California - Northern

[tommysgirl]

You should be so proud of yourself.
I did 12 CL cockerels. I skinned them so it was quicker. My did the killing on 7-8, and I did the other 4-5.
I did not like that part, but I have to learn .there are times when no one else will do it.
I skinned all 12 by myself. It took about 2 hours to kill, skin and gut them.

Thanks I have a very supportive tutor but still...

2 hours is impressive. You are way quicker than I am. I have small hands so gutting is easy enough but making the cuts so I can get my hand in needs some work.

I posted this before and I am probably garbling it horribly but over on "Sally Sunshine's processing day support group" thread some one put it something like this.

In all things there is good and bad, joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure. When people lived in a more natural state both the positive and the negative sides of things were felt on a daily basis and there was a balance. In today's world there are industries devoted to keeping us from the down sides. Before the commercial food industry when everyone knew where their food came from and most people had a small flock of chickens they were raised on the ground, had a certain amount of space to move around and be chickens ...the plus side of the equation was theirs up till slaughter day. The down side belonged to the people who were doing the processing. In today's world where live chickens can be raised on wire in one another's feces with very little space, then processed and packaged or even sent to China for processing and returned to the US the plus side of the equation has transferred to the consumer who can pick the chicken up all neatly skinned and boned on a Styrofoam tray and never have to think about how it got there. By raising and processing even some of our own chicken we are taking the negative back upon ourselves and easing the burden on the bird.

That made me feel a whole lot better when I read it. I hope I didn't mangle it too much. Basic idea is it is going to be hard on us or on the bird by raising and doing our own we are taking the burden upon ourselves.

 

[BCollie]

Oh, I'm sorry, I must have missed your post! I think he was stressed from having been shipped, then put into a temporary house, then a permanent one. He ate on Saturday thank goodness! Thanks for offering advice, I think I just didn't see your post

 

[Audio51]

Quote: Well that sounds like a deal too good to pass up!

(Edited to make sense...

)

Quote:
Wow! That is very impressive! I am lucky to get 3 done in a couple of hours...but I am very OCD about the pin feathers. The last couple I did were both dark feathered so they took me even longer.

 

[chickee]

2 of the marans hatched 6/16 2 hatched 6/23. The mixes were all hatched on 6/20. So they were like 17 and 18 weeks. I only did the preliminary cleaning. I am going to let them rest a couple more days before piecing them out. That will give me a better idea but I will let you know.

It was noticable though. When I picked up the Marans and the Dorking Cross to crate them the night before processing they just felt much denser than the Red Stars.

My colleague who I process with just offered to grow out my cockerels for me at his place

Since most of my chicks are broody raised I could get them to him when the girls had weaned them and/or they were sexable...whichever comes last, pay for my own feed and he would raise them and we would process together. That would be a huge help to me as you can imagine. I have been thinking how letting everyone who went broody hatch a clutch has sort of caused an exponential spike in flock size and how I would like to get back to have about 12-18 laying hens and 5-6 Bantams. Anyway this arrangement would allow me to do that and still hatch out boys for the table and girls to sell as layers or keep to replace my older hens,

reduce my numbers and make chicken life less complicated.

Thank-you

That is helpful information and I will be looking forward to hearing what you think once they are pieced out.

 

[bootsNbirds]

Quote: Thank you so much @casportpony !!
So it turned out those companies didn't have fish meal. But this feed store can special-order fish meal for $42 per 50 lb bag. http://evansfeedandlivestock.com/ No minimum order. Just thought I'd update in case anyone else was looking for fish meal!

 

[ronott1]

So it turned out those companies didn't have fish meal. But this feed store can special-order fish meal for $42 per 50 lb bag. http://evansfeedandlivestock.com/ No minimum order. Just thought I'd update in case anyone else was looking for fish meal!

That is great!

That is a lot of fishmeal. It goes a long way too.

 

[OR4-hmom]

I think I'm ready for the rain they are forecasting. They keep saying there is the possibility of 2 or 3 inches with this system. The firewood is stacked - bring it on - put out these fires!

 

[ronott1]

I think I'm ready for the rain they are forecasting. They keep saying there is the possibility of 2 or 3 inches with this system. The firewood is stacked - bring it on - put out these fires!

Our forecast calls for 50% chance of rain tonight and 10% tomorrow.

I hope we get some this time.

 

[casportpony]

Doubt we'll get any rain down here, but the cooler temps and higher humidity are a nice change of pace.

-Kathy

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Doubt we'll get any rain down here, but the cooler temps and higher humidity are a nice change of pace.

-Kathy

YES! Came home from Huntington Lake on Sunday and was blindsided by the temp at my place (92!).