BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[eyralis]

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

oh and yes we'll totally post pix!

 

[neopolitancrazy]

... a pig to feed through the (winter)...

Why feed through the winter instead of butchering as soon as it has cleaned up your mast/late fall garden remnants?

 

[cyborg]

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.

I do a lot of canning, mainly chicken and baked beans. As mentioned, the gummint recommends one year tops. One of the easiest things you can do (and not often mentioned) is keep your jars in the dark! Light does affect canned foods. I usually buy the mason jars in "frustration free packaging", which means it is a fully closeable heavy cardboard box, I'll make up a case of whatever, put the jars back in the box, then seal it with tape and date it. Chicken chunks in broth with a little marjoram will last a lot longer than a year!

 

[Beer can]

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.

Part of the reason for the hesitation, that and the chickens that would have been hit also. It was only seconds but way more seconds than I've ever needed to drop a deer for the freezer. No hawk problem anymore, all chickens will be confined to covered runs. Have to build, double the size of the coop, was planning on it before winter anyway for breeding pens.

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

I lucked out, I was wanting giant chinchilla rabbits, I haven't looked at the rabbits at our county fair since my oldest showed them for 4H, she showed Rex, 4H family dairy farmers that got her into it showed Harlequin . But beings there was NO poultry, I looked them over and I saw the first American chinchilla rabbit I've ever laid eyes on. Got their number, only one town over from where I work and they are also super rare. Think I'll partake in some more excellent garden fertilizer makers. I've looked high and low for chinchilla rabbits, both giant and American, found some in other states but nobody ships, and there is no hatching eggs Lol!

I've never raised rabbits for meat just grrr paid many $ to raise them for show. I grew up on rabbits though, dad always had at least a hundred of them for us and the auction, all mutts not sure what they ere other than mutts
I've ate tons of lbs of wild rabbits when I had a beagle, loved rabbit way more than chicken. Back loin meat and necks etc the rest for stews, all back legs shake and bake! Or many times front and back legs do them up like hot wings! Usually put in the freezer with help from beagle no exaggeration minimum had to be close to a hundred every year. Never counted only daily, go out with some friends, few more beagles, sometimes only get a few rabbits sometimes get ten, sometimes twenty,. Pre wife and kids days, we hunted hard, dogs loved it.

PIGS in winter!?? Hope you are warmer than us! Winter pigs mean much more feed and water. Some pigs will never poop where they sleep, never, no mess to clean up, ever in their 'house', until you have some in winter! Once they make a mess in their house, every pig you raise after will....

 

[Beer can]

I do a lot of canning, mainly chicken and baked beans. As mentioned, the gummint recommends one year tops. One of the easiest things you can do (and not often mentioned) is keep your jars in the dark! Light does affect canned foods. I usually buy the mason jars in "frustration free packaging", which means it is a fully closeable heavy cardboard box, I'll make up a case of whatever, put the jars back in the box, then seal it with tape and date it. Chicken chunks in broth with a little marjoram will last a lot longer than a year!

Will last decades.
I do the same when I brew up a batch of beer. Fermenters get covered in cardboard to keep any sunlight from anywhere (windows) out.
Also keeps a more steady temperature.

 

[JRNash]

Good to know guys

 

[JRNash]

Would Dark Cornish and Guineas with their compact musculature be a good choice for this process

 

[JRNash]

@Beercan. My fondest memories are of listening to a pack of beagles run rabbits.

 

[timbowsr]

I do a lot of canning, mainly chicken and baked beans. As mentioned, the gummint recommends one year tops. One of the easiest things you can do (and not often mentioned) is keep your jars in the dark! Light does affect canned foods. I usually buy the mason jars in "frustration free packaging", which means it is a fully closeable heavy cardboard box, I'll make up a case of whatever, put the jars back in the box, then seal it with tape and date it. Chicken chunks in broth with a little marjoram will last a lot longer than a year!

Totally agree. Our jars of canned goods are in totally in-closed cabinets in our pantry.I wish it stayed a little cooler in there, but it is what it is. Unfortunately our kids ( even though they are married and live on their on now ) and shelf space doesn't give us enough room to go much past a year. We can when we have something to can, and rotate the oldest and eat it first. Doesn't last long. Made some dill pickles about a month ago with my granddaughter ... according to her they were "the best pickles ever"!! After she went home from her summer visit I think we had two jars left in our pantry, and I'm hiding them behind the pumpkin.

 

[cyborg]

Would Dark Cornish and Guineas with their compact musculature be a good choice for this process

With pressure canning, you can either put the meat in the jars already cooked, or raw.
My favorite chicken recipe is kind of a compromise. I partially cook the chicken in broth, then cut it up and remove all the bones. Partially cooking it makes this a lot easier. Then I put the chicken chunks in pint jars,, fill with broth and about 1/2 tsp of marjoram, then cap and pressure cook. The process fully cooks the chicken in the jar, and it comes out really tender.
For my favorite chicken salad, I break out one of these jars and drain the broth, then mix in a couple tablespoons of my homemade chipotle mayonnaise.

You'll never go back! My personal preference for canned chicken is to use boneless, skinless chunks of meat, so to answer your question, dark Cornish and Guinea fowl would be excellent prepared this way. Canning chicken with bones actually cuts down on the processing time, but I don't like pulling the bones later.