California - Northern

[ronott1]

OK....I did it...I processed my first meatie....all by myself. It is now resting comfortably in the fridge. It was not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. Took me about an hour and half from start to finish, but the next ones will go faster now that I know what I am doing. Plucking took the longest of course. He was 4.4 lbs pre-process and finished out 3.6. I found a great thread here with pictures that really helped. Here he is...ready to bag and tag.

Nice Job!

 

[OR4-hmom]

Actually California has three distinct areas.   Northern California is a line drawn from Sacramento across the state.  Southern California is all that area below a line drawn across about 20 miles south of Bakersfield.   The rest is Central California.   You have to remember that most folks in Southern California believe that the Golden Gate Bridge is the Oregon border. LOL.   Having been raised in Northern California (Yreka, Redding, & Chico) there is a noticeable change in culture and attitude below it.  One can actually cut the state up left to right rather than up and down.   The coastal range and the Sierra Nevada's separate the Central Area from the Left Coast and the Mountain Folks.  The Coastal area is typical the liberal bastion, the Central area the more conservative leaning, and the Mountain area where the Ultra right constitutionalists live.  

Welcome SwanSwickard! When little I considered Redding So Cal. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in and share the wealth of knowledge available here. Next comes the saw, hammer, wire cutters, ... To make room for all the amazing breeds available here. Oh yeah, how many incubators do you have?

 

[tommysgirl]

Hey guys, can I feed my chickens Honeydew seeds?

YEP!!!melon seed are a favorite and some will tell you they help protect against worm infestations...not treatment of but perhaps resistance to.

I think she will be ok by the next day. When I kicked the banty cochin out of the broody cook after she killed chicks, she was over it in about 2 days...but the chicks were still within sight and sound with the other broody. She just couldn't get in with them

Thanks for the reassurance. She will be back in her coop but there will still be other chicks around.

OK....I did it...I processed my first meatie....all by myself. It is now resting comfortably in the fridge. It was not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. Took me about an hour and half from start to finish, but the next ones will go faster now that I know what I am doing. Plucking took the longest of course. He was 4.4 lbs pre-process and finished out 3.6. I found a great thread here with pictures that really helped. Here he is...ready to bag and tag.

Congratulations...It isn't fun but it is doable.

I was on the last chance egg thread and saw your message to delisha re you meat crosses. I sent her a message to find out about what she does and she sent me back the most informative and delightful message. What a helpful woman! She told me she has been making this mix for years..decades maybe since she has been keeping chickens for over 30 years and told me that since I didn't use Cornish and NH and Del crosses would be better layers that I should market the eggs as dual purpose. Just thought you might be interested.

 

[member 142084]

OK....I did it...I processed my first meatie....all by myself. It is now resting comfortably in the fridge. It was not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. Took me about an hour and half from start to finish, but the next ones will go faster now that I know what I am doing. Plucking took the longest of course. He was 4.4 lbs pre-process and finished out 3.6. I found a great thread here with pictures that really helped. Here he is...ready to bag and tag.

Nice! Much cleaner than mine lol I always have pin quils left in mine. But IDC cause I don't eat the skin. Hey did that odd noise ever clear up for you? Mine is still making it :/

And we lost turkey, he broke his leg

 

[tommysgirl]

This is what my sweet husband said to me last night...

"As long as they have enough room to be comfortable and happy. I don't really care how many chickens we have."

Good thing I learned to build coops huh

 

[BCollie]

How do I know when it is safe to leave the little pullets and cockerels outside with the big girls? So far they've been supervised 100% of the time and there's been a couple incidents where my bratty Speckled Sussex jumped on one of the chicks and tried to rip out feathers, so now I don't think I'll ever be able to trust them alone together though I know I have to at some point....how do I know when it is safe?

 

[SpringPeeper]

Ok how the heck is a fav a frypan bird? Or are they just all boys of muxed breeds? Or is my brain missing something?

Skinny, sickly chicken but very full crop? Just treated for mites/lice which I know they have bad right now. Could the mites be the culprit for her condition? Didn't go through this last year

Does her breath smell bad? I hope her crop isn't impacted. Lice/mites could contribute, too.


@Audio51 , congrats on the big step! Glad it wasn't too rough. It looks awesome, especially for a newbie!

 

[Audio51]

Quote:
Thanks! I remember the last time I cleaned chickens 20+ years ago thinking those looked very small and skinny, but they were just surplus birds from out layer flock. I was impressed how nicely these turned out and think I will buy more chicks soon. I will do the other cock tomorrow and give the 2 girls another week or so to grow a bit more.

Quote: I help up pretty better than I thought I might. That was one of my worries was that I would get too tired, but I found I could sit for most of it. I also found that once it was mostly plucked I could look at it as more of just "meat" without thinking about it having been alive.

I agree with you about Delisha....She was very helpful and I was so glad to get the eggs for the hatch-along in time, She actually ended up losing a bit of money (Less thana $1) sending them to me, but I offered to send her an extra $5 and she wouldn't let me. I made sure to give her good good merchant feedback!

 

[Audio51]

Quote: Thanks! I think I was a little OCD on plucking this one. I may get over that though.

I have been meaning to ask you about your girl too. All 4 of the meaties had it but they have been clear for a couple of weeks. They got over it in the order they got it. I have been letting them range together since the symptoms cleared up and no one else has come down with it. They never acted sick other than the rattles. I'm sorry yours is not getting over it. I did give mine Tylan for 5 days ( found a mark on the back of this boys neck from the injections) and was using VetRx with them too. Is yours acting like she doesn't feel good or just rattling?



Edoted to add: So sorry about your turkey. Do you know how it happened?

 

[BCollie]

You know what I find funny is that this little Cream Legbar chick was immediately accepted into the flock by everyone. She has never been bothered by the big girls, unlike the two Marans which everyone hated at first.