Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Angelicisi]

Y'all want some Spring? This year's going to be stunning but I have some from last year I love my flowers and yard in the spring!

Last year's 1st attempt at FF was a hit, been addicted since!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Oh man! I can't wait to have my bee garden this year!

 

[Beekissed]

Beautiful!!!!

Thank you!! Can't you almost smell the flowers? Spring is on its way...egg count is picking up, the hens are acting more business like and the temps are starting to even out a little. The other day when we had a warmer day I heard robins singing! HOLD on folks! Spring is coming!

 

[Lacy Blues]

Well, I've butchered two chickens in the last 24 hours. Actually won't be 24 hours until about 6pm but anyway, I decided to take out the huge male I had that slashed the sides of my biggest hen. If he slipped off her, there's no way he could stay atop the smaller hens. I really liked him a lot. He had a rose comb but huge wattles and I want to move more toward a cushion comb and no wattles so I picked up a trio of buckeyes. They're still pretty young but they'll get moved into the yard bird pen in a couple of weeks. For the size and weight of that bird, I was really shocked to find that I could barely get my hand inside of him... and I have small hands. Not thin, but small. He weighed almost 11 pounds and then dressed out at around 9 if I remember correctly. There was a second rooster in the yard bird pen and he was nice too, only he had a single comb. I wish I could have combined the two birds. He was impressive in the space department. I kind of wish I had kept him because of that but if winters are going to continue the way they were this year, I need to breed out that single comb and large wattle. This second bird was a superior carcass.

Here's a photo.



I don't know how to turn it the other way up but you can see he has a nice meaty breast and legs and his keel bone is nice and straight. Lots of room inside for my hand too.

I put the rooster that I will be using for mating in a pen adjacent to the girls he will be with as that girl needs to grow some feathers on her sides. I may make a saddle for her because I don't want to keep him in there for 6 weeks. Anyway, in the pen he was in before, he could see my daughter's campine chickens. He would spar a bit with the rooster but I never saw him get excited over the hens in the yard that were just a fence line away. When he saw the girls in the yard bird pen, woo hoo, did he get excited! He was so fun to watch. Strutting and dropping his wing and pacing... hee hee. I think he'll be very happy when I let him out of that pen.

 

[Beekissed]

Wow, that's good weights!!! And such a nicely processed presentation..you do good work, girl.

I'm gonna have you for my next processing so you can make them pretty.

Can't wait until you taste the flavor of this bird after being fed on FF...takes the strong flavor out of older birds and roosters. Makes them mild and juicy. How old was this bird?

 

[Lacy Blues]

Right at about a year I think. These birds are Delaware/Wyandotte crosses. Nice big gentle birds

I really prefer the birds raised on FF. We've eaten quite a few of them. Usually, they get turned into enchiladas or something like that.

I was going to ask, what is that process called where you preserve the fat from the birds? Was thinking about trying that if it didn't involve too much scientific stuff. I have a freezer full of birds in plastic bags. I should have cut them up to save room. But this one is so purty, I need a recipe to roast an old bird and have it turn out really good. Still tender and juicy. Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks for the compliments. I try to make them look nice.

 

[Beekissed]

I think BC is the one that does the schmaltz making. I'm not that dedicated and just skim the fat off my stock making after it has chilled in the pot all night and freeze it into ice cubes or freeze it flat into zip loc bags and just break off pieces when I want to cook with it. I think she renders hers down to make a more clarified and solid fat than that.

Here's a few how-to sites...the first one looks like the easiest to follow:

http://www.sadiesalome.com/recipes/schmaltz.html

http://www.splendidtable.org/story/how-to-make-schmaltz

http://foodpreservation.about.com/od/Preserving-Fats-Oils/r/Rendered-Chicken-Fat-Schmaltz.htm

 

[BCMaraniac]

I think BC is the one that does the schmaltz making. I'm not that dedicated and just skim the fat off my stock making after it has chilled in the pot all night and freeze it into ice cubes or freeze it flat into zip loc bags and just break off pieces when I want to cook with it. I think she renders hers down to make a more clarified and solid fat than that.

Here's a few how-to sites...the first one looks like the easiest to follow:

http://www.sadiesalome.com/recipes/schmaltz.html

http://www.splendidtable.org/story/how-to-make-schmaltz

http://foodpreservation.about.com/od/Preserving-Fats-Oils/r/Rendered-Chicken-Fat-Schmaltz.htm

Hey Bee, you speakin' about me?

I made the schmaltz only once because of those 4 Red Ranger pullets that I postponed butchering until they started laying. When I finally butchered them, I had nearly 1 1/2 pounds of beautiful fat from inside the abdomen, so I gave Schmaltz a try. I flavored mine a bit by putting finely chopped onion in with it as I rendered, then strained it through cheese cloth. I ended up with nearly two pints.....and it is quite good.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Hey Bee, you speakin' about me?

I made the schmaltz only once because of those 4 Red Ranger pullets that I postponed butchering until they started laying. When I finally butchered them, I had nearly 1 1/2 pounds of beautiful fat from inside the abdomen, so I gave Schmaltz a try. I flavored mine a bit by putting finely chopped onion in with it as I rendered, then strained it through cheese cloth. I ended up with nearly two pints.....and it is quite good.

Did you have to pressure can it or anything like that?

Thanks Bee for the links.

I did in the last extra yard bird rooster this evening. I really don't like doing this stuff... especially when the carcasses are as nice as the one previous that I showed a pic of earlier. All that potential is cut off. What stinks is I know that the one I saved for breeding isn't nearly as roomy as these last two were. He's a nice looking bird but he won't do much for his daughters in the arena of egg production. His rose comb is the reason he was chosen... the only reason. I'll be choosing very carefully next year, hopefully I'll get a guy with lots of space inside to mate back to the right girls.

I was wrong on the weight of the first one. He was nearly 11 pounds fully feathered and in possession of all his innards. He dressed out at...


His skin is pretty red which I don't understand. I didn't find any bugs on him at all. He did have a lot of broken feathers on his belly and there were egg clusters on the base of several feathers so I'm pretty sure at some point he had lice but I didn't find any live or dead when I cleaned him. I couldn't strap his legs down with the strip of flesh from the abdomen because I had to cut it off so I could reach into him. Still, plenty of meat on this guy and he was in good shape.

The one I showed earlier was about 9 pounds before processing. I think he dressed at 5.5 pounds.

Today's last bird:



Does anybody have any good roasting recipes that will make these year old birds tender and beautiful with golden skin to present to my family for a Sunday dinner?

 

[Beekissed]

You can always do the chicken galantine/ballontine method!

Here's a turkey I did for Thanksgiving....just stuffed with potatoes, onions and garlic, rubbed with olive oil and herbs and roasted slow and low in a cooking bag. I've done one of my CX like this also.




Here's the vid on how to do this....