Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

It's the flavor and tenderness of the meat. It is so exceptional to the fast grown meaty birds you get in the store. Especially in other cultures that is very important to their cuisine. I have come to prefer it myself . If grain were cheaper I could make a living on selling just roosters. Now an old hen would be a lot tougher. You would need to bake her slow to get the best out of her.

 

[suburbchic]

Thanks! I just didn't think there was much meat. I would think about my hubby butchering them but we just too many other projects right now. Congrat's on getting your cement project done.It always feels great to check off one of my projects. I've been dealing with too much fruit and garden produce this year.

 

[CHIKENROOKIE]

Dang roo and all their problems......heading to Little Rock in couple of weeks, maybe someone along the way or down their wants him..........

 

[chicken danz]

Did you put an add on Craigslist? I just had someone drive 2 hours to get a lavender roo from me. When someone needs them it's great.
suburbchick the cement is only the first step but after two months prep it's the first real step forward. I am so happy that part is done.

 

[HEChicken]

We butchered a four year old BR hen last year and it didn't seem worth it because there really wasn't that much meat. I don't think these roosters have much more since their only 5 months old. I was just wondering if this is typical? And, I guess why anyone would be interested in going to all that work for so little.

It might be worth your while trying again with the younger guys - a four year old hen IS a lot of work and I can see it putting you off the process. I find skinning to be much tougher on the older birds whereas I did a cockerel a few days ago whose skin peeled off like taking the onesie off a baby. I was done with the kitchen cleaned up in under 30 minutes - including catching, butchering, skinning, eviscerating, putting in the crockpot, taking out the trash, wiping down the counters and vacuuming up the stray feathers. He was exactly 18 weeks old - 4 months - and I got 1.5lb of cooked meat off him. I.e, after the crockpot, I pull out the bones and save just the cooked meat, ready to go into a casserole. I freeze the meat in ½ pound portions so we will get 3 meals out of him.

The one I did before him was a fully mature 1 year old rooster. I got 2 ½ pounds of meat from him.

Those numbers probably sound small because if you talk to meat processors they talk in terms of 5-pound or 7-pound birds. But that is their hanging weight with skin, bones, organs, head, feet etc on. The weights I am giving you is the cooked weight, which is a lot less because in cooking you cook out the juices of the birds. I save the fat and juices and use the fat for cooking and the juices for soup bases, to cook rice or couscous to go with the casserole, and so on. So if I added in the weight of the juices - usually several cups worth - the final weight would be much higher.

The innards mostly go back to the birds, so I consider it extra protein and a little less grain they will eat that day. I save the heart, kidney, liver and gizzard and we also eat those. I don't count the weight of them since I freeze them separately until I have enough to use in one meal.

suburbchick the cement is only the first step but after two months prep it's the first real step forward. I am so happy that part is done.

Congratulations on getting your concrete poured!

I've had a whirlwind of stuff going on lately, with several close family members going through major ordeals, so my online time has been spent doing what I can to help, and I haven't been around much. I'm falling behind on the homestead again so will need a few days to catch up.

 

[CHIKENROOKIE]

Chickendanz, yes I did, and also posted for Arkansas, I need to go there soon and maybe can meet up w someone. Super jealous on the outbuilding, I will just make do with my little ol shed/coop.

So happy for you !! I may come down when its done to drool!

 

[chicken danz]

I'm going to be eating eggs I guess for several months to make up for all the money I am spending. I may not be able to afford groceries. And maybe burning a bon fire outside to keep warm because this is eating more money than I have. But it sure will be nice when I have it finished. I'm dreaming these days of having a house that isn't full of chick dust!!!
I may have to get my outlets run out to the building first and set up a coffee pot out there because it's obvious I'll be spending lots and lots of time building pens and rooms.
Chickenrookie you've seen my pens so you know what a huge change it will be to have the chickens in one building.

 

[sharol]

I weighed my 18 wk old freezer eagles that Danz helped me with and they weighed out at 3 and 3.5 lbs before cooking. They were EE mixes, so not really huge.

 

[Trish44]

Speaking of processing, I have to get my big BR rooster done soon & he's a really big guy. It will be interesting to see how much meat I get off of him. I sure won't miss him & neither will my poor abused hen. I hope she recovers from all of this. I have a couple of young cockerels I'm going to take back from my friend who isn't supposed to have roosters in town in Wichita so I'll have a couple of replacements. They're really looking good now. I'll just trade her some more chicks in the spring if she wants some.

Today was a shopping day again so I didn't get anything but regular chores done here today. I'm hoping tomorrow to get the last gate on the north end of the field & we'll be done with our fencing for now. Yay, I need to celebrate when that's done, it's been a long time coming. I will finally be able to confine the goats & sheep where they should be & keep them out of trouble. It will be so nice to not have goats breaking things & knocking things down as well as getting on the roof of the old garage. That has upset my DH the most because he's been afraid their hooves were going to damage the shingles on there. You would have to see how our house is built to know how they get up there, but the bottom level is built into the hill on 3 sides & when you go around to the backyard you go into the 2nd floor there. The old garage on the end of the house is only 3 foot off the ground at the bottom of the slope so they can easily jump up there & the sheep as well. They get up there & eat the honeysuckle vine growing at the end of the house. They just about have it eaten right now down to sticks, I'll be glad to get it grown back again & to plant my bushes back in front of the house that the goats ate completely.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish I hope the weather cooperates so you can get that gate in. We had rain here earlier this morning. They were supposed to pour the concrete for my friend's building today. I sure hope it clears out and they can still pour. We are doing this together to save some transportation costs for the building crew and they have to be able to build both buildings at once. I really wanted mine done before October 1st. They were talking about starting Monday but it won't happen if they can't pour today.
I had a really busy day again yesterday.
I had some chicks die in the brooder so I cleaned the brooder house. As suspected I had some mold in there under the shavings. So it was a major job and I had to work around the chicks. Normally I clean it all out when I can put all the chicks elsewhere. Of course when I was using Oxine they all ran to the same place the water ran and got soaking wet. Then of course they were chilly. I turned the heater on in there in hopes of getting it all dried out and warmed up. I suppose I should run out there soon and shut it off. I don't want them too hot.
I was going to try to plant flowers and didn't get that done either because my beds are too full of weeds and or not ready to plant either. Just one more project I didn't get done this summer I intended. Now I have a few hundred dollars worth of rizomes that I have no place to plant at the moment.