Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

Bobby if nothing else, since you do live in Tucson, maybe you could get a hold of these people to see if they want to use them for the butcher classes that @cactusrota mentioned a couple of pages back?

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-chicken-processing-how-to-for-beginners-tickets-44973620309

 

[igorsMistress]

G'morning AZ peeps. Hope you guys are good.
'tis Wednesday so no desk job today, thank goodness. I hate working for imaginary money on a plastic card.

I've got my garden growing, all the girls are laying pretty regularly and the pullets are all grown up.

I've already been on mud puddle duty because of the heat
I am NOT ready for that yet!

Have a great day, stay cool!

 

[Salty Skroob]

Wow, you're really nestled in that community.

No. Just slammed at work and family life.

 

[Bobby Basham]

Bobby if nothing else, since you do live in Tucson, maybe you could get a hold of these people to see if they want to use them for the butcher classes that @cactusrota mentioned a couple of pages back?

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-chicken-processing-how-to-for-beginners-tickets-44973620309

I contacted them on FaceBook.

 

[Bobby Basham]

No. Just slammed at work and family life.

I was googling the area on the map.

 

[cactusrota]

Some updated pics of the Feb 1st hatch from the last couple weeks. Been sharing these on the facebook Naked Neck group, but figured I should share this here, too.
I'm LOVING how Big Blue is turning out, with the gold bling on his back. It shines like he was gilded with real gold! Pictures just don't do him justice.... Also a couple of the NN Alohas and the Blue Aussies from Privett.

 

[MagicChicken]

I haven’t had an opportunity to butcher a chicken yet... I was secretly hoping for a rooster or two so that I could, but we ended up 13 for 13 hens.

That said, my advice (and this is from quartering up deer and elk) is to use a small knife if you end up doing the butchering yourself. And sharp! A 2-inch blade is what I use for most of my skinning and quartering. It’s much easier to control. A smaller animal like a chicken will make that even more important.

Either way Bobby, let’s see some pics of the roosters!

I use a filet knife for the jugular-slicing part. The blade is about 6" long. I tried a small-bladed knife at first and had trouble accurately making the cut through the dense neck feathers on the cockerels. 6" is overkill for knife length, but that filet knife is the sharpest knife I own and it works.

The actual cut doesn't hurt when the knife is truly sharp. Yes, I did learn this the hard way. The cut does start to hurt several seconds later. Accidentally cutting myself with the knife and not hurting made me feel a little better about the slaughter process. If the knife is sharp, the bird is hydrated, and the initial cut is done properly the bird should be expired before any pain has a chance to set in.

I use a different knife for butchering so I don't accidentally ruin the edge of the slaughter knife. But I mostly use poultry shears. A good pair of poultry shears will make the process a whole lot easier.

 

[Jadesun6]

I use a filet knife for the jugular-slicing part. The blade is about 6" long. I tried a small-bladed knife at first and had trouble accurately making the cut through the dense neck feathers on the cockerels. 6" is overkill for knife length, but that filet knife is the sharpest knife I own and it works.

The actual cut doesn't hurt when the knife is truly sharp. Yes, I did learn this the hard way. The cut does start to hurt several seconds later. Accidentally cutting myself with the knife and not hurting made me feel a little better about the slaughter process. If the knife is sharp, the bird is hydrated, and the initial cut is done properly the bird should be expired before any pain has a chance to set in.

I use a different knife for butchering so I don't accidentally ruin the edge of the slaughter knife. But I mostly use poultry shears. A good pair of poultry shears will make the process a whole lot easier.

I agree. I use my shears more then my knife when processing too. I use my knife mostly for cutting connective tissue since I skin them instead of plucking.

 

[meetthebubus]

CHICK UPDATE!!
starting at the top is Honey, then Guavita, then Bella, and on the bottom of the pic is Brownie

as they've grown and feathered differently there are a few that stand out as originals and some that are very similar to each other
Some of them have huge eyes and beard like Bella and honey. I have two cleaned face twins Cleo, and pina. I've also noticed many of them that have some black in their tail feathers have a big green hue to them in the sun, including Marshmellow who is the black and white roo

Lastly so far it looks like Marshmellow is the only roo out of the 19 yayy!! He already this week has started to take an interest in mating. And as a typical immature little roo, he has set his sight on one particular poor pullet, Winnie, who doesn't understand why he keeps trying to hold one to her feathers and trying to step on her, so she seeks refuge away from him now and runs from him upon sight lol

 

[Jadesun6]

Here is a small sample of my paper bag floor I have done. As most pictures, it is much prettier in person. I ran out of paper that I had prepped. Prepping the paper is the most time consuming part of the project. Besides applying and waiting for the layers of polyurethane to dry. I need to have a paper crumpling party!