Alaska hatchers..How is everyone doing? Baby pics !!!!!!

[sgt_dane]

Nice! Yeah she has them in an inclosed box outside, she just couldnt handle the smell of them. She doesnt have a garage or anything to put them in, so they were pretty much living with her.. She has two banties out there too, blue silkies.. Was just wondering if they would be alright with the nights still being a little chilly.. Also, theres some animal trying to get to them already, she has only had them out for one night! Its either a neighborhood dog or the little fox they have running around there. Even though theyre gonna be in the stew pot when theyre old enough, i still feel for the little guys.. after all, theyre still babies..
Im definitely building a chicken tractor for my ducks and such. Need to make two of of them, one good sized because i just candled all my chukar eggs and only two out of i think 10 were bad, so well be having a few of those little guys as well.. Man, now just to find the room. Might go talk to my neighbor that owns the field out behind my house and see if i can *borrow* a little bit of it

beg n plead them.. hehe. But as far as my eggs go, Theyre doing GREAT! dont have any quitters as of today, all of them are still goin strong and getting more veins as we speak. Crazy how fast it happens! Got 17 more days on the chukar, 16 on the pheasant, 23 on the ducks.. Autta be interesting!

 

[Wolfwoman]

Mine were born 4/23 and I put them out in the coop about a week ago, but I turn on the light at night for them, plus they're bedded in straw. The batch I'm getting with Paula are going in the freezer

The one the pullets are in now.

 

[Alaska animal lover]

For those of you with meat bird experience, how long does it take you to do the processing? How many can you do in a day with a plucker? Without a plucker?
What process do you use?

 

[sgt_dane]

Oh quick Q.... How long until you can see into the quail eggs? I put them in the same day i put the chukars. I can see veins in the chukar eggs but not in the bobwhites.. ?? any thoughts?

 

[Mrs MIA]

For some reason BWs take a little longer to start... give them at least 7 days.

We've processed meat birds by hand and using a plucker... we now own a Featherman Pro plucker.

We killed ourselves doing 20 birds in a day. Now we can do that many in an hour. We have almost 100 to do this weekend, but we'll have extra hands. When the 4H kids came to learn how to do it in a workshop, we did over 100 chickens and about 10 large turkeys in just under 4 hours. The plucker is

 

[sgt_dane]

Wow dang, you guys are plucking machines! I have never even seen a plucker.. all i know is when im going to pluck a bird i had better have it outside, because it doesnt matter how hard i try, i make a HORRIBLE mess! Where do you get one of those pluckers? My mom will have 40 chickens to pluck and i just know shes gonna ask my help

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Brother in law built the Whizbang plucker last year. Before it was ready, we processed over 40 birds, and did it all by hand. We had lots of help, and it took several hours.
We tested out the plucker later on, and it plucked the bird clean in seconds.
You can order the Whizbang plans online. Its not a difficult machine to build.

 

[sgt_dane]

How old are meaties when theyre ready to be eaten?

 

[Alaska animal lover]

I have the wizbang plans and most of the parts, I'm just worried that the whole process will take more than one day. We're wanting to order 75 birds, split between two lage families.
When you do that many, where do you put them to age? In coolers? I don't want to freeze them before rigor has passed, but I don't want to keep them in water either. My fridge won't hold 30+ meaties, so where do I keep them while they "rest"?

Do you use a brine? I have seen that some people put them in a salt water brine.

 

[BirdBrain]

We have used large coolers with ice water before.

Where did you find the tub/barrel for your plucker?