Yes they are available. They are also called red or gold sex links, cinnamon queens, and golden comets. You can call around to local feed stores and see if they have any now. I got mine at Mesa Feed Barn.
Yes you can just filet the meat off, works great for breast meat. Legs are harder and it's easier to just cut them off at the pelvic bone. It saves time to just cut the meat off, no need to gut the carcass.
I typically take the innards out first, because I can't seem to fillet and cut up worth beans, lol. I certainly don't want to make a mess and if its possible to spoil my meat, I definitely wouldn't want to do that!i have butchered other animals, and with chickens i think youll get cleaner meat if you just take out the innards first. instead they will be flopping all around in there, and make a mess, possibility of spoiling the meat.
I have found if I cut off the legs first, that's where my real problem begins, then I can't seem to tell which is the breast bone from the back bone lol. however with more support from you guys I may be able to do this in the manner that @Sill has tried to teach me! 
I am trying to teach her and their need for water saucers and mini pools to stand under in shaded areas to cool off. To her credit she did place an umbrella over some of my birds that are in an area in extra large dog kennels!
Yes!I noticed this week that having a daughter that's now a teen has created some problems, such as she decided to trim my nectarine shade tree that gives extra shade to my chickens. And I find she's trying to fix and arrange other things to her liking, which I'm not very happy about. I've strategically tried to make things a certain way to give the chickens the best shade possible for this time of year. I know she's trying to make things look aesthetically OR politically correct in my backyard but I don't know how to tell her you're helping me is not helping me, lol. I hope I can encourage her to ask me first before she takes on being helpful!I am trying to teach her and their need for water saucers and mini pools to stand under in shaded areas to cool off. To her credit she did place an umbrella over some of my birds that are in an area in extra large dog kennels!
Has anybody else experienced a family member trying to be too helpful and they ruined what you were creating for your chickens?
I noticed this week that having a daughter that's now a teen has created some problems, such as she decided to trim my nectarine shade tree that gives extra shade to my chickens. And I find she's trying to fix and arrange other things to her liking, which I'm not very happy about. I've strategically tried to make things a certain way to give the chickens the best shade possible for this time of year. I know she's trying to make things look aesthetically OR politically correct in my backyard but I don't know how to tell her you're helping me is not helping me, lol. I hope I can encourage her to ask me first before she takes on being helpful!I am trying to teach her and their need for water saucers and mini pools to stand under in shaded areas to cool off. To her credit she did place an umbrella over some of my birds that are in an area in extra large dog kennels!
Has anybody else experienced a family member trying to be too helpful and they ruined what you were creating for your chickens?
I'm glad I didn't find a way to feed them to the chickens on my own. This is why I love you guys...so knowledgeable!!
I noticed this week that having a daughter that's now a teen has created some problems, such as she decided to trim my nectarine shade tree that gives extra shade to my chickens. And I find she's trying to fix and arrange other things to her liking, which I'm not very happy about. I've strategically tried to make things a certain way to give the chickens the best shade possible for this time of year. I know she's trying to make things look aesthetically OR politically correct in my backyard but I don't know how to tell her you're helping me is not helping me, lol. I hope I can encourage her to ask me first before she takes on being helpful!
Has anybody else experienced a family member trying to be too helpful and they ruined what you were creating for your chickens?
Luckily (I think) I don't have this problem. I'm pretty much the control-freak dictator of the house so my husband and son won't lift a finger unless I tell them where to place it afterwards. My biggest problem is that I have a lot of vision but keep most of it in my head. I used to literally draw everything out...schematics, sketches in full color...but it was so time consuming and caused so many delays in actually moving forward with projects that I mostly gave it up. Unfortunately, my husband and I think in very different directions about things so while I have one plan and vision and he forms another, and they rarely match up. That's why I do most of the work completely by myself. Besides...I hate it when someone uses my tools and then doesn't put them back. There's nothing worse than a dead tool silhouette.
I love you guys!I noticed this week that having a daughter that's now a teen has created some problems, such as she decided to trim my nectarine shade tree that gives extra shade to my chickens. And I find she's trying to fix and arrange other things to her liking, which I'm not very happy about. I've strategically tried to make things a certain way to give the chickens the best shade possible for this time of year. I know she's trying to make things look aesthetically OR politically correct in my backyard but I don't know how to tell her you're helping me is not helping me, lol. I hope I can encourage her to ask me first before she takes on being helpful!
Has anybody else experienced a family member trying to be too helpful and they ruined what you were creating for your chickens?
Yes!
My husband likes to have the trees and bushes pruned and looking tidy every year, but our chickens need shade and hiding spots. I have asked him repeatedly to please not prune so much around their run. It's like when he gets started he doesn't know how to stop. Lol!
I think he got the point when I went and bought about $300.00 worth of shade cloth for them and talked about buying a canopy with poles and screens from Costco.
