BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[JRNash]

Thanks Tim. I was serious.lol Ive never canned anything. Ive put up peppers,that's it. This is another one of those self sustaining skills I've yet to learn. How long will it last?

 

[timbowsr]

Not sure how long it will last on the shelf. I know my grandmother would can stuff and it would sit on the shelf for years and years without any problems. We've canned chili before that was still good two years later .... or at least I lived through it. LOL. Our can chicken and stock we've held on to for close to a year, or a little over with no problems, but it should be good for at least a couple years. Always check the contents of your jar before you open it ... if you see any mold on the outside or inside get rid of it. If there is any swelling or denting of the lid ... get rid of it. Open it up and smell it ... if it smells bad get rid of it. If it passes those tests then you should be good to go ... but always, always, always you should reheat your canned meats ... or at least that's the way I was taught. But my daughter has been known to open a jar of chicken and go straight to the chicken salad bowl with it. I very much enjoy canning and it's a great way to preserve your harvest, rather it's vegetables from the garden or meat from your yard.

 

[bnjrob]

Thanks Tim. I was serious.lol Ive never canned anything. Ive put up peppers,that's it. This is another one of those self sustaining skills I've yet to learn. How long will it last?

If you listen to what *they* say - mainly the US government's recommendations - home canned items are only good for one year. However if you are a *rebel* eater, properly canned items can last a LONG time. Quality so far as texture and sometimes taste can be affected the longer it sits, but doesn't mean it has gone bad.

Same with what items you can home preserve. The govt folks have a list of things that you absolutely cannot preserve and they say that it is for safety reasons. However I have come across some old archived Extension sites that discuss the issue as being more of a taste (canned milk doesn't taste as good as fresh) as well as what appears to be trying to get people away from home canning so that they will buy more store-bought goods. Of course these days the Extension only puts up the usual govt rhetoric about what you can ca. Heck, they say you can't store eggs outside of a refrigerator unless you want to risk death. So it's kinda up to you and what you trust. If you go against the usual recommendations, you will be labeled as a *rebel canner*.

Get a pressure canner for the most versatility since it lets you can low-acid foods but you can also use it to water bath too. The ones at Walmart aren't fancy but they work just fine. I also like to use the reusable canning lids. I don't have enough of them yet, but they are worth it and work well.

 

[Beer can]

I've ate ten yr old canned venison. Tasted the same as fresh canned.

 

[gevshiba]

That doesn't look good.

I'm super upset right now, lost one of my best pullets today with correct slate grey legs and white feathers to a hawk. Didn't know what killed it, pile of feathers a ways away and it was laying dead by the big run. One dead and two missing

didn't know what got them three have been escaping the four foot fence. Wife says she seen the neighbors cat around. Whatever it was partly plucked it and then left it ten feet away next to the other chicken run, had me confused, maybe we interrupted it.
While I was setting up my trail cam on the dead body I put back by the pile of feathers, wishing I still had traps, two of the missing came running out of the bushes by the garage

.
Unloaded my .22 in our van and got packed up to take 11yr old bullhead fishing. Heard a ruckus, mama broody going nuts in her pen, giants and sussex going nuts but they do that, act like something's getting them, everything looked OK, NO! half the giants/sussex ran to the other side of the run, there was a HAWK! trying to KILL a few on the other side! I could not get the clip in the .22 fast enough, got it in ratcheted in a bullet, darn thing saw me, now twenty feet away, and flew into a pine tree above other run, cross hairs on it, DARN safety was on! It flew off!

Wish I had brought out the shotgun! Wife came out, told her I was sure there was three or four dead or will be dead badly injured. Miraculously not a single injury! It had a few pinned down! What to do now! Put them all in the big coop with the big chickens.
I got them July 2, so they are almost two months old. Hopefully they will be OK. They are quite active and the big chickens didn't hurt the silkies when I put them in to make room for these chicks. Actually they did the same thing as when I put the silkies in, they acted scared of them. Half of the big chickens ran outside into the run like they were scared of them. They have a better chance of survival in the big coop with a covered run than they do where they were at. Dang chicken hawk! Sucks the one killed was one of the few pullets with correct white feathers and slate grey legs, I'd a rather it didn't kill any but would have rather it was a cockerel, I have mostly, or one of the few with wrong color legs or the greyish lilac colored ones....

Remember, shooting birds of prey is highly illegal and can get you huge fines and even jail time. They don't need much evidence either. So, I'm not telling you what to do, but I'd sure avoid mentioning certain things on a public forum. I've never had hawk problems, I think because my neighbor has a wind turbine close to my coop and run. It keeps them away. But I have had coyote and bobcat problems. They always kill the pullets.

Or my one and only tom (plus a big turkey hen. I think the tom was trying to protect her and died after they left, since he wasn't taken.). No one free ranges. The neighbor won't allow it. There's no perimeter fences, anyway. My run has a top. But I've started building grow frames to put in the run and the seeds are starting to grow! I'm excited about that. Now to build several more. I want to line along the entire fence on both sides so they get as much as possible.

 

[keesmom]

Hi! We have a flock of five bantam faverolles (2 salmon, one black, one blue, one splash). We love, love, love their friendly disposition.

We're hoping to achieve these three goals:
More eggs
Bigger eggs (for bantams)
Still as sweet, docile, quiet and friendly.

Should we start crossing within different faverolles strains?

Or is there another breed that is as docile and people-loving as the faverolles, but lays even better?

Well, I think you are going to have a difficult time if you want to cross to another strain of blue/black/splash bantams. They are almost non-existent. I parted with my blues many years ago. I do know of 2 breeders of black bantams but they concentrate on APA standards and not on egg production/size standards.

Even most LF lay eggs on the smaller side. Right now I am working to get my LF weights up. Eventually egg size and production are on the list.

 

[DesertChic]

So here's the project!! Hoping for smaller size than Bielefelders but better egg production, we'll try to cross bielefelders and silkies. Both gentle, docile, hopefully we'll get a few of bantam size and we'll see what happens to egg production!

And you'll post pictures of the results, right?

I actually have a buff Silkie that one of my Bielefelder cockerels has taken a liking too. She's broody right now, so I'm curious to see if he starts mating her once she's less crabby and starts laying again. If so I plan to hatch her eggs just to see what they look like. My (former) Barred Rock cockerel mated with her and the result is positively adorable...and quite unique.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Rabbit interlude ... will never post about rabbits again if anyone doesn't want to hear about it ...

Butchered 8 fryers yesterday that were about 12 wks old. Took about 2 hours to butcher and process. Ended up with roughly twenty-six pounds of meat soaking in the ice box and waiting to be vacuum sealed and froze. Have rib cages and other carcass pieces waiting to make rabbit stock that will be canned for later use. To top it off had one heck of a fried rabbit liver supper last night. If anyone doesn't know ... rabbits have an exceptionally large liver with four "lobes". After cleaning and separating the lobes we had enough liver to easily feed four adults last night, with left-overs for lunch today. The taste is light and mild. Excellent, excellent meat!! Have the kidneys and hearts set aside for son-in-law.

Next weekend ... the old flock and breeding culls are on the way out.

It certainly doesn't bother me - I'm probably getting my meat rabbits in December or January.

- Ant Farm

 

[JRNash]

I've been talking about getting some too. And a pig to feed through the wimter

 

[eyralis]

Well, I think you are going to have a difficult time if you want to cross to another strain of blue/black/splash bantams. They are almost non-existent. I parted with my blues many years ago. I do know of 2 breeders of black bantams but they concentrate on APA standards and not on egg production/size standards.

Even most LF lay eggs on the smaller side. Right now I am working to get my LF weights up. Eventually egg size and production are on the list.

THANK YOU for explaining this so well. This makes total sense, and I think we'll keep the favs for their beauty and sweet nature, and keep Bielefelders for big eggs.