Consolidated Kansas

[KsKingBee]

'Thanksgiving Tom' is growing nicely and his time is short so I need to start thinking of how to prepare him. I really hate plucking birds so my question is can I just skin him and then cook him in a bag to conserve the juices and he won't dry out in the oven?

 

[chicken danz]

I got into gardening and canning because it was so hard to come by the kind of food I wanted to eat. Growing it and preserving it myself, I know exactly what's in it and that makes me happy. Now I get a little thrill when, in the middle of winter, I open up a jar of green beans I grew myself. I'm a doofus like that.

I'm the same way. I love using my own produce and it tastes so much better than the store bought stuff. Last night I made turkey and noodles from leftover turkey I had butchered and cooked earlier. So much flavor!!! I ate way too much.
Tweety that is a nice hatch. Fertility has been very good on those. Did you end up with some black chicks in your group? I read recently that the white rocks are supposed to be silver based. How you know that, I have no idea. I suspect however that the heritage New Hamp is the reason for different colored chicks. I have kept all the colored chicks as females and eliminated most of the white ones. I hope the sex link part turns out well. How are the chicks you got turning out? I really hated to loose all those potential layers to the rain. I guess if the rest make it I will have plenty of layers anyway. If this all works as planned I'll start hatching the sex links again in spring. Right now I'm letting them free range all day and just selling eggs as eating eggs. I'll pen them back up later when it gets really cold and all the green things are gone. I figure if they can still find good bugs and green leaves to nibble on it is very good for them.
Dang, I am sorry your WM wasn't selling the pumpkins that cheap. They may have been waiting for Halloween to get over. I was really surprised to see them for $1 each here because people often use them to decorate through Thanksgiving. I am still regretting not buying a bunch more. I didn't try to feed any yesterday because they would have gotten lost in the mud.
I've got a few chicks due to hatch the 3rd. That is the end of the chicks I was hatching for other people. I still have a small number of chicks I am hatching for myself but not many. Most of the good birds are on vacation right now.
I'm actually going to enjoy the break.

 

[HEChicken]

'Thanksgiving Tom' is growing nicely and his time is short so I need to start thinking of how to prepare him.  I really hate plucking birds so my question is can I just skin him and then cook him in a bag to conserve the juices and he won't dry out in the oven?

I will let you know. I didn't have the means to pluck the turkey either due to not having a pot big enough to dunk him in. So I skinned and put him in a turkey oven bag in the oven at 200 for about 12 hours. I turned off the oven and let it cool and the meat appeared to be very tender, but I have not had a chance to try it yet. I will let you know once we have tried it if that is a good way to prepare them. If so, I will be doing all of them that way because I find it easier then plucking under the circumstances.

And also – I stopped at Walmart yesterday to look at those jars. The jar that is $7.44 is 1 gallon and the jar that is $9.97 is 2 gallons. I am guessing Tweedt got the 2 gallon jar since she said she paid $10. I didn't end up getting either because I don't have an immediate need but I'm really glad to know they are there and I will probably go back and get something soon.

 

[ctrymama]

I started wrapping my turkey in bacon, no need to baste and bast cooked faster as well because I wasn't opening the oven all the time; granted it was a store bought bird but thought the idea might work.
Well I was planning on starting construction on the coop today but that will be put on hold. My mom was in a head on crash this morning, everyone is okay, but I just want to snuggle my kids after that news. So we will be taking it easy today and start building tomorrow.

 

[Trish44]

I started wrapping my turkey in bacon, no need to baste and bast cooked faster as well because I wasn't opening the oven all the time; granted it was a store bought bird but thought the idea might work.
Well I was planning on starting construction on the coop today but that will be put on hold. My mom was in a head on crash this morning, everyone is okay, but I just want to snuggle my kids after that news. So we will be taking it easy today and start building tomorrow.

I'm sorry to hear about your mom, I hope everything is OK. That sounds good with the turkey wrapped in bacon, I'll bet it does keep it moist at least.

HEChicken I'll bet that was a 2 gallon jar since she had so many eggs in it. I'll have to look at them when I go this evening. I would like to have one so I could do that project when I do get duck eggs.

Well I don't know if it's a coincidence or if the Rooster Booster wormer is the reason, but my hens are picking up with laying again. I had about twice as many eggs today as I have had, so whatever the reason I hope it continues. There are some extra vitamins in that formula too, so maybe that gave them the boost they needed, I don't know.

 

[chicken danz]

I started wrapping my turkey in bacon, no need to baste and bast cooked faster as well because I wasn't opening the oven all the time; granted it was a store bought bird but thought the idea might work.
Well I was planning on starting construction on the coop today but that will be put on hold. My mom was in a head on crash this morning, everyone is okay, but I just want to snuggle my kids after that news. So we will be taking it easy today and start building tomorrow.

I hope your mother is okay. Life is precious and we can loose those we love so quickly.
Originally Posted by KsKingBee

I have found that if you can get your water to right at 158 degrees that the feathers literally fall off a turkey. Plucking my turkeys was the easiest thing I have ever done. The home grown turkeys have a lot more fat on them than the store bought ones. Or at least mine did. I think if you skinned it and kept the fat it would still be moist and tender though.

I didn't get a lot done outside today. This mud is ridiculous. DH went and got a couple tons of screenings today. So hopefully tomorrow he will get it move with the tractor so I can shovel it in some of the really wet pens. If this works well, we may hire a dump truck to bring a load which would be 25 tons. I worry about sharp edges hurting the bird's feet but if it is reasonably smooth it will surely help reduce some of the mud. We hauled a bunch of extra dirt into some of these pens awhile back but it is clay like the rest of our soil so it is a wet slimy mess.
My feed bill is getting out of hand again. I need to access what birds I have and reduce some numbers soon.

 

[cherwill]

Talking about dehydrators... I once, oh... maybe 20 years ago or so, bought a dehydrator from WM. I used it to dry apple slices and pineapples. I left it on overnight and when I went to check on the fruits the next morning, the dehydrator was dead. Won't even turn on after I unplugged and plugged it back in. I never bought another one to try since. The 1 time I made beef jerky I used the oven on the lowest setting and it took all day to make the jerky. Definitely time consuming. It is not too practical for me since I've to work during the week and only have the weekend to dry stuff so I never got back to doing it.

I never got the hang of dehydrating stuff. I think I let it dry out too much, if that's possible.

Cherwill... I'll be thinking of you come next year when gardening season starts. You always has great inspiring story about your veggie garden. I love reading it. I'll need to start getting a list together of what I want to plant and get the seeds ordered. I need to put in seed ordering in December/January so I can get the seeds germincated in late February. I'm actually getting quite excited on next year's veggie gardening.

Thank you; I'm glad you enjoy it. I do tend to go on and on about it at times ... but the gardening and the critters are such joyful things in my life, I can't seem to help it.

I'm the same way. I love using my own produce and it tastes so much better than the store bought stuff. Last night I made turkey and noodles from leftover turkey I had butchered and cooked earlier. So much flavor!!! I ate way too much.

When DH first moved out of his parents' house, he made fried chicken. He called his mom and followed her "recipe," but it didn't taste the same. He says it didn't really taste like anything. So he called his mom and she quizzed him about every step and couldn't find anything he'd done differently than how she always did it. Finally she asked where he got the chicken. He said, "the grocery store," and she told him THAT was his problem!

I started wrapping my turkey in bacon, no need to baste and bast cooked faster as well because I wasn't opening the oven all the time; granted it was a store bought bird but thought the idea might work.
Well I was planning on starting construction on the coop today but that will be put on hold. My mom was in a head on crash this morning, everyone is okay, but I just want to snuggle my kids after that news. So we will be taking it easy today and start building tomorrow.

I hope your mom is doing OK. I don't blame you for wanting to spend a little snuggle time with your family.

 

[KsKingBee]

I hope your mother is okay. Life is precious and we can loose those we love so quickly.
Originally Posted by KsKingBee

I have found that if you can get your water to right at 158 degrees that the feathers literally fall off a turkey. Plucking my turkeys was the easiest thing I have ever done. The home grown turkeys have a lot more fat on them than the store bought ones. Or at least mine did. I think if you skinned it and kept the fat it would still be moist and tender though.

I didn't get a lot done outside today. This mud is ridiculous. DH went and got a couple tons of screenings today. So hopefully tomorrow he will get it move with the tractor so I can shovel it in some of the really wet pens. If this works well, we may hire a dump truck to bring a load which would be 25 tons. I worry about sharp edges hurting the bird's feet but if it is reasonably smooth it will surely help reduce some of the mud. We hauled a bunch of extra dirt into some of these pens awhile back but it is clay like the rest of our soil so it is a wet slimy mess.
My feed bill is getting out of hand again. I need to access what birds I have and reduce some numbers soon.

Thanks for that Danz. The screenings can be a two edged sword, it makes an ok path as long as the small rocks stay on top, but, where the chickens walk over it they kick the rocks off of the powdery limestone dust and when it gets wet it is sticky too. It's better than sticky clay dirt but it will track into the house unless you loose your shoes before going inside. I prefer the one inch rock.

Do you think that the birds use the limestone like they would sand for their crop?

 

[JosieChick]

Thanks for that Danz. The screenings can be a two edged sword, it makes an ok path as long as the small rocks stay on top, but, where the chickens walk over it they kick the rocks off of the powdery limestone dust and when it gets wet it is sticky too. It's better than sticky clay dirt but it will track into the house unless you loose your shoes before going inside. I prefer the one inch rock.

Do you think that the birds use the limestone like they would sand for their crop?

Hi everyone! So far behind as usual! I have a really sweet lady coming today to pick up my minis so that is a relief to find them a good home. We have lots to do this weekend to get ready for winter so I am hoping we can get a lot accomplished. Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[chicken danz]

I really miss your posts Josie. Good to know about the screenings. I wanted to get river rock but it is $40 a ton. It has smooth edges and I think that would be ideal. There's no way I can afford that. Maybe I should go to the river to the sand bars next summer and haul it out a bucket at a time! I might get one bucket out before I gave up. I guess using the screenings is better than the clay even though it will have it's draw backs. I just want to get some of these birds out of the mud. I know the gravel we have on the driveway is very hard for the birds to walk on. I can tell it hurts their feet. I wish I could find a source for cheap pea gravel. That would be nice as well. I guess the nice stuff has a price for a reason.
King Bee I have seen my birds pick up small particles of limestone from the driveway. I wish sand would stay in place. It just tends to wash away or disappear in time.
I'm already sick of cool weather. It's supposed to rain again early to mid week. It sure would be nice if it would wait another week or so and at least let some of this water soak in.
I still have my 2013 geese free ranging in the yard. It seems to be the best option...other than they recently have found the back porch is their favorite place to sit at night. I am hosing it off now but when it gets colder that won't work. I really need to get a new and bigger pen for them made but that is one more thing to get done on my never ending list.