BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Chicken Egg 17]

One more extra cockerel butchered, and 24 eggs in the incubator....5 of which are from my Bielefelder hens. Now comes the hardest part for me...waiting. 

Yes I hate waiting but so I could get more eggs in the incubator I haven't been using the egg turner and I have been turning the eggs every three hours

 

[DesertChic]

Yes I hate waiting but so I could get more eggs in the incubator I haven't been using the egg turner and I have been turning the eggs every three hours

Oh, boy! That's some serious dedication. I'll stick with the automatic turner.

 

[DesertChic]

I don't think I ever got around to re-posting my favorite chicken recipe. This one isn't a slow-roasting recipe, so it works best with younger birds. I still brine the bird for a few days, simply because I think it really improves both texture and flavor. I still have to type up the slow-roasting one.


Okay....you have to thoroughly salt and pepper the inside and outside of a dry heritage 5-lb chicken and let it air dry in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Take the chicken out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes prior to roasting so it can reach room temperature. Preheat the oven to 250 °F.

Stuff the chicken with lemon quarters, a bunch of fresh thyme, and 1 head of garlic that you’ve separated into cloves, but left the papery skin on. Put the stuffed bird breast-side up in your chosen roasting pan or rack with the feet facing the rear of the oven and roast for 3 hours or until the bird reaches an internal temp of 155°F.

Close to the end of the roasting period, mix 2 TBSP raw honey with ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil and 1 cup fruity white wine in a small saucepan and heat enough to allow the honey to melt into the other liquids.

Remove the chicken from the oven and increase the temp to 475 °F. Separate about 3 TBSP of your honey wine mixture from the pan and brush or pour it over the chicken, and then return the chicken to the hotter oven for another 10 minutes or until the skin is thoroughly browned.

Remove the chicken and let it rest for 15 minutes before carving. Meanwhile, cook down the remaining sauce mixture until it’s slightly syrupy.

Carve up your chicken and pour the sauce over each serving. If you want you can squeeze some of the lemon quarters or smear some of the garlic cloves on the chicken as well. DELISH!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

One more extra cockerel butchered, and 24 eggs in the incubator....5 of which are from my Bielefelder hens. Now comes the hardest part for me...waiting.

I thought you said they handled the heat poorly - did you decide to keep them after all?

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Oh, boy! That's some serious dedication. I'll stick with the automatic turner. 

Yes well I wanted to hatch a quiet a few more chicks but I didn't want to get a new incubator I was trying to get a hen to go broody but now once they all hatch from the incubator they will be sittin as soon as u turn around

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I'm glad none of my pullets have gone broody yet- I don't want chicks from pullets so they are all out of luck even if they do.

 

[Beer can]

@DesertChic there's a recipe I'll have to try. I've never done lemon with chicken, and that sauce sounds interesting. Definitely going to give it a try, something different. Think I'll try it on the fat manx rumpy pullet I still have in the freezer.

 

[dfr1973]

I'm glad none of my hens pullets gone broody yet- I don't want chicks from pullets so they are all out of luck even if they do.

No one says they have to set their own eggs ... I will be having Silkiebators hatching Wyandottes here.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

No one says they have to set their own eggs ... I will be having Silkiebators hatching Wyandottes here.

All of my chickens are still less than a year old- I do want chicks from some of them, but only when they have passed their first adult moult. I was considering acquiring some Dorkingbators, myself! LOL

 

[Beer can]

After culling, hawk, broken hip, I only have two white giant pullets left. I will be hatching their eggs. I'll worry about the rest after the #s on the ground are up.