Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[Yellow House Farm]

Sweet! Looking yummy. The meat is just darned good at that age!

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Check out page 12 for a quick write-up I did in this thread on meat.

Cheers,

Joseph

 

[KenK]

Quote:
Would appreciate a dinner invite or failing that a picture of the main course. I love duck. It's not popular at all in this area and only get to eat it 2-3 times a year at most.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Very nice looking bird KenK.

I have a few candidates I might try that with here. Never had spatchcock but I'm sure it tastes like chicken!

 

[KenK]

In the U.S. "spatchcock" mostly, or always, just refers to a bird cut on either side of the back bone and flattened. It's a very good way to cook a chicken. My apologies if you are just winding me up, pulling my leg and/or chain. : )

 

[ChicksterJo]

Quote:
That looks delicious.

 

[jenkassai]

What a fascinating and educational thread! I am new to chickens, picked up my first ever last week and my second day-old group today from the hatchery. I come from dog showing and breeding, and I had no idea there were BREEDS of chickens! It just never occurred to me! Once I learned that, I somehow stumbled onto the ALBC website. I was intrigued with these breeds and liked the idea of something not everyone has or a breed that is in need of help. That being said, I guess I should have gone to a breeder rather than a hatchery, but I didn't know there were breeders at the time I placed my order with the hatchery, until I stumbled on this site. I am starting super small with a few different breeds to see which I prefer. I have only 7 chicks - 2 Jersey Giants, 3 Dominiques, 1 Columbian Wyandotte, 1 Buff Brahma. Ours are primarily for eggs, I think just because we can't get past the "pet" aspect...yet. I DO like the idea of knowing where my food comes from and that it was raised in a healthy, humane way. So maybe "meat" purpose is down the road for me, we'll see. And only hens for now as hubby didn't want chickens to begin with, but put his foot down (for now - lol) when it came to roosters. Now after learning some, I feel like I went to the equivalent of a "puppy mill" to get my chicks! Live and learn I suppose! I figure I will use this time to determine which breed I am drawn to most, and concentrate on that breed by getting future stock from breeders. I look forward to learning from everyone!

 

[stonykill]

Quote:
good luck and have fun with it. My wife didn't want roosters either. Now she REALLY likes the roosters. So far we aren't eating ours either. Which is funny as I am an avid hunter. My roo's are for breeding, and the hens for eggs and to use as broody's. We have mainly Sumatra's.

 

[Ahab]

Quote:
Would appreciate a dinner invite or failing that a picture of the main course. I love duck. It's not popular at all in this area and only get to eat it 2-3 times a year at most.

1500 miles is a bit far for a dinner. But that great dearth-o-ducks is precisely why we recently started raising them again, after a 30-year hiatus. Thirty years ago, store chicken averaged .69 to .89 a pound, and ducks were $1.89. Today, I can buy plastic chicken at the store for .88 on sale (adjusted for inflation, that almost makes it free); ducks never go on sale, and now retail for around $5 - $6 a pound at the market and double that for high-quality free-range stock--a lot for a bird with a 50% meat yield: way out of my comfort zone. Yet they're comparatively economical to raise, especially in a cooler, wetter climate like Maine's, where slugs and snails abound, and which ducks rather considerately turn into confit, with a little help, of course.

Sorry about the missing photo: I'm afraid the ducking was already being digested by the time I read this email. It was excellent, though at only five weeks old the flavor hadn't completely developed. And plucking, with the immature feathering, was a bit of a chore. But better to eat the dearly departed than compost them.

 

[KenK]

I may try ducks someday. I've got the seemingly perfect place to raise them with a small farm pond. I know it would never work though without a good pen. We are covered up with coons, fox, and coyotes.

Fence the pond in with dog and goat proof electric fence, add goats and ducks? I noted somebody here has Katahdin sheep, maybe a couple of those.

Goat cheese, duck confit, and lamb chops. Not sure how the homesteaders maintained their waistlines eating like that!