California - Northern

[ronott1]

Coming up on day 24 of crazy slow hatch

2 CLB out (boys)
1 CLB Pipped last night
1 Del out (had to help it out some as with the rolling around the shell around its legs had come off and it had nothing for leverage to push against. Both feet were out and it was sort of sitting in an eggshell bowl)
1 Del pipped early this morning.

Last hatch in this bator had one pip and out on day 25

Still holding out hope for the barred holland

Congratulations!

(Incubator is too low--raise it by 1 degree.

 

[Audio51]

Well the slow hatch is on. First Pip a CLB

Hoping for more pips.

Glad they finally started for you! Your temps must be too low since this happened last time too.

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I am so glad to hear it is doing well! I knew if anyone could help it you would...

Here birds are large fowl. The 2 Splash Orp hens are from Eve at NorCal and are nice big birds. The Black Orp rooster came from Karen Phillips

I processed my first ever cornish cross meat bird today. It was about 7 weeks-old, broody raised and basically free ranged ( never penned up). Turned out to be just over 4 pounds after processing. Boy, do I hate plucking! It didn't help that the scalding water ended up not being hot enough. But, I got it done. I have 4 more to process over the next few days.

Trisha

Congrats! My Cornish X's did much better this year and all finished out at 5+ lbs dressed out. I let them go until about 10-12 weeks though because I can only do a few a day.

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I do the same with the canner, Ron, but still kill and pluck outside. I don't want the little feathers all over the house. I do the rest indoors though. TSC had a nice little "Camping sink table" on sale when I was in there yesterday I almost bought for processing...but decided to wait.

Hi all, I have had no further losses. 6 girls total lost all from the same pen. They included my most favorite girls, my Pita Pinta, my Chocolate Rock, my Konza and one of my Dorkings as well as an Australorp who was member of my original flock and a blue Ameraucana

I have had no new illness in over a week.

I am wondering if you think it would be safe to let the two pens where no illness surfaced out to range. They won't be able to go into the affected pen even if they wanted too. I feel badly for them. being penned up when they are used to daily ranging. Again neither of the two pens I would be letting out would have access to the other pen and there was no sickness in those pens even though all of my birds ranged together until this whole thing started.

Thanks

Great news! I am so glad the losses stopped. I don't remember hearing what the cause was though. Did you get the necropsy results back?

Coming up on day 24 of crazy slow hatch

2 CLB out (boys)
1 CLB Pipped last night
1 Del out (had to help it out some as with the rolling around the shell around its legs had come off and it had nothing for leverage to push against. Both feet were out and it was sort of sitting in an eggshell bowl)
1 Del pipped early this morning.

Last hatch in this bator had one pip and out on day 25

Still holding out hope for the barred holland



That is not bad for such a late hatch. Hope more make it out!

 

[Honora]

***UPDATED***

I now have a bantam Orpington pair for sale.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/985010/updated-bantam-orpington-pair

I wish! Still have 2 cockerels here that I don't know what to do with. I love them but one of them is getting loud!

 

[ronott1]

I do the same with the canner, Ron, but still kill and pluck outside. I don't want the little feathers all over the house. I do the rest indoors though. TSC had a nice little "Camping sink table" on sale when I was in there yesterday I almost bought for processing...but decided to wait.

Feathers are not a problem--Wet feathers stay put.

I set a plastic bag in the left sink and then pluck from the right sink. The feathers go into the bag to the left.

I plucked my first chicken before I was 10, so my hands have muscle memory from that. I am fast at plucking.

 

[Audio51]

Quote:
I am pretty slow due to my RA and Fibromyalgia. I have to sit to do most of it and have a 5 gallon bucket with a liner. The only time I plucked before was 20+ years ago for 1 small batch of extra chickens. I didn't process anything again until last year so no muscle memory for me! The wet feathers tend to stick to my hands and sometimes miss the bucket by the time they drop off. To add to them I am pretty OCD about pin feathers. A lot of this last batch of Cornish looked like they had rubbed a lot of the feathers down to nubs from sitting so much and they may have been blood feathers when it happened. They were dark and needed to be removed. But I have beautiful chickens in the freezer! This picture is from last year but this years looked just as good.

 

[ronott1]

I am pretty slow due to my RA and Fibromyalgia. I have to sit to do most of it and have a 5 gallon bucket with a liner. The only time I plucked before was 20+ years ago for 1 small batch of extra chickens. I didn't process anything again until last year so no muscle memory for me! The wet feathers tend to stick to my hands and sometimes miss the bucket by the time they drop off. To add to them I am pretty OCD about pin feathers. A lot of this last batch of Cornish looked like they had rubbed a lot of the feathers down to nubs from sitting so much and they may have been blood feathers when it happened. They were dark and needed to be removed. But I have beautiful chickens in the freezer! This picture is from last year but this years looked just as good.

Nice Job!

Mine from last year, Bresse:



Pita Pinta

 

[Audio51]

Nice Job!

Mine from last year, Bresse:



Pita Pinta

Very nice too! I hope to have some Bresse for the freezer before the end of the summer. I have 6 growing out now under one of my broodies from Shanti....

 

[ronott1]

Very nice too! I hope to have some Bresse for the freezer before the end of the summer. I have 6 growing out now under one of my broodies from Shanti....

I finished up processing for a while two weeks ago. On Sunday I cooked one of the smaller cockerels using Guy Fieri's chicken tikka masala recipe. It was very tasty. This weekend I plan on cooking another one using a chicken jambalaya recipe I have. It is like a one pot chicken and Spanish rice dish.

 

[PetRock]

Very nice too! I hope to have some Bresse for the freezer before the end of the summer. I have 6 growing out now under one of my broodies from Shanti....

You need to try some Pita Pinta, too! Our family and our farm friends all prefer Pita Pinta for meat over the Bresse. We are processing our extra PP cockerels on 6/27. I'll try to take some pics before the girls bag and tag them.

Pita Pinta meat is good and the chicks are adorable! This little guy was the first chick to hatch in my new to me Brinsea Octagon.

 

[ronott1]

You need to try some Pita Pinta, too! Our family and our farm friends all prefer Pita Pinta for meat over the Bresse. We are processing our extra PP cockerels on 6/27. I'll try to take some pics before the girls bag and tag them.

Pita Pinta meat is good and the chicks are adorable! This little guy was the first chick to hatch in my new to me Brinsea Octagon.

Yes, we prefer the Pita Pinta too.

I plan on running a hatch just for my freezer in another month.