Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[Compost King]

I do not think that was a thing in the 80's when that story happened, but a 2 hour commute from Riverside to Irvine with some Scaly, Yellow, Huge Cornish-X butchered feet in the car with the stuffy brother-in-law, still warms my heart. Some stories just never get old!

oh man, alls I can think about is some guy commuting to work trying to figure out why he is constantly rolling down the window to let flies out.

 

[Parront]

oh man, alls I can think about is some guy commuting to work trying to figure out why he is constantly rolling down the window to let flies out.

Too early in the morning, we had to hit the freeway by 5:00 am to get to work on time. (Known by some as 0:dark-thirty). He had to drive to work with the Dawn's Early Light shining on those feet for an hour at least. He did not come over to my house again, but I heard a lot from the wife of the guy who did this to his brother. Better use of Cornish-X feet I never saw! I am still savoring it after 30 years.

 

[Compost King]

Been processing chickens tonight, working the night shit because its cooler at night. Since I freeze a Carolina Reaper pepper with every bone carcass I decided to process a chicken every time I picked a ripe Carolina Reaper Pepper. The only problem is that half the plant ripened at once and its been a long night lol. Only 3 more chickens to do so I will finish shortly after sunrise.

 

[Parront]

Been processing chickens tonight, working the night shit because its cooler at night. Since I freeze a Carolina Reaper pepper with every bone carcass I decided to process a chicken every time I picked a ripe Carolina Reaper Pepper. The only problem is that half the plant ripened at once and its been a long night lol. Only 3 more chickens to do so I will finish shortly after sunrise.

I can see doing it when it is cooler, but ALL Night? That is dedication to reducing the feed bill!

 

[FortCluck]

Been processing chickens tonight, working the night shit because its cooler at night. Since I freeze a Carolina Reaper pepper with every bone carcass I decided to process a chicken every time I picked a ripe Carolina Reaper Pepper. The only problem is that half the plant ripened at once and its been a long night lol. Only 3 more chickens to do so I will finish shortly after sunrise.

Did you mean to write haha haha

 

[FortCluck]

Been processing chickens tonight, working the night shit because its cooler at night. Since I freeze a Carolina Reaper pepper with every bone carcass I decided to process a chicken every time I picked a ripe Carolina Reaper Pepper. The only problem is that half the plant ripened at once and its been a long night lol. Only 3 more chickens to do so I will finish shortly after sunrise.

We are processing some tonight too. A couple cockerels that aren’t to my liking in my flock.

One is a bantam Brahma and the other is a Deathlayer cross

 

[iwltfum]

Been processing chickens tonight, working the night shit because its cooler at night. Since I freeze a Carolina Reaper pepper with every bone carcass I decided to process a chicken every time I picked a ripe Carolina Reaper Pepper. The only problem is that half the plant ripened at once and its been a long night lol. Only 3 more chickens to do so I will finish shortly after sunrise.

Good lord. That sounds terrible to me! I get all bent out of shape if I have to butcher beyond 4pm. Makes sense to do it in the cool though. Less flies too. We built a butchering building to comply with the states requirements for selling home processed birds, otherwise, with this heat this summer, I would definitely consider butchering late at night into the early morning. Although we have swarms of mosquitos around here at night so I'm not sure it would be any better. lol.

 

[Parront]

Good lord. That sounds terrible to me! I get all bent out of shape if I have to butcher beyond 4pm. Makes sense to do it in the cool though. Less flies too. We built a butchering building to comply with the states requirements for selling home processed birds, otherwise, with this heat this summer, I would definitely consider butchering late at night into the early morning. Although we have swarms of mosquitos around here at night so I'm not sure it would be any better. lol.

Just curious, how difficult & expensive was it to comply with your states regs?

 

[iwltfum]

Just curious, how difficult & expensive was it to comply with your states regs?

It's not very difficult at all in Maine. The reason we had to build an entire building for the process was because the only buildings on the property when we moved here were were 150+ years old. The main requirement is that you need to have a covered space with running water to do the evisceration. So a carport with a hose spigot would have done the trick. But we are looking to expand from where we are and we knew we were going to need to hire help for butchering days and the owners of our farm's property like things to look "nice" so we decided o go with a full building that we could expand into. Definitely an investment that we will be paying off for a couple more years even though I did most of the work myself. It's on a slopped concrete slab and I covered it with FRP panels on the inside so I can spray the whole thing down when we're finished butchering and everything just drains out the bay door on the front. It also doubles as my maple syrup shack in the spring. We actually don't pay any fees to the state to be able to do it, other than business taxes.

 

[FortCluck]

6 lbs of jerky Sweet Heat & Teriyaki