Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[RoseMarie1]

BUD, the unchicken, truly became an unchicken this morning, folks. You'd have been proud of him...he really had me going!

I had trussed his legs along with all the others the night before and laid him in a deep bed of leaves on the coop floor. This morning, no BUD. I looked everywhere and couldn't find BUD. Finally, about 10 yds away from the coop, I spotted him...he blends so perfectly with the leaves on the ground that he was well camouflaged. I thought he had truly just disappeared into the spirit realm, from whence he had come.

He also was very stubborn about leaving this world. He had to hop out of the pop door, move clear around the coop from out of a tunnel of hay bales and hop around the corner of the coop and then hit the straight away down a grade. BUD, you will be remembered.....

I was very impressed with how much meat he had put on and how tender that meat was. I think he would have finished out as a very large rooster if left to develop as I think he was probably about 3-4 mo. old and that large already. His testicles were not even bean size, so might have been even younger than I thought. I'll post later on his processed wt compared to the older hens processed today.

oh I think after all of that and all he has been through I'd had to let him live. lol Very determined roo indeed! WOW and he already attacked you at THAT age? He must have been maturing earlier than most huh?

 

[BCMaraniac]

BUD'S BODY...that's a pretty large pan, so you can see he made quite a good carcass in the end and was every bit as big as my big ol' hens in size, though lacking the depth of breast they had it was still good for a rooster and he did still put on a respectable amount of meat since he arrived. Not bad for a $1 rooster!

Very good for a $1 rooster.

What do you think about this guy?



He's a 25 week old capon, a BCM/LavOrpington cross.....live weight 8lb3oz and hatched out by one of my broody BCM hens. Photography is not my thing.....LOL

 

[RoseMarie1]

BUD turned out at a respectable 2.5 lbs dressed wt, with the older hens going 3 lbs, 3 lbs and 2.5 lbs. Eleven pounds of bird, total this morning from 4 processed, not including the giblets. They will be deboned forthwith and their bones and gibs added to a large stock pan for the making of...stock, of course...what else would one make in a stock pan?

Their meat will add to all those previously processed and will be canned into jars tomorrow, along with the stock and some jars will just hold stock. I'm figuring out to 16 jars of meat and stock and who knows how much of just stock. Then I will be canning up some deer meat as well.

Soup meat!! YAY!

Saw an ad in the locals the other day for 6 young roosters...for FREE.....hmmmmmm.......

YEA Bee GO GET EM!!!!! FREE is ALWAYS good! You can clean em up with that ff and eat em! YEA I am SOOOOOO excited for you! God Is RICHLY blessing you and I sure hope you get them!!!!

I sure wish I lived close and we could can those together and you could also teach me how to do those chickens. You'd have to knock em in the head of course. hee hee but I could help dress them with no problems! Man that would be SOOO FUN to have a canning buddy! How I miss my mother in law because she was mine. Man I miss that woman!

She was more of a Mom to me than my own mom was. She was also in a wheel chair. She and I sure did have loads of fun! I'd take her shopping and everything. Once she got cancer I took her most every time to her treatments and to the Dr. Just a precious precious woman! Old school from the get go but such an awesome woman that NEVER complained and didn't feel sorry for herself in the least. She could do anything we can do! She cooked, cleaned washed dishes hung out clothes etc. Anyway I sure do miss her!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Yes, I love Marans. I have American Bresse as well. I just started with layers and then the chicken math kicked in when hubby and I decided to raise our own meaties. We raised CX to start, then Red Rangers, while accumulating Marans(just started with layers about 15 months ago) because my DH loves their eggs. THEN I decided to learn to caponize to get bigger DP birds, so I ended up with mixed birds from my layers and my flock protector Lavender Orpington(I got him because he was pretty.....turned out to be a good choice) when my Marans went broody and I learned to incubate. This year I will actually be raising pure bred Marans and Bresse for the first time, and perhaps a cross between the two. I just want to be able to raise my own meat from eggs to table, so I don't have to buy chicks unless I just want to.

As far as disposition goes, all of my Marans are docile, and aren't aggressive other than the typical pecking order behavior. I did call one of my broody hens "devil bird" when she was sitting on eggs and with chicks, but the other one was as sweet as she could be.

As far as feed, Marans don't have the best feed conversion in terms of eggs because they are such good meat birds. What I have seen with the Marans is that the folks who breed for egg color have bred the meat off of the birds. If you have a big meaty bird, she may not give you the dark chocolate eggs, and she will eat more than your other layers. Don't be surprised if she goes broody on you frequently either.....one of mine raised two sets of chicks this past summer.....she raised one brood, I kicked her out when they were 8 weeks old, she laid 3 or 4 eggs in the nesting boxes, then quit. Two weeks later she disappeared, and we finally found her 10-11 days into her second brood, and she showed up at the barn with 4 new chicks about 10 days later.

Marans are great foragers, and you will absolutely LOVE their rich, orange yolked free range eggs.....apparently author Ian Fleming did as well because that was James Bond's favorite egg...lol.

I would take her in a heartbeat if I was close to you.

So the marans make a large meat bird? I didn't see where you said the egg color or did you? Just wondering what color egg?

 

[RoseMarie1]

Don't you mean RIB???(REST IN BROTH)......

 

[RoseMarie1]

Or RIPP....Rest in Pot Pie?

you guys are a hoot! Hubby bought some chicken the other day that was on sale, leg quarters and I usually put them in a salt bath for 24 hours but this time I didn't and it made me sick to my stomach because of all the blood that was close to the bone. It was discus-sting! It was done but really dark dried blood in around the bone. Made me think I've just GOT to start getting AND feeding my OWN meat birds!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Okay, So that's what DH stands for. Ha,ha,ha. Your life sounds pretty idealic, as long as OB is compatable, life should be sweet but a lot of work it seems. But doncha know that hard work into their nineties and beyond is what keeps those centenarians all over the world still kickin' ? Now ask me if I want to live to be 100? No!!! Not where this world is heading. : (

I too cannot stand to sit in a restaurant and listen to a loud exchange over the phone...if I had wanted to hear that I would have asked for the table next to the kitchen or the pay phone. I also cannot bear to be eating a meal with someone who lays their phone on the table and picks it up every two seconds to text someone else. How rude is that?? I saw a young woman come into a place the other day with a baby and toddler in tow...the baby got relegated to the floor in his little seat and the toddler was left to climb into the booth on his own, while the mother texted and kept her phone close to her like a treasure. All the while they ate, the baby was ignored and the toddler was too..as the woman gave her full attention to the phone, with the occasional irritated remark to the toddler when he spoke to her or needed something. I've come to hate the cell phones as the name seems quite accurate...people are imprisoned by them.



I TOTALLY agree with you Bee, HOW RUDE and no one wants to hear your conversation on the cell phone! One of my pet peeves is folks not being considerate. Man you can get me going over that one!!! oh my gosh Bee that is horrible about how she did her children! She's letting them know just how she feels about them and what is more important. So sad! Yeah I have noticed how much people are hooked to them as well. Mine doesn't get turned on much at all. I/we got them for emergency when we go some where to have in case we break down or something. Hubby uses his more now but it's due to work.
ALSO when you're in the bathroom to USE THE BATHROOM and someone is in the stall RIGHT NEXT TO YOU on their phone! How embarrassing is that when you're peeing and everyone on the other end of the phone can hear you? I was taught modisty and that is very embarrassing to me but when you gotta go you gotta.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Interesting thing to note about something I've been noticing...but it hadn't really registered in my mind...is that the birds being fed on fermented feed no longer seem to have a strong smell or flavor like most old DP chickens can have. If one is used to it, they don't really think about it because that is how real chickens~not baby CX~ usually smell or taste...just a little gamey. You can often taste their feed in the meat and even get a whiff of the coop at times if you have a good schnozz..and I do. One can usually smell it the most when cooking one of these older birds down for soup or in the crock pot and the broth will even have that smell and flavor, which is why a lot of people on these forums eat one of their birds once and complain of the flavor or smell of the meat. Say it's too gamey.

I'm currently cooking down the carcasses and giblets of some really old birds and there is no smell in the air except herbs and a sweet savory smell of meat. No strong odor noted and the flavor of this stock is par excellent...better than I've ever made before, either using old birds or CX. It's just mild and an excellent flavor, much like the eggs from this method of feeding have a lack of sulfur smell or taste, this meat broth has a lack of the barnyard flavor or smell.

Can't get over this wonderful tasting broth and can't wait to taste the meat on birds that have had FF this long...should be sweet and mild. Anyone else who have been feeding older birds FF noticing this change in the smell and flavor of the meat and broth?

YUM you got my mouth a watering for some chicken soup!

yum

 

[RoseMarie1]

I've heard that a lot.."Seems like a lot of work..." I always reply that it depends on your definition of work. Work is something that most folks do not like and it has earned a negative connotation of drudgery, something to be endured because one has to for the money to live, etc. I guess the day this all becomes a big ol' chore that I'd rather not do and would pay money to avoid, then it becomes "work".

In the Bible, one of the first gifts God gave man was the gift of work...something to do to occupy their time, their creativity, and to give them a challenge..they were to take care of the garden and all creatures in it. I still see this kind of work more of that kind in nature...a challenge, a good use of time and it involves my creative side as I solve problems that occur when doing manual tasks.

Homesteading is an art and a talent, that when driven by a steady work ethic, can yield much joy and productivity. This seasonal kind of life never grows old to me like a job or employment at a job does and it varies enough to make it interesting, while still holding a predictability in which one can take assurance. We aren't truly homesteading any longer, as those golden days are fully past and belong to my youth, but this tail end memory of it keeps it alive in my mind and heart, so I continue on. I love it and it's when I feel the most alive on this dying world.


Those are heritage stock Delawares from Kathyinmo, here on BYC. The result of years of hard work developing and bringing back an old heritage breed to its former glory. Kathy is a marvel!


And he so LOVED Cheetos! I wish I had known you wanted him, I'd have boxed him up and sent him to you...you could have snuggled on the couch and watched Chicken Run together.

I think he was a cross between BR and possibly NH and was not sure of his age, but he had to have been young because he had not really developed many sex characteristics yet..hadn't tried to crow, Ol' Toby wasn't kicking his butt yet, he wasn't even looking at the young gals with any gleam in his beady little eye, his comb, wattles and saddle feathers were just coming in and his testes were quite tiny still. Of course, male BRs are a little slow in their sexual development anyway, so still hard to determine for this little mutt.

I'll post a pic of his carcass when I get it uploaded from the camera.....

lol

 

[Beekissed]

Very good for a $1 rooster.

What do you think about this guy?



He's a 25 week old capon, a BCM/LavOrpington cross.....live weight 8lb3oz and hatched out by one of my broody BCM hens. Photography is not my thing.....LOL

What age will you process for a capon? Right now he'd probably dress out at 3.5-4 lbs....are you shooting for a larger dress weight? He's very pretty!