heads and having it done so far as the bird knows... maybe not enough that anyone but a foodie would notice?)

To me they’re livestock. They’re meat birds. I like them, but we have to eat, I like chicken and I hate CAFOs. It’s more honest, IMO (and more kind, too) than buying plastic-wrapped Tyson chickens at the grocery. That disguises the cost and enables bad behavior (treating animals as mere commodities). My birds have had a pleasant life and I value them. I’m not gonna stop eating meat. I don’t like killing them but if someone has to do it, then why should the someone not be me? (But I still ain’t eatin’ no pup-dog nor anything like. I’d be willing to try rattlesnake tho...)

My husband is the tenderheart here too. I do all the processing, always have. When I butchered goats years ago, he would go in the house and distract himself. He's happy to eat the meat, just can't watch. Groundhogs don't count. Lol.

Yeah, butchering chickens is a lot of work. If it's just a couple, no problem, but a dozen, I'm wiped out. After butchering quail, I've decided those are my preferred meat. So fast and easy. I may need to do hundreds, but compared to chickens, bring it on.

 

[ketojenn]

Pithing

Someone recently told me this was a good way to do turkeys without scalding. I haven't tried it yet, maybe I'll try it on a chicken this week.

 

[muddy75]

i was rearranging and cleaning shed brooder yesterday...and as I was putting melanistics back in, one got away from me and when I bent to capture it, I managed to mess my back up pretty bad!! I kept working through it albeit slowly yesterday but by bedtime I could barely walk to the bed!! I hate being “old”

 

[Sara L]

I have moved two maybes over nearer the four movements!
View attachment 1814902


2 external pips now.

You know the chicks are going to rearrange the eggs when they hatch and you will have to let them because they aren't fluffy enough to take out of the incubator. Or do you fix the egg placement every time you open the incubator?

 

[Sara L]

And Done!View attachment 1814964

Yay baby!! How many are out now?

 

[BullChick]

i was rearranging and cleaning shed brooder yesterday...and as I was putting melanistics back in, one got away from me and when I bent to capture it, I managed to mess my back up pretty bad!! I kept working through it albeit slowly yesterday but by bedtime I could barely walk to the bed!! I hate being “old”

I never even got the first frame built for the quail pen. It wasn’t going right, and I was hurting. More than two days later (yesterday), I finally stopped hurting. I cut my hair off yesterday (it was past my bottom, and now feels short mid-back!), and couldn’t wait to wash it quickly, and not have to condition. I took a shower, and got into bed still damp. The sheets were clinging to me, and I HURT MYSELF ROLLING OVER! The pain was bad enough to keep waking me, and nothing was elevating it. The dog was glaring and sighing at me.

 

[007Sean]

i was rearranging and cleaning shed brooder yesterday...and as I was putting melanistics back in, one got away from me and when I bent to capture it, I managed to mess my back up pretty bad!! I kept working through it albeit slowly yesterday but by bedtime I could barely walk to the bed!! I hate being “old”

I know what that's like, Muddy...its just part of pheasant wrangling, I've been doing that this whole weekend. Only thing is I can't bend over too well anymore. I just wait until they decide to come back to the brooder then catch them while they are asleep on top of the brooder. Otherwise I'd be chasing them all around the house.