BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[dfr1973]

He made me promise not to hatch any more until I either cull or sell at least a dozen.

Sounds like a canning party to me! Would it hurt or help if I mention I have a full incubator again, due to hatch the 18th? This batch is some Meaties and another hatch of Azar x the Pretties (now only four).

 

[DesertChic]

Sounds like a canning party to me! Would it hurt or help if I mention I have a full incubator again, due to hatch the 18th? This batch is some Meaties and another hatch of Azar x the Pretties (now only four).

I've never canned anything.....yet. I keep reading the posts here about canning chicken and want to give it a try, but I still have to buy all the equipment. (I'm a work in progress.)

My meat line is precisely what I want to get to work on. Since the weather's been cold, windy and rainy here the past few days I've been working out my breeding plans on spreadsheets, including photos, stats on growth rates, etc. I was hoping that would be enough to distract me from actually breaking out the incubator and setting up my breeding arrangement, but.....not quite. If it warms up at the end of this week I'm going to start culling my extra cockerels. I really want some babies.

 

[AnthNDacula]

I've never canned anything.....yet. I keep reading the posts here about canning chicken and want to give it a try.

Canning is not difficult. Check with your county extension office. They should someone teaching classes for free or really cheap. My county barely funds the program so the agent has all the equipment but no kitchen. I invited her to do the demo in my kitchen, so she could cook everything and actually show us how. We had about 15 people and held a food swap afterwards. Most of the people were already heavily into homemaking skills and brought jellies, spice mixes, cakes, homemade hot coco mix, cookies, etc. It was a blast.

One tip... you'll need a pressure canner for the chicken, but you don't need the $400 deluxe model. Get one at Walmart for under $100 to try it out and see if you really want to do it. I've had my cheap one for years and just keep replacing the gasket and other rubber parts.

And they DO NOT blow up!! Those were the canners of your great grandmother's day but that legend still circulates. Nowadays they've got rubber plugs that automatically pop out and vent if they build up too much pressure. So give it a try. It's will be lots of fun.

 

[stryker]

You guys are seriously feeding my "I wanna hatch some more chicks" feeling. But I really....really...can't. My husband is already overwhelmed by the number of chickens here, even though he really doesn't do anything to care for them. He made me promise not to hatch any more until I either cull or sell at least a dozen. *Sigh*

You need to teach him chicken math. Am I correct that he said to hatch 80ish more chicks so you can pick the 12 that you need to cull?

 

[Beekissed]

Canning is not difficult. Check with your county extension office. They should someone teaching classes for free or really cheap. My county barely funds the program so the agent has all the equipment but no kitchen. I invited her to do the demo in my kitchen, so she could cook everything and actually show us how. We had about 15 people and held a food swap afterwards. Most of the people were already heavily into homemaking skills and brought jellies, spice mixes, cakes, homemade hot coco mix, cookies, etc. It was a blast.

One tip... you'll need a pressure canner for the chicken, but you don't need the $400 deluxe model. Get one at Walmart for under $100 to try it out and see if you really want to do it. I've had my cheap one for years and just keep replacing the gasket and other rubber parts.

And they DO NOT blow up!! Those were the canners of your great grandmother's day but that legend still circulates. Nowadays they've got rubber plugs that automatically pop out and vent if they build up too much pressure. So give it a try. It's will be lots of fun.

Agreed! I got mine on Amazon for $38 and free s/h. Easy to use, does a great job and you really, really can't mess up canning in this thing.

 

[3riverschick]

For Christmas, my wonderful nephew gave us a digital pressure cooker. Wow! We love this unit! It's the 4 qt. by Elite.
http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Platinu..._UL160_SR143,160_&refRID=0FJ9SZ206DYKBZBXDJGN
Also comes in 6 and 8 qt. sizes.
Wal-Mart sells one for 59.00 ( don't remember the brand name or size). push button, set it and forget it. We can make fall-apart pot roast in a hour. I have the old Spanish made Megafesa with the pop up red tab. It worked great but needed attention to make sure the pressure stayed right. But this new digital one is much better and easier to use.
Best,
Karen

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

About pressure cooking............. doesn't everything end up tasting boiled?

 

[ronott1]

About pressure cooking............. doesn't everything end up tasting boiled?

No!

Some things are set on a rack with half a cup of liquid in the bottom--It is more of a braising.

I cooked baby back ribs that way--15 min. under pressure, removed and then broiled with sauce.

Fantastic!

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

No!

Some things are set on a rack with half a cup of liquid in the bottom--It is more of a braising.

I cooked baby back ribs that way--15 min. under pressure, removed and then broiled with sauce.

Fantastic!

Ah! that's the trick then. I always pictured pressure cooked food as being grey, and soggy.

 

[Beekissed]

I finally got a chance last night to handle my flock, check leg bands, assign more legbands to those that had lost theirs or hadn't earned one yet, check for winter bugs~none at all, measure abdominal and pelvic spacing, etc. Forgot to take my scale up and weigh them all but really only care about the weight of the breeders I've chosen and will check those later.

Was pleased to have one returning breeder and two new ones. Hormones be a risin', folks, and it won't be long until it's time to have chicks running the land again. Eggs will flow, feed consumption goes down, life is GOOD.

Weather was warm and balmy last night, with every star out...felt like spring but didn't smell like it, you know?

Named my two new breeders~Clairee and Truvy. Their mama, Beulah Mae, will be my only returning breeder from last year.

Y'all getting excited for spring?