First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[duluthralphie]

Color me in not so bright colors....


I just found there is a place on our "home" or "Avatar" page for ovations. I was looking at all my infractions and I stumbled upon it.

I never knew we could send private little quips with the thumbs up thingy...DUH..

Anyways thanks to the 181 of you that sent me nice quips... and sorry to the 2 that didn't say anything nice...

Did any of you know about this feature? I am starting to understand why it took me so many years to graduate.

And special note to somecolorindapan.... I think chicken bikinis are available from Victora's Secert, why else would they advertise here.......again......duhhhh.. LOL

Take care all

 

[Morrigan]

Don't worry Ralphie -- I just noticed the ovation thing a couple of days ago when I changed my avatar. It's a neat feature, I don't know why I didn't see it earlier.

 

[Double Kindness]

Today is a bad day. A white bresse pullet died. Treating everyone with injected tylan on advice of chicken vet. Culling the ones intended for freezer camp in the morning. This sucks. Just 8 more chickens left to send to camp. My bunny's pregnancy didn't seem to take. And now it seems like she's got a bad over bite. Agh. And I'm sick with flu like symptoms. More agh.

I hope you guys all have a much better weekend than us. I'm struggling to stay awake enough to post this.

 

[mountain mom]

Tomorrow is butchering day for half of my meaties. It's the first time we are processing more than 1 bird, and I am nervous and have a ton of questions.

1. We are butchering them first thing in the morning, so they will have had at least 12 hours with no food. It is helpful/important that their crops be completely empty? I want to give them a very small amount of sprouted wheat fodder, just to get them all congregated around the food dish so I can collect them easily.

2. How long do you have (50 degree weather) between killing them, to get them plucked, gutted and on ice before meat quality/spoilage becomes an issue.

3. After they are plucked and gutted, do you do anything other then put them in the refrigerator? I've read that some people soak the birds in a water/salt brine for a few hours first. Has anyone done that?

4. How long do you let them rest in the refrigerator before shrink-wrapping and freezing. I was thinking of 48 hours.

5. Do you tightly cover them in the refrigerator when resting, or is them some value in letting air circulate around them?

I'm sure I'm going to shed a few tears. I know this is light years better then buying chicken in the market, but emotionally, it's going to be a hard day. They are such friendly and trusting birds.

Thanks, everyone.

Good luck today Morrigan!

As Ralphie said, I think your temps will be okay as far as spoiling. I would also agree that 5 at a time is a good amount.
We don't put ours in the fridge, we use a big cooler full of ice and brine. This is the first time we have brined, and it was more for germ control since the cooler needed to be inside so the contents would not freeze outside. Yes, we have had things in a cooler actually freeze when it is cold enough out.
We rested 2 days this time, 3 last time. Both are fine, as long as rigor has passed.
And most importantly, booze. It is a necessity on butcher day.

 

[mountain mom]

Ralphie and Holm- Your turkeys are beautiful! I cannot wait for spring!!

Betsy- You were cracking me up with your cartoons! My kids thought they were funny too

DoubleKindness- Feel better! There are some nasty bugs floating around CO right now! If I recall, you have an autoimmune disease too? Maybe I am thinking of someone else, but anyhow, take close care of yourself and get lots of vitamins and rest!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did, with the exception of the wind that was making our electricity cut in and out... not helpful for cooking!
But our turkey was sooo delicious! We brined for 2 days, stuffed with oranges, apples, sage, onion and garlic, smoked then finished in the oven! MMMM Good!

 

[holm25]

Can you guys tell me what this is. It is hot swollen and pinkish. It is on the knee.

 

[Betsy57]

One of my chickens. I roasted it in 250 degree oven for 3 hours and then the last 15 minutes turned up the oven to 350. OMG! Super moist and tender! Was wondering if I would ever do this again after doing 15 of them all by myself (I finished the last two this morning) but after tasting this one, I may! With just me, 15 birds (about 60 lbs of meat) will last me for a while but I may do more when these are gone. The finished weight per bird was anywhere from 3.5 to 5.5 lbs. $250 in organic feed. Will probably not do the organic next time unless I can find a local source. $30 for the feed and $20 per bag for the shipping. Countryside Organic feed. I like it; just too much to ship it. Cleaned up the area where the meat birds were and this will make a good area for a 'time out' or injured bird. And maybe a broody in the spring. Although with 63 chickens and 3 ducks (and 3 kitties), I really don't need anymore critters to take care of. But watching a mama and a baby is precious! I would like to have a few baby ducks....omg. One minute I'm staying I have to scale down and the next I'm thinking like this!

 

[duluthralphie]

Betsy
,

You do not have the basic grasp on chicken math yet.

Chicken math has multipliers' only! There is no minus sign or division sign with chicken math.

You can never have less, well for long anyways!.


Do you free range the CX's? I found free ranging them made them healthier and cheaper to range. As a bonus I had no wood tick, box elder bugs or Asian Beetles! They love grasshoppers as an all protein treat and exercise device while they chase them.


BTW the chicken looks great. We cooked up my 10 pound 15 ounce CX for thanksgiving. I did him in a cooking bag, the meat was great but I did not have the nice brown color you have. It fed 9 adults and 4 kids. We still have enough left for a hot dish and soup.

 

[Betsy57]

Betsy
,

You do not have the basic grasp on chicken math yet.

Chicken math has multipliers' only! There is no minus sign or division sign with chicken math.

You can never have less, well for long anyways!.


Do you free range the CX's? I found free ranging them made them healthier and cheaper to range. As a bonus I had no wood tick, box elder bugs or Asian Beetles! They love grasshoppers as an all protein treat and exercise device while they chase them.


BTW the chicken looks great. We cooked up my 10 pound 15 ounce CX for thanksgiving. I did him in a cooking bag, the meat was great but I did not have the nice brown color you have. It fed 9 adults and 4 kids. We still have enough left for a hot dish and soup.

They had a small fenced in area to roam. They were allowed to roam during the day and then shut up at night. They ate all the grass in the area and did forge well. They're just pigs! I can make the area bigger if I decide to do this again but it wasn't like the big area the egg layers have. These last two ones would have been 10 weeks on Monday.

 

[LindaB220]

Color me in not so bright colors....


I just found there is a place on our "home" or "Avatar" page for ovations. I was looking at all my infractions and I stumbled upon it.

I never knew we could send private little quips with the thumbs up thingy...DUH..

Anyways thanks to the 181 of you that sent me nice quips... and sorry to the 2 that didn't say anything nice...

Did any of you know about this feature? I am starting to understand why it took me so many years to graduate.

And special note to somecolorindapan.... I think chicken bikinis are available from Victora's Secert, why else would they advertise here.......again......duhhhh.. LOL

Take care all

Ralphie, I'm speechless. It didn't take me more than a couple of weeks to find it.