Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[stonykill]

processing roosters today and tomorrow. I would do them all today but I also have venison to package. Here is my question. What are the OT's doing. Do you let your birds "relax" in the fridge for a few days or do you just dry package and freeze? I have always just done the later. Not sure if it even makes a difference. But I'm looking for input.
Thanks!

 

[al6517]

processing roosters today and tomorrow. I would do them all today but I also have venison to package. Here is my question. What are the OT's doing. Do you let your birds "relax" in the fridge for a few days or do you just dry package and freeze? I have always just done the later. Not sure if it even makes a difference. But I'm looking for input.
Thanks!

I process then let rest for 36hrs in a salted iced cooler, I have one of those white 200 qt marine jobs that can hold a dead MMA fighter LOL. then I use the shrink wrap poultry bags with brine in it, and freeze them. Never had a tough bird and the timing isn't an issue. I try to do 25 at a time sometimes more sometimes less.

 

[stonykill]

thanks Al. I'll let them rest 36 hours.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I freeze them the day I butcher them. These might be dual purpose 16 to18 week old cockerels, old roosters, or pullets or hens of any age. I don't do the broilers.

I double-wrap them in freezer paper. When I eat them, I thaw them in the fridge for three days or so. I consider that the aging. And when I cook them, I usually use a crock pot. The younger ones may be braised instead. I don't fry and I don't grill.

I think it does make a difference, but it's the entire package. Sex, age, and how you cook them.

 

[mrsamplias]

Quote:
x2

 

[Beekissed]

processing roosters today and tomorrow. I would do them all today but I also have venison to package. Here is my question. What are the OT's doing. Do you let your birds "relax" in the fridge for a few days or do you just dry package and freeze? I have always just done the later. Not sure if it even makes a difference. But I'm looking for input.
Thanks!

I let mine relax a few days and then freeze. Used to not do this because I didn't have the fridge or coolers available for large amounts of meat but found that resting the meat did indeed make a difference in the tenderness when cooked. I don't brine though.

 

[stonykill]

I let mine relax a few days and then freeze. Used to not do this because I didn't have the fridge or coolers available for large amounts of meat but found that resting the meat did indeed make a difference in the tenderness when cooked. I don't brine though.

thanks. This is now my plan. Let them rest in the fridge now that the venison is out.

 

[normanack]

Buggy News of the Day

Buggy Hen is solid on the eggs in the brooder. It's easier to keep an eye on her when she's up off the ground. She still has a heavy, heavy sprinkling of red pepper, i.e. mites, throughout her hairy feathers. They weren't moving and I thought they were dead after all those ashes, but as soon as I put my finger down in the feathers, they started crawling on me.

We doused her in more ashes, but I wonder if the airy fluffy structure of Silky feathers are protecting the mites in a way regular smooth feathers can't.

Since simply showering took care of the mites on me (granted, I had orders of magnitude fewer mites than the hen), I'm wondering if a good, thorough bath would help her out? In addition, of course, to cleaning her brooder and replacing her bedding daily. (The nest boxes, btw, have only dead mites that I can see.) It's too cold to spray her with anything liquid unless I bring her in the house, and if I do that, I may as well put her in a sink of soapy water.

I hate to mess around with eggs so close to possibly hatching (Monday or Tuesday). But that poor hen.

So: do any of these choices sound good to you?

1. Stash the eggs under Floor Broody. Bring Buggy Broody into the house and give her a bath and blow-dry. Clean out the brooder again during that time. Replace the eggs in the brooder and put dry, re-ashed Hopefully Unbuggy Broody back on them.

2. Wait till the chicks hatch, if they do. Set up a temporary brooder for them in a box on the kitchen counter. Give hen a bath and blow-dry, and ash treatment. Maybe puff some ashes on the chicks? Put everyone back in re-cleaned brooder.

Don't move the eggs/chicks and don't bathe the hen. Keep cleaning her surroundings and applying ashes.

Many many thanks for your thoughts.

p.s. I just bet that after all this planning to un-bug the hen and protect the chicks, that those eggs will be duds anyway.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Buggy News of the Day

Buggy Hen is solid on the eggs in the brooder. It's easier to keep an eye on her when she's up off the ground. She still has a heavy, heavy sprinkling of red pepper, i.e. mites, throughout her hairy feathers. They weren't moving and I thought they were dead after all those ashes, but as soon as I put my finger down in the feathers, they started crawling on me.

We doused her in more ashes, but I wonder if the airy fluffy structure of Silky feathers are protecting the mites in a way regular smooth feathers can't.

Since simply showering took care of the mites on me (granted, I had orders of magnitude fewer mites than the hen), I'm wondering if a good, thorough bath would help her out? In addition, of course, to cleaning her brooder and replacing her bedding daily. (The nest boxes, btw, have only dead mites that I can see.) It's too cold to spray her with anything liquid unless I bring her in the house, and if I do that, I may as well put her in a sink of soapy water.

I hate to mess around with eggs so close to possibly hatching (Monday or Tuesday). But that poor hen.

So: do any of these choices sound good to you?

1. Stash the eggs under Floor Broody. Bring Buggy Broody into the house and give her a bath and blow-dry. Clean out the brooder again during that time. Replace the eggs in the brooder and put dry, re-ashed Hopefully Unbuggy Broody back on them.

2. Wait till the chicks hatch, if they do. Set up a temporary brooder for them in a box on the kitchen counter. Give hen a bath and blow-dry, and ash treatment. Maybe puff some ashes on the chicks? Put everyone back in re-cleaned brooder.

Don't move the eggs/chicks and don't bathe the hen. Keep cleaning her surroundings and applying ashes.

Many many thanks for your thoughts.

p.s. I just bet that after all this planning to un-bug the hen and protect the chicks, that those eggs will be duds anyway.

Did you treat the wood around the broody? when my hen was broody and had mites the mites were also in the crevices in the coop I had to spray down into the cracks and crevices also the roosts. Reason is if you do all the above and not treat the coop/brooder all over they are just waiting to crawl back out and climb back on her.

 

[al6517]

Aging before or after freezing is a matter of choice and both work very well, I however have tried both and it's just as simple as if I want chicken for dinner we as a family don't think 3 day's in advance to thaw and age, it's just easier for us to do it before freezing then thawing and eating same day works best for us. Since I chill them anyway when processing and prefer to age them in a mild brine while I am at it, it kills 2 birds with one stone LOL no punn intended, I have tried no brining and found that a mild brine will definitely add to the flavor. Sometimes I will add some type of mild flavoring to a few with brine for variety but not always. I do this method whether their my heritage culls or a batch of X's either way, but I also have found that brining isn't nessesary for very young little plumpers say 6-10 wk old heritage culls or 3-4 wk old X's, they simply taste better aunatural.

Age, breed and method of processing is what really makes a difference, the biggest difference is in the cooking, you can spend all that time, effort and $$ but if you suck in the kitchen skills department well then that doesn't make much sense now does it.