Faverolles Thread

[n8ivetxn]

I've read a little about it and the very strong suggestion is you NEED to process some birds first so you know what is where inside the bird or you'll make a mess of it.

I also saw some videos on how to humanely kill a chicken and I have to agree, it looks fast with minimal if any pain. Well, except the human emotional pain. Suffice to say, it isn't the "stretch the neck on the chopping block and swing the axe", or "twist their necks until they snap" methods that 'we' all think of based on what we have heard. I'm still not sure I could do it but with my "emotional vegetarian" daughter around, I don't have to find out though it looks a lot better than what I imagined.

Bruce

Youtube has a really good, instructional video on humane home processing. I can't remember what it was listed under, but I found it impressive...

 

[keesmom]

Wow, I go away for a day and suddenly there are 4 pages of posts to go through.

There are many, many factors that influence what someone does with their culls. I'm glad to see everyone here has thought through what to do with their extras BEFORE they hatch them. Unfortunately I've seen too many local people hatch eggs thinking they will be pullets, then haven't a clue what to do with the males.

This past year I hatched 350 chicks. I do not have the room to grow out that many birds. I am lucky in that I have an outlet for culls so I do not need to kill at hatch. I have several someones who will take male chicks I do not want to grow out, and I have many buyers for juvenile males I decide I do not want to keep. All of those I know go for meat. The cull pullets I will sell as layers. I do not sell unsexed culls so that should prevent someone from breeding them.

Everyone's situation is different, so solutions will be different. It will all depend on how many chicks one will hatch, what kind of market there is for the extras, and how much space someone has to grow out birds.

I did take a course in processing poultry, through UNH. Just to make sure I could do it right.

 

[keesmom]

I am sooo jealous! Yes, we need to see those lovely birds - I was looking at her pics last night, she has some gorgeous specimens

I can't take credit for most of the pullets Henry is getting tomorrow. Only 2 are mine, the other 4 are from Dick Boulanger.

 

[n8ivetxn]

Wow, I go away for a day and suddenly there are 4 pages of posts to go through.

There are many, many factors that influence what someone does with their culls. I'm glad to see everyone here has thought through what to do with their extras BEFORE they hatch them. Unfortunately I've seen too many local people hatch eggs thinking they will be pullets, then haven't a clue what to do with the males.

This past year I hatched 350 chicks. I do not have the room to grow out that many birds. I am lucky in that I have an outlet for culls so I do not need to kill at hatch. I have several someones who will take male chicks I do not want to grow out, and I have many buyers for juvenile males I decide I do not want to keep. All of those I know go for meat. The cull pullets I will sell as layers. I do not sell unsexed culls so that should prevent someone from breeding them.

Everyone's situation is different, so solutions will be different. It will all depend on how many chicks one will hatch, what kind of market there is for the extras, and how much space someone has to grow out birds.

I did take a course in processing poultry, through UNH. Just to make sure I could do it right.

I missed a few days once, and wow, there was a lot of chatter goin' on

Being in the military, I guess it's been drilled into my brain to have a contingency plan - whatever I'm doing! Yes, I don't want the culls to pay for my lack of planning.... it's been a really good and insightful conversation, I now feel like I have a couple of options I hadn't considered before.

I think if I processed one bird I would be ok with it. And with future culls, I most likely won't spend a lot of time with them and end up getting emotionally involved with terminal animals - that's the plan, anyway :/

I saw those photos of your birds, very nice! Don't let Henry have them all, we need some on the West Coast

 

[mame1616]

This HAS been a good conversation! Thanks to everyone for their input.

I was at a Chickenstock where we processed birds. I was part of the "clean-out" team. They had a mechanized chicken plucker, which was incredible! 15 seconds for one bird! They used the hatchet method - I think I prefer the cones, it just seems gentler. Once the carcass was handed to me, it was like any bird I would get from the store. (I mean that I could handle it as if it was - I know the difference in quality.) I was able to do all of the evisceration and cleaning. I kinda felt proud of myself when I was done. An efficient set-up seemed to be the key. Although there were more people than necessary, and there was a lot of stopping to clean the plucker, change garbage bags, and give lessons, we processed about 30 birds in less than an hour.

I think that if I eventually have the room, this is what I would like to do with my culls. I would make me feel good to have the birds live a good life, and then I could provide those birds as food for others. I think I would go for a couple more live lessons, though - I learned a lot.

 

[sandiklaws]

Ok I am late to the party... but I agree w/ the general consenses; use them for one season if they are all you have/can get, cull super hard at the 'bator (make enough per hatch so it doesn't get too depressing), and keep your eye out for better to replace them with. Personally, I would only use the second girl if I absolutely had to. The blond is closer to the shape you want unless the picture of the second one is just at a really funky angle. Either way I think the lighter girl is prettier.

By the way, the best way I have found to take decent pictures of chickens is to cage them on a table with lots of treats until they are comfortable with the cage... sometimes you have to do it for a short time per day, for a few days before they relax, and it does help if they are a tad more hungry then usual. Pretending to take pictures right before giving treats will also help tremendously. It is basically like training them for a show cage, only with the camera.

Ok, I got a few pics of toes for the critics out there - Cull hard! Be merciless! I can take it

This is pullet 1, lighter than the other...all of her toes have contact with the ground - DQ? Pic 4, look at the spacing on each foot, not a match....








Pullet 2, the darker one. Look at pic 3, the right foot toe placement....

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

This HAS been a good conversation! Thanks to everyone for their input.

I was at a Chickenstock where we processed birds. I was part of the "clean-out" team. They had a mechanized chicken plucker, which was incredible! 15 seconds for one bird! They used the hatchet method - I think I prefer the cones, it just seems gentler. Once the carcass was handed to me, it was like any bird I would get from the store. (I mean that I could handle it as if it was - I know the difference in quality.) I was able to do all of the evisceration and cleaning. I kinda felt proud of myself when I was done. An efficient set-up seemed to be the key. Although there were more people than necessary, and there was a lot of stopping to clean the plucker, change garbage bags, and give lessons, we processed about 30 birds in less than an hour.

I think that if I eventually have the room, this is what I would like to do with my culls. I would make me feel good to have the birds live a good life, and then I could provide those birds as food for others. I think I would go for a couple more live lessons, though - I learned a lot.

I don't like the cone idea...I can't wrap my mind around letting a bird bleed to death...too slow...being in the veterinary field, I really need my birds to go as quickly as possible, so it's always an ax or a gun for me...(guns for turkeys)

 

[ashandvine]

I wanted to share the pictures of the new babies which came from Dr Bramwell's birds. They are gorgeous... imo. I have never had Favs and this is a first. They almost didn't make it. The woman hatching these out for me had a power outage the last night and had to run them out to a broody at 1am!! That is a truly dedicated hatcher/friend.

I am ill today and nursing a cockerel who is emaciated-- from worms as best I can tell. He has been wormed and is in the house stinking up the library but getting better. Given all that I don't think these little beauties are coming home until next weekend.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Can't see the pics....

 

[mame1616]

Sandi, good point about training them for pics. I took about 50 more than you see here before I got some that were not fuzzy!

These girls are 4 1/2 months old - three from Dick and one from Melissa, although I couldn't tell you which one, because, of course, the "bracelet" I used fell off a while back, and these girls are practically identical. I MIGHT be letting one go to a friend who really wants one, but like I said they are so close in appearance that I can't decide which one to let go, if any. They all have great toes. A couple are slightly more colored on their breasts. Pullet 3 is a tad smaller than the others, which all seem to be a good height, based on my hen. (My first time raising LF) Can I get some opinions, or any comments at all? I can take other shots, if needed. Thanks! (Please excuse the messy run - I swear I just swept like two days ago!)


Pullet 1




Pullet 2




Pullet 3




Pullet 4