Boys are starting to be boys! What to do with these cockerels?

[Kris5902]

Thanks for the suggestions. So it’s basically that or butcher the skinny guy from that pen too. Might give me an idea of how much “dinner” to expect from the smaller boys? Every morning that cone starts to look better and better. The girls have all settled well, and the Sapphire boys are way more relaxed since they moved out.

Husband suggested we get a “couple more dozen laying pullets”, but that doesn’t really fit into our breeding goals (medium chicken+small chicken= smallish chicken)! I have to run heritage breeds and crosses because our chicken industry is highly regulated and we can’t obtain a license for CX. There’s a 200 bird limit for personal use and no new permits are being issued (it’s been frozen since I think 2013).

I was lured in by the “sale”, the potential of some pretty blue eggs, and the fact my hatch didn’t work out the way I planned, which is what brought me to this site.

I originally thought I’d end up with about 20 Isbars, 8 Barnvelders (a trio/quad for our Farm kid and cull the extra males) and a bunch of Marans and another hybrid blue/olive layers. But I didn’t get exactly the eggs I had ordered, and I was given extras. 36 eggs... 18+18+12=...48, oh c**p! incubator has 41 available slots! The math clicked halfway through the drive back to the ferry and I had to scramble to find & buy a second incubator and turner on the way home. Then my hatch went wonky and I ended up with a really mixed bag of just 14 chicks, only 6 cockerels though... not the 70% rate I got on chicks...

 

[aart]

Might give me an idea of how much “dinner” to expect from the smaller boys?

Not much.

I slaughter cockerels at 13-16 weeks, before they start causing chaos and while still tender enough to grill for that crispy skinned deliciousness. Not much meat but the grilled bones make for some excellent stock. Anything older than that I pressure cook until meat is done and is saved aside then a couple more hours to get that bone broth.

Resting the cleaned carcass in fridge for 48-72 hours for rigor to pass is essential for chewable meat from any bird(except maybe CX?). Tho no homegrown bird I've eaten, layer or meat breed, is as soft as a grocery bird, they are more 'toothsome'.

 

[Kris5902]

Not much.

I slaughter cockerels at 13-16 weeks, before they start causing chaos and while still tender enough to grill for that crispy skinned deliciousness. Not much meat but the grilled bones make for some excellent stock. Anything older than that I pressure cook until meat is done and is saved aside then a couple more hours to get that bone broth.

Resting the cleaned carcass in fridge for 48-72 hours for rigor to pass is essential for chewable meat from any bird(except maybe CX?). Tho no homegrown bird I've eaten, layer or meat breed, is as soft as a grocery bird, they are more 'toothsome'.

I think that would be a good thing, comparing the high quality store bought chicken to the general variety grocery fare there’s a significant difference in flavor and texture. The $7-8 roasting chicken vs the $13-16 “good” roasters. Which are about on par with the “high quality, organic certified” ones (from the same producer) that are about $20.

We eat a lot of venison, goat, almost completely grass fed beef (the flavor difference from the store bought is huge!), and mutton. So we like flavor and texture to our meats.

A few more days until I’ll be ready to do in the boys. The loppers I have did not work as well as I would prefer, so I will borrow a knife from the abattoir, and get my own dedicated one the next time I go in to the “big city”. I need to watch a few more videos to get the “how-to” figured out.

I had to cull one of the Farm chickens today. It went ok. She isn’t suffering now, and it was quick, but I wish I had moved sooner on it. Last night before dinner I got a text that one chicken was “sick and had a foot problem” from the 7 yo farm kid borrowing an adults phone. I thought it was more SLM issues because some of them are quite bad. She was an older girl, but she was quite far gone when I got to the Farm Coop to look in on her.

 

[Ribh]

Wow. Just...wow....

 

[Kris5902]

Wow. Just...wow....

Yes, I’ve got a little rescue and attempted re-education situation going on. I’m learning about all kinds of illnesses in chickens, plus my first run at chickens, and plans for a pastured meat operation. The sooner I can get the younger girls up here, in my care, the better. I don’t want to see any more chickens go into that coop, ever... if I have to build four more tractors to keep it from happening I will.

I fixed the waterer I added for them last Friday, it wasn’t being maintained and the nipples were clogged... but as they are being cared for by the people at that end of the property, I don’t check on them daily ever since I moved the three with health problems into the barn nearest me. I have told the kiddo what to watch for in behavior and signs of illnesses, but she is the only one who will listen to me at all about caring for them, but she was gone all weekend to her Fathers and came back Monday night but couldn’t look in on them til Tuesday after school.

Everyone else here knows “better” than me, because they grew up on the farm, and that’s the way it’s always been done, and the chicken feet always look like that. You would think with all their “experience” they would notice a sick hen curled up and slowly dying right next to the door!

There are seven now in the outside mud pit of a pen, and only seven in the coop. 6x6 full time confinement, there were 20 in there when I first came to the farm... I need to get my tractors done today. I was delayed by another snowstorm yesterday, today it’s just heavy rain... I can deal with working in a little mud. Then I can rescue the outside chickens before they go into that mite infested death trap, where they will never see the light of day again.

I now take the older girls I’m treating out of the barn every day when it’s sunny, one at a time, and sit with them on the grass letting them eat it and scratch for bugs. They were confused at first, but have come to really like it. They don’t roost at night anymore due to their health issues, so they need a good bedding and solid floor for sleeping, I’ll figure out a good, safe tractor design for them too soon... and then they can spend as much time outside as they like. I’m thinking a little A frame. Right now Puffy and Tippie sleep in a little cat carrier at night together, by choice... there’s also the larger dog crate available, but I think they feel more secure together in the small one for some reason.

 

[Ribh]

Yes, I’ve got a little rescue and attempted re-education situation going on. I’m learning about all kinds of illnesses in chickens, plus my first run at chickens, and plans for a pastured meat operation. The sooner I can get the younger girls up here, in my care, the better. I don’t want to see any more chickens go into that coop, ever... if I have to build four more tractors to keep it from happening I will.

I fixed the waterer I added for them last Friday, it wasn’t being maintained and the nipples were clogged... but as they are being cared for by the people at that end of the property, I don’t check on them daily ever since I moved the three with health problems into the barn nearest me. I have told the kiddo what to watch for in behavior and signs of illnesses, but she is the only one who will listen to me at all about caring for them, but she was gone all weekend to her Fathers and came back Monday night but couldn’t look in on them til Tuesday after school.

Everyone else here knows “better” than me, because they grew up on the farm, and that’s the way it’s always been done, and the chicken feet always look like that. You would think with all their “experience” they would notice a sick hen curled up and slowly dying right next to the door!

There are seven now in the outside mud pit of a pen, and only seven in the coop. 6x6 full time confinement, there were 20 in there when I first came to the farm... I need to get my tractors done today. I was delayed by another snowstorm yesterday, today it’s just heavy rain... I can deal with working in a little mud. Then I can rescue the outside chickens before they go into that mite infested death trap, where they will never see the light of day again.

I now take the older girls I’m treating out of the barn every day when it’s sunny, one at a time, and sit with them on the grass letting them eat it and scratch for bugs. They were confused at first, but have come to really like it. They don’t roost at night anymore due to their health issues, so they need a good bedding and solid floor for sleeping, I’ll figure out a good, safe tractor design for them too soon... and then they can spend as much time outside as they like. I’m thinking a little A frame. Right now Puffy and Tippie sleep in a little cat carrier at night together, by choice... there’s also the larger dog crate available, but I think they feel more secure together in the small one for some reason.

I have been following along on your adventure though I don't often comment or even remember to hit *like* to show I've read but I am full of admiration for what you are trying to do. More obscure places [like islands] seem to attract more * independent *, self~reliant types ~ 'cause after all you can't run to the shops every 5 minutes. The downside is what you are trying to deal with.

 

[Kris5902]

I have been following along on your adventure though I don't often comment or even remember to hit *like* to show I've read but I am full of admiration for what you are trying to do. More obscure places [like islands] seem to attract more * independent *, self~reliant types ~ 'cause after all you can't run to the shops every 5 minutes. The downside is what you are trying to deal with.

Thanks! I appreciate the support and encouragement, I couldn’t remember if you knew about the situation with the other Chickens... and I haven’t done an update on Tippie or Puffy for a while, since I first moved them up here.

For instance, I don’t think 123RedBeard fully knows where I’m at and the direction I’m moving the farm in... or our long term goals and some of the other complications. I know I can come off sometimes as completely unprepared and haphazard. But I’m learning my way through this bit by bit... and I’m worried that if I don’t get things running this year, I might not be able to next year.

I also have plans in place, if I need to leave the farm permanently, for what I’ll do with all these chickens... which ones of my layers will go to which other islanders (cause if I leave there’s NO way I would leave them here!)

 

[Ribh]

Thanks! I appreciate the support and encouragement, I couldn’t remember if you knew about the situation with the other Chickens... and I haven’t done an update on Tippie or Puffy for a while, since I first moved them up here.

For instance, I don’t think 123RedBeard fully knows where I’m at and the direction I’m moving the farm in... or our long term goals and some of the other complications. I know I can come off sometimes as completely unprepared and haphazard. But I’m learning my way through this bit by bit... and I’m worried that if I don’t get things running this year, I might not be able to next year.

I also have plans in place, if I need to leave the farm permanently, for what I’ll do with all these chickens... which ones of my layers will go to which other islanders (cause if I leave there’s NO way I would leave them here!)

I homeschooled some of ours ~ most of whom our supervisor described as *different learners*...
They were very hands on learners ~ even as adults that's how they learn. My oldest girl was given a really hard time when she wanted to go on the mission field because she didn't prepare by learning Spanish. Good thing too. She didn't need Spanish here. Chileans speak a dialect. She picked it up super quickly when she actually arrived in Chile. So I you never seem unprepared or haphazard to me. You learn it when you need it. That is pretty smart in its way.