First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[Morrigan]

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!

I would love to free range my chickens, but we have tons of raptors, coyotes, bobcats, and weasels where I live. Not to mention our field spaniel who has a strong prey drive. So we built a huge yard/run, covered it with netting and electrified the fence. I grow sprouted wheat fodder and give them leftover vegetable and meat scraps that I spread out in their yard, so they get a varied diet and somewhat of a foraging experience. We also have the run divided so we can shut them out of one side and plant it. Right now the meaties on the one side, but when they are gone, I'm going to bring in tons of seeds and cross my fingers. Last year, the drought killed off most, but, as you can see, we did get something for them to range on. We are hoping for a better rain year.

 

[CoHomestead]

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.
 

Same challenge here. They will be 8 weeks on the 17th, but the weather doesn't seem to be in our favor. Thinking I will have everything ready to setup and pick the best day between the 15th and 24th.

 

[JessicaThistle]

Wow! I have missed so much here. This week has been insane for work! I had a business trip on Tuesday and when I came back, I had 12 emailed orders and 2 phone calls for quotes. This was on top of the 10 orders that I was already working on as well as my biggest project of the year. I am missing out on precious time with my peeps in the yard and here!

I have also never used a pressure cooker nor do I own one. I admit a healthy fear of pressure cookers. I have canned. I make an awesome pickle. I have canned peaches and pears. I have also made a variety of delicious jams. I would love to do that now but owning my own business proves to limit my time.

QUESTION: When making broth, does it have to be pressure cooked to can or can you hot water bath it? I have kept all of the backs when I cut down my chickens. I also have a frozen baggie of broth that I made one night.

Ralph: My heart breaks for your loss of your chick. Is it illegal to throw rocks at eagles? Sling shot? Maybe it's time to throw a dead animal in your yard to attract vultures. I know that's disgusting but my neighbor, who is an irresponsible farmer that leaves his dead sheep in the pasture, has attracted so many vultures to the area that the hawks and eagles tend to avoid us. We have at least 50 crows that live in the area too. I'm about ready to start feeding them as well. Don't stop having chickens. Your life will be so empty.

Morrigan: I love your setup!

Morrigan & MountainMom: I love my little meat peeps too but truly feel that giving them a happy loving life is an awesome thing. They are making the ultimate sacrifice for us to eat. They deserve our appreciation. You will do fine when it comes to that time. It is difficult but give you an appreciation that you may have not had before. Seriously make sure you have steaks to cook up if you are actually hungryafterwards and a bottle of vodka (or your drink of choice) on hand to ease the pain. LOL!

 

[KCMOLisa]

QUESTION: When making broth, does it have to be pressure cooked to can or can you hot water bath it? I have kept all of the backs when I cut down my chickens. I also have a frozen baggie of broth that I made one night.

Chicken stock/broth has to be pressure canned, unfortunately.

 

[Betsy57]

Well, the birds will be 7 weeks old Monday. The roasters are just a bit over 2 lbs and the Cornish x are 4.5 lbs to 5 lbs. I was going to butcher a few tomorrow after church but will wait I guess. Was planning on doing them next Saturday but it is supposed to be in the 20's here with snow! OMG! I guess I will still try to do some then. I can bleed and pluck them outside and then go in the basement to clean 'em. Guess it won't take long for the water I use to plunge them before I pluck them to cool but...can't bring that propane in the house. Guess since I have a walk out basement, I can bring the water in between scaldings. That will help some. Oh vey! I really wanted to get the Cornish x done next Saturday but will see how it goes. Probably have 6 or 7 that could be ready next week. The two roosters are the 5 lb ones at this point. So I think I read somewhere on this blog that you can count on losing 25% of the weight to get the finished product. That sound about right? So if I did butcher a few of the 4.5 lbs tomorrow, I'd get a finished bird about 3 lbs? I was wanting about 4.5 lbs finished. So to get that, I need about 6 lb bird?

 

[KCMOLisa]

Mine were about 6 to 6 1/2 pounds live weight and my average after dressing them was 4 1/3 pounds each.

 

[Betsy57]

Mine were about 6 to 6 1/2 pounds live weight and my average after dressing them was 4 1/3 pounds each.

Thanx! That's what I'll shoot for. Hopefully they'll gain a pound this next week and I can try to butcher some. Sure hate this cold weather coming in. I'm just not ready for winter but I guess it doesn't matter if I'm ready or not. Crazy to be that cold and snow this early. So how long did it take to get to that weight? I know I've been feeding mine so they wouldn't grow too fast. So next weekend just shy of 8 weeks hope to butcher some nice 6 lbers.

 

[KCMOLisa]

Thanx! That's what I'll shoot for. Hopefully they'll gain a pound this next week and I can try to butcher some. Sure hate this cold weather coming in. I'm just not ready for winter but I guess it doesn't matter if I'm ready or not. Crazy to be that cold and snow this early. So how long did it take to get to that weight? I know I've been feeding mine so they wouldn't grow too fast. So next weekend just shy of 8 weeks hope to butcher some nice 6 lbers.

Yes, I think we have the same system headed our way and it's going to get cold! I was just telling someone that I am glad my meaties are done because even the highs next week are low 30s. Mine were exactly 7 weeks on processing day. Honestly, I was shocked they were that big. I was going for 3 to 3 1/2 pounders after processing, but they gained over a pound each that last week. Even my tiny runt that never even got his feathers and was noticeably smaller than everyone else ended up being over 3 pounds (barely) after processing. I think if you can give the biggest ones another week, they will be where you want them to be.

 

[duluthralphie]

I was a little disappointed in the size of mine. I was going for a 20 pounder!

But the weather was not going to cooperate. We are suppose to have 15 inches of snow by tomorrow night,,,ISHHY POOH!



Bad day here again. The young turkey hen the eagle attacked a couple weeks ago died today. That makes 6 turkeys it has killed. I thought I had her mending but I guess not......

May a evil plague befall the eagle!

 

[Betsy57]

I was a little disappointed in the size of mine. I was going for a 20 pounder!

But the weather was not going to cooperate. We are suppose to have 15 inches of snow by tomorrow night,,,ISHHY POOH!



Bad day here again. The young turkey hen the eagle attacked a couple weeks ago died today. That makes 6 turkeys it has killed. I thought I had her mending but I guess not......

May a evil plague befall the eagle!

A friend of mine just 2 miles down the road lost some chickens due to hawks. He has his fenced in but the top unprotected. He put a post in the middle of the fenced-in area and then ran wire/thin rope to various points on the fence. It is kinda like an umbrella without the fabric. It works. The overhead birds can't get in due to the wires/thin rope. You'd have to play around with the wire/thin rope to see how far to space them out but the wingspan of an eagle/hawk would do it.

Good luck.