Ate one of my chickens today!

[MTchicknman]

Yep, we ate one of the CornishX that we butchered a couple of weeks ago. It tasted great! As Fat Daddy has said somewhere, (not a direct quote), -- We raised it, we fed it, we know what kind of food went into it, we killed and processed it, so even tho it may have cost more than the Wally World chicken, it was worth it having a chicken of our own for the table! --
Our chicken was not fed any drugs, medication, was fed lots of grains, bindweed, alfalfa, sprouted grains and seeds, etc., it grew fat and sassy. BTW, for those of you who live in states that have bindweed (a Noxious weed according to the USDA/EPA/whoever worries about the weeds in your yard or field), Chickens devour this weed as soon as we throw it into the pen ----- And, of course, we're helping the environment as far as the USDA/EPA/whoever worries about the weeds in your yard or field, is concerned :>).

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

It is always such a good feeling to know what is going inside you! We have some friends that raise some every year, and we get some from them. When you have the good stuff, the store stuff doesn't look good anymore! Plus, factory chickens have such a horrible life, i wouldn't want to support it....

 

[tinakevin]

We just butchered ours today. (Thank you nick and Morgan)This is the first time we have ever had fresh chickens. I haven't tried it yet but I'm sure it will be really good.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Good morning MTC, That's a great feel'n isn't it. Feed'n your family with your own effort. Kinda makes a person wanna raise a hog and learn how to make moonshine don't it! I'm glad it worked out well for you.... Bill

 

[MTchicknman]

Good morning MTC, That's a great feel'n isn't it. Feed'n your family with your own effort. Kinda makes a person wanna raise a hog and learn how to make moonshine don't it! I'm glad it worked out well for you.... Bill

Hey FD, reminds me of when I was a youngster we always raised our own meat, Rabbits, chickens, pigs, calves - I don't eat pig or rabbit anymore, but the chicken is good when you raise it yourself. Just like Crazy for Chickens says "When you have the good stuff, the store stuff doesn't look good anymore!"
@tinakevin - yours will taste great too, because you know what went into it!

BTW FD, I do make my own beer - Stouts, Porters, Pales and IPAs, but that's as close to moonshine as I can legally get - and ..... the chix love the spent grains (whatever the wife doesn't run thru the flour mill for breads, etc.) ;>).

 

[AquaDuck]

Yay! This is exactly the reason to produce own meat chickens! Knowing what they eat (including weeds!), let them run around outside, and then processing the meat at home. Couldn't be a better meat bird story.

 

[kissezmychicken]

I just couldn't do it..not knocking it though.. I wish I could

 

[horsesNchicks]

Good to hear it tasted good. Mine will be processed in a week or 2. This is my first time. I personally can no longer give my dollars to large Corp. that are in the business of torturing animals and poisoning us and calling it food. I have 23 CX and next year will do 50 and process them ourselves to save money. I live in the desert of CA so keeping them cool is the biggest thing. Next time we will have them in the freezer by May I think.
Good job how many did you raise?

 

[AkChris]

Your own birds just taste so much better. Even the old layers. I butchered a few 3 yr old hens a few weeks ago. They made the best chicken and dumplings.

I love having a freezer full of good meat and a pantry full of canned broth in the fall after butchering. Its such a nice feeling of accomplishment and knowing you have all that good food to eat all winter!

 

[MTchicknman]

"Good to hear it tasted good. Mine will be processed in a week or 2. This is my first time. I personally can no longer give my dollars to large Corp. that are in the business of torturing animals and poisoning us and calling it food. I have 23 CX and next year will do 50 and process them ourselves to save money. I live in the desert of CA so keeping them cool is the biggest thing. Nest time will have them in the freezer by May I think.
Good job how many did you raise?"

@ horsesNchicks - I don't know who your were responding to, but ..... So far, we haven't had any issues with the 100F heat, (unless the recent death of one CX was becuz of the weather ;>). Our first CX were 2 which were supposed to be Leghorns, and then we ordered 15 CX later - of which 13 have survived, which will be in the freezer in a couple of weeks, along with a few Tractor Supply scrubs from our first purchase, --- trying to save on shipping :>( (which were NOT what we supposedly bought) - we will not be ordering CX next Spring, only the (more pure?) Cornish - (no more crosses for us, with the heart attacks, bone-growth problems, etc., etc.). I think the Red Laced will be what we will buy (wife is big on the White breast meat, I like the drummers and thighs), since we haven't been able to find White Cornish chix at a reasonable price yet. (2 or 3 months more to full-growth isn't an issue if we're avoiding the CX health problems AFAIACS). The Red-Laced will add a little color to our flocks, and hopefully we will be selling chix locally the next year. Next Spring we will hopefully be selling New Hampshire Red, Light Brahma, Buff Orpington, chix and the next year the Red-Laced Cornish and Black Australorp chix as well as the others mentioned. We already have a grocery which has asked to buy all of our brown eggs throughout the year, so the chix will be an experiment. We will only be raising one or two batches of each for the year for starters, since we are only planning on selling chix and eggs to help pay for the feed - on 2 city lots, that's about all we can plan for our future, anyways - we figure that 4 brown egg varieties (and the Cornish) is about all we can handle on our small location! ;>).
Whatever we don't sell as chix will be raised as meat birds for our own freezer (as well as any Red-Laced Cornish Cockerels that don't make the cut for next year's breeder ;>). We are only raising/breeding dual-purpose birds - fancy chickens are a food-hog/waste-of-money, for us, but some folks want them for pets/shows, just not us at this time of our life.