First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[duluthralphie]

Way off topic.... But a cute story.

I was working around the farmyard getting ready for winter, putting things away etc. I noticed a turkey pecking through the run fence at Brutus, the worlds greatest rooster. Brutus had his hackles out and was jumping at the turkey. They were going back and forth along the fence fighting and jumping at each other and bumping chests through the fence. They looked like 2 of the three stooges!

All of a sudden I see Brutus reach through the fence and grab the turkey by his baby beard! The poor turkey was trying to get away and Brutus just held him right on the fence!

I did not know the turkey even had a beard until Brutus grabbed it. I know I should not laugh at fighting birds, but this was so funny and there was no way they could actually hurt each other.

The young toms are starting too fight for position now. Little do they know there fights will end in 3 weeks. I am hoping my home raised turkeys are as good tasting as my home raised chickens.



Back on topic, I am glad to see so many others afraid of pressure cookers! I thought I was the only wimp with them. I have only used the hot water baths when canning. I may have to try a pressure cooker, if you all survive the next canning season.

 

[Morrigan]

Quote:
I've been so afraid. It's like there is a bomb in your kitchen! My husband's been on a crusade for awhile to use it, so the chicken broth gave him the perfect excuse. I'm really glad he did, but when those suckers went in, he was nervous as all get out. We feel more confident now, but HOLY COW, that's scary the first time.

 

[KCMOLisa]

You guys are cracking me up with your pressure cooker phobia! The newer ones have a lot of fail-safes. It would be pretty much impossible to get one to explode. Once the pot has any pressure at all, it is completely locked down. Several heavy pieces of metal would have to fail at once for the lid to blow off. Then if it ever goes over 15 pounds, the overpressure plug will automatically pop up and release pressure in the pot. If that failed, you would still have to get it to 25-30 pounds of pressure before it would blow up, which would be hard to do unless you completely forgot about it and left it on full blast for over an hour. About the only thing that could happen is you could burn yourself on the steam if you take the weight off before all the pressure is out of the pot. Give it a try!! It is so fun!

Morrigan - I'm so glad your husband tried it. It's not nearly as scary after you've done it once or twice! That's so funny about the Cruella Deville moment. The exact same thing happened to me on processing day! My brother was having trouble catching them because they weren't used to him, so I ended up having to pick them up and hand them to him to do the chopping. When I picked them up, I would pet them and tell them, "You're such a good girl. Oh, you're a sweet boy," and then a minute later they would get their head chopped off. I had to wonder for a second if I was a crazy psychopath.

Betsy - Your chicken sounds yummy! Some people process them when they're that size anyway. I agree with you, though. It is a pain to clean them when they're that small. The one I had to do at four weeks was super hard to pluck because a lot of the feathers that were still growing in were still under his skin and had to be picked out one by one.

Linda - I have heard bad reviews about that pressure cooker/canner, too. It would probably be better as just a cooker. I don't think you can can all the things you can in a regular pressure canner (There were a lot of "can"s in that sentence!). I have the Presto 16-quart. I think it was $60 or $70. I like it because it's big enough to do decent size canning loads, but it's not so big that I can't lift it or put it in the sink to wash it.

 

[mountain mom]

A lot has been happening here.

Betsy -- Glad the early-bird worked out so well for you. Sounds tasty.

Mtn. Mom -- I'm finding it really hard not to get attached as well. As I was putting a couple of my young meaties on the scale today, I was soothing them with the typical "it's OK sweetie" stuff and had an out-of-body experience, wondering if this is what Cruella DeVille sounded like petting her puppies. "Yesssss, my darlings, you're ok, for NOW." Gulp. It is hard sometimes, knowing the outcome. But, I'm still convinced I'm doing the right thing. If they have 7 weeks on this planet, I better make sure they are good ones.

Lisa -- I showed my husband pictures of all the nice canned goods and so he hauled out the pressure cooker, made some chicken stock, manned up, and canned it. (We keep a bag in the freezer of chicken bones on an on-going basis, so we don't waste). It worked out beautifully! Thanks for the inspiration.

So, I weighed three random meatballs today, at one day shy of 4 weeks. Largest was at 2 lbs, 3 ounces, and smallest was 2 lbs, 1 ounce. They are getting bigger and more lazy. I've been letting them get hungry after their morning feeding, and then bring out my sprouted wheat fodder at noon an spread it all around the yard, so they have to search it out and get some exercise. They can move when motivated!

Cruella DeVille! How funny! I really do love my little meaties, and agree that since they have a short while to live, let it be the best life they can have!
Our last batch of meat birds, the freedom rangers, were not as loveable for some reason.
Well, my daughter completely fell in love with "big red hen" as she called it, but the "hen" was really a rooster. And very aggressive to everyone and everything but her. He got the axe like the rest. Luckily, my kids understand why we are giving the meat birds a good life and why we will be butchering them. They even help out.
Now mind you, we certainly are not trying to teach them to be mean and kill animals because you can, just trying to teach them a little about getting back to our roots and providing for ourselves as much as we can. And treating all the living things we end up consuming with respect and love. NOT chicken factory style.

Alright off my soap box.

The meaties have sure beefed up all of the sudden! Within the last couple of days they really have done more than growing. They are filling out! I'm wondering if I keep the largest until Thanksgiving, if we will have a jumbo roaster? Ralphie, what do you think? They are 8 weeks tomorrow.

Also, I am very curious about your turkeys! You will have to let us all know how delicious they turn out. As well as if it is worth raising them. I could certainly be tempted... but it would be a meat bird situation. My aunt had turkeys and they were not especially nice. Last thing I need is my free range turkey terrorizing the neighbor kids!!! Ha, I can just see it now!

 

[duluthralphie]

You have 2 and a half weeks before you would have to process for thanksgiving.

If you feed them a little more, they could make 9 lbs or so by then.


I found I could put more feed into them with less bad things occurring after they were 7-8 weeks old. I did not have any heart attacks or leg problems feeding them more.

Maybe even 10 lbs if you really feed them! But I also found this batch did not eat as much as I wanted them too. I think when they develop good eating habits as babies, they keep those habits throughout their life.


(trying to type without my cheaters forces me to edit) I



I forgot to add, I took my wife to the airport today (FREEDOM FOR ME)!! When I got home there were 2 eagles circling the farm. I lost my last baby turkey chick to them..... I am depressed I was so hoping one would make it!

If the eagles keep this up I may have to stop raising birds. I already have the chickens in a run, game bird netting for the young next spring, but If I cannot free range, I do not want the chickens. I need them to control box elder bugs and Asian beetles.

Then I will go back to spraying for bugs and hope the spray builds up in the eagles system and they die of liver failure!!!!!


I feel so helpless because of the laws that forbid us from protecting our livestock from the national bird!

 

[LindaB220]

A lot has been happening here.

Betsy -- Glad the early-bird worked out so well for you. Sounds tasty.

Mtn. Mom -- I'm finding it really hard not to get attached as well. As I was putting a couple of my young meaties on the scale today, I was soothing them with the typical "it's OK sweetie" stuff and had an out-of-body experience, wondering if this is what Cruella DeVille sounded like petting her puppies. "Yesssss, my darlings, you're ok, for NOW." Gulp. It is hard sometimes, knowing the outcome. But, I'm still convinced I'm doing the right thing. If they have 7 weeks on this planet, I better make sure they are good ones.

Lisa -- I showed my husband pictures of all the nice canned goods and so he hauled out the pressure cooker, made some chicken stock, manned up, and canned it. (We keep a bag in the freezer of chicken bones on an on-going basis, so we don't waste). It worked out beautifully! Thanks for the inspiration.

So, I weighed three random meatballs today, at one day shy of 4 weeks. Largest was at 2 lbs, 3 ounces, and smallest was 2 lbs, 1 ounce. They are getting bigger and more lazy. I've been letting them get hungry after their morning feeding, and then bring out my sprouted wheat fodder at noon an spread it all around the yard, so they have to search it out and get some exercise. They can move when motivated!

Very good idea. Get those Rascals moving.

 

[LindaB220]

I've been so afraid. It's like there is a bomb in your kitchen! My husband's been on a crusade for awhile to use it, so the chicken broth gave him the perfect excuse. I'm really glad he did, but when those suckers went in, he was nervous as all get out. We feel more confident now, but HOLY COW, that's scary the first time.

The answer is to let it cool down for 30 min or so. I can remember a thousand years ago when as a new bride, I used my brand new pressure cooker to make chili. Didn't read the directions well, and when I pull the topped off and opened it, it exploded all over the ceiling, walls, floor and me. I had to hurry and clean it up before my new husband came home and died of laughter. Ahhhhh, good memories.

 

[LindaB220]

You guys are cracking me up with your pressure cooker phobia! The newer ones have a lot of fail-safes. It would be pretty much impossible to get one to explode. Once the pot has any pressure at all, it is completely locked down. Several heavy pieces of metal would have to fail at once for the lid to blow off. Then if it ever goes over 15 pounds, the overpressure plug will automatically pop up and release pressure in the pot. If that failed, you would still have to get it to 25-30 pounds of pressure before it would blow up, which would be hard to do unless you completely forgot about it and left it on full blast for over an hour. About the only thing that could happen is you could burn yourself on the steam if you take the weight off before all the pressure is out of the pot. Give it a try!! It is so fun!

Morrigan - I'm so glad your husband tried it. It's not nearly as scary after you've done it once or twice! That's so funny about the Cruella Deville moment. The exact same thing happened to me on processing day! My brother was having trouble catching them because they weren't used to him, so I ended up having to pick them up and hand them to him to do the chopping. When I picked them up, I would pet them and tell them, "You're such a good girl. Oh, you're a sweet boy," and then a minute later they would get their head chopped off. I had to wonder for a second if I was a crazy psychopath.

Betsy - Your chicken sounds yummy! Some people process them when they're that size anyway. I agree with you, though. It is a pain to clean them when they're that small. The one I had to do at four weeks was super hard to pluck because a lot of the feathers that were still growing in were still under his skin and had to be picked out one by one.

Linda - I have heard bad reviews about that pressure cooker/canner, too. It would probably be better as just a cooker. I don't think you can can all the things you can in a regular pressure canner (There were a lot of "can"s in that sentence!). I have the Presto 16-quart. I think it was $60 or $70. I like it because it's big enough to do decent size canning loads, but it's not so big that I can't lift it or put it in the sink to wash it.

Yes, exactly, a 16 qt is perfect for me. I cant imagine that I'll have enough energy to do 14 pints at a time.

 

[mountain mom]

You have 2 and a half weeks before you would have to process for thanksgiving.

If you feed them a little more, they could make 9 lbs or so by then.


I found I could put more feed into them with less bad things occurring after they were 7-8 weeks old. I did not have any heart attacks or leg problems feeding them more.

Maybe even 10 lbs if you really feed them! But I also found this batch did not eat as much as I wanted them too. I think when they develop good eating habits as babies, they keep those habits throughout their life.


(trying to type without my cheaters forces me to edit) I



I forgot to add, I took my wife to the airport today (FREEDOM FOR ME)!! When I got home there were 2 eagles circling the farm. I lost my last baby turkey chick to them..... I am depressed I was so hoping one would make it!

If the eagles keep this up I may have to stop raising birds. I already have the chickens in a run, game bird netting for the young next spring, but If I cannot free range, I do not want the chickens. I need them to control box elder bugs and Asian beetles.

Then I will go back to spraying for bugs and hope the spray builds up in the eagles system and they die of liver failure!!!!!


I feel so helpless because of the laws that forbid us from protecting our livestock from the national bird!

I've been upping their food a bit, mostly because it is getting colder and I want them to still grow and not just use food energy to stay warm. I think they are getting enough, as these little monsters will have crops so incredibly full it looks as if they will explode, and be chirping for a snack!

I am trying to talk my husband into a Thanksgiving chicken this year... he really likes his turkey. BUT that makes a great case for a turkey chick or 2 in the spring!

I think we may be waiting on all of the birds for at least another 2 weeks. The highs next week are in the 30's, lows in the teens, 3 days of snow. Doesn't sound like butcher weather to me!
Then again, it is Colorado. Sunday has a high of 70 this weekend. You never know what will happen.

Ralphie- I am so sorry about your last turkey baby! I am amazed you are not allowed to protect livestock against the national bird. A predator is a predator, I think. At least they should have a way to humanely capture and relocate them.

 

[duluthralphie]

Ralphie- I am so sorry about your last turkey baby! I am amazed you are not allowed to protect livestock against the national bird. A predator is a predator, I think. At least they should have a way to humanely capture and relocate them.

Thanks.

I do not know of an exception or loophole allowing me to remove or eliminate the eagles.

I would love to take them ice fishing and help them through the hole so they could catch winter walleyes.

I hate the idea of having to have all my birds in covered fences. I might make a covered pen for young birds. Allowing the chicks and turkeys to get nearly grown before free ranging,, BUT then I think half the taste of my birds is the food they forage!