Incubating in my classroom has generated many chicken enthusiasts! So many of “my” parents call me with their kids pleading to have a “pet chicken!.” YOU just happened to be one that said YES! Lol. Enjoy those fuzz babies! Thanks for the kind words...I am looking forward to another successful year with my kiddos. Bear hugs to you and yours!
It's all about how you cook them. 100%
Well and how they're killed. Sorry but it's the truth. Night before last I roasted a rooster that was 18-24 month old at the time of slaughtering. My first solo kill(DH2B previously did the dispatching) now I know I'm able to do what's necessary. We use killing cone and a knife. It's the most humane and the calmest for the bird, plus it gives the best quality of meat. The rooster was a bachelor we kept around to keep the young cockerals in the grow outs in line. He want after my dog blindsiding her while out doing his daily free ranging and stuck her with a spur while out free ranging. I have a sheltie, Molly, who's my pride and joy. She's also 12 years old amazing with the chickens and was literally just sitting in the yard watching me when it happened. I was hammering on some wood(something we do all the time around here). This bird had never attacked before. At first I didn't know what happened but she got upset and ran to me. I calmed her and put her back where she had been sitting. He went for her again and I threw my hammer at him it connected and he turned away at the last minute. Now DH2B calls me Thor. I checked her over thoroughly but the next night when petting her I found a scab over a small puncture wound. Sheltie hair can hide a lot.
Older birds need to be cooked low and slow using moist heat methods. Also birds need to be rested after butchering for 3-4 days to allow rigor to fully finish and the muscles to relax. A stressed bird at death is a tough bird. When a deer gets hit for example proteins are created in the body that size up and tense the muscles it's the same for a stressed out chicken or any animal. Calm and relaxed gives a faster kill and better quality meat.
cookingwheritagechicken.pdf
if you Google the above you can find a great read. I originally found it on BYC but can't find it now. Perhaps searching for it on BYC.
It is hard the first time. It's a little hard every time. It shouldn't be easy it's taking a life. There needs to be a certain amount of respect and gratitude given for the animal and what they provide for you because you provided for them. We carry each bird we process around for a bit so he/(this year will be our first time killing surplus older hens for meat- all previous kills of hens have been for mercy and they weren't butchered) or she relaxes. Then when they are relaxed they go into the cone and we wait for them to relax again. We touch the neck where the cuts will go first with a finger then with the back of the knife a few times in succession. Then we flip the knife over and make the first cut and then the second on the other side of the neck. Done correctly there's a good stream of blood from both sides and the bird is unconscious in seconds. You can watch videos of this method on YouTube if you want. There will be some death throes as with most things that die but a calm bird also usually has less death throes as well. It's easier processing hormonal spare cockerals that cause trouble but really any bird it's just good to think about that they've had a good life and it's time to serve their final purpose.
It is harder to kill something hands on than shoot it. And bad or annoying birds are easier.
Love your OEGB they're absolutely one of my favorite pet chicken breeds!! Interestingly mine are quite cold hardy although they do winter in a insulated coop with many other birds and I do find them sometimes tucked under the wings of other birds or in-between my English Orpingtons because of course they're big and fluffy and warm. I've had a bit of frostbite trouble but not too bad. Only once in the years I've had OEGB so far have I seen one continually shake for a day and we were in the -40s*F outside with the wind chill. Of course weather like that we don't let the flock out. I have brought a few birds into my porch a couple times if I thought they were too cold or if I wanted to try and save comb that had gotten frost bite. Generally I try to keep them outside so they don't get a shock when taken back out.
Thank goodness!!! I'm not the only one!
Oh dear this is going to be long!
I'm a Chicken Math Expert!!
We started out 3-4 years ago now, doesn't seem like long. We've been through it let me tell you.
The beginning went like this.
DH2B and I decided to get some chickens. We have an old two room milk house on the property that's quite large perfect for chickens. We talked about it and decided to order 5 buff Orpington pullets from our local feed store. Just 5. I wanted other breeds too but we would have to order a minimum of 5 of each breed. I didn't want that many of each.
We waited for our order and found a local guy selling Silver Laced Wyandottes we bought 5 at 1.00 each. Straight run I tried to pick girly looking ones. We weren't planning on a rooster yet. (We ended up with 4 females/1 male)
Tractor supply had chicks! Uh oh Mom and I went.
We bought four Isa browns and and got three bantams(one drowned in the waterer after over a year of research we hadn't heard that could happen) back to the store we went because I was so upset and of course our bantams couldn't be alone. We got two more bantams. (Our first surviving bantam was an OEGB cockeral- later rehomed to a home where he didn't have roosters as competition), and a porcelain d'uccle cockeral that was a great bird. The second two were a sebright pair(I use this loosely as the male wasn't standard at all he wasn't Henny feathered and was almost the size of a large fowl hen- he became so aggressive it was necessary to dispatch him from a distance with a bullet straight to the head. He was relentless in his aggression and even attacked in pitch black.) The porcelain d'uccle cockeral actually stepped in on a couple of occasions against the larger sebright cockeral to defend me. He later died in a freak accident that broke his neck when he missed a jump.
Of course everyone was still chicks and not even sexable when our order came in. Unknown to us the store ordered extras to sell. While we were there why not buy 4 EE too?!
In case you're following that's 5 slw + 4 Isa + 4 bantams + 5 BO + 4 EE so far within two months. = 22
DH2B decided to buy an incubator and bought me silkie eggs with bonus bantams as our first hatch.
Our bonus birds were a poorly bred bantam cochin and a self blue OEGB. We also got 6 silkies to hatch = + 8
= 30 birds
Next we were given 6 chicks from a friend 3 died in 6 hours from cocci even though treatment was quick.
+3
Our first winter we had 33 birds.
I think I remembered everyone. LOL
Now we have our big coop, another good sized coop moved from DH2B's uncle's house. A run in an out building. A small tractor coop(current summer abode of our quail). Another tractor coop being used as a grow out for meat cockerals. A raised run inside the main coop(used for quail especially in the winter). A third tractor coop being built(same as the one for meat cockerals) may be used for introducing the juvenile pullets from this year. We will also probably build a third tractor coop of the same size.
Who knows what we'll build after that.
We are reroofing our main coop with tin asap and then will be rebuilding it from the inside out for predators and to make it more suited to chickens. Added windows and a wire door already. The inside will eventually be totally done in fiber board(I think it's called)so will be mite/lice proof and bug proof it will also be mice and rat proof is the hope. Our main coop is the only one that has a permanent concrete foundation.
Our flock has exploded in the last couple years. Our numbers include now ten turkeys from this year. Eight 4 week old blue slates. And two 3 month old calicos.
6-7 coturnix quail
4 guineas
And approximately 180-190 chickens. Of those between 80-100 will be processed. Including our first ever specific meat birds 10 three week old red ranger chicks still in the porch with the little turkeys.
Once the turkeys are grown enough culls will be made there as well.
Our chicken breeds include but aren't limited to OEGB(currently no breeding rooster as I lost him), English Orpingtons of several colors, cream Legbars, Buckeyes, EE, SLW(not the original birds), silkies. We have breeding groups of all of the above. Then we have miscellaneous birds and some mixes that are just for fun or were accidents.
Of course I have my favorites, my pets, we call them our lifers because they will live out their natural lives here unless they are suffering. They will never be eaten.
Most of our flock has the dual purpose of meat and eggs/entertainment.
We cull any aggressive bird and because we don't tolerate it I have a huge flock with almost no arguments ever. Including many roosters(that number will be coming down before winter too).
All of our birds get care if injured or anything else whether or not they are pets or destined to be food.
They get let out daily and free range around our farm and surrounding field which is 300+ acres. Of course they don't spread that far but in good weather I've seen them 1/4-1/2 mile in either directions. They almost always stay out of the road perfectly and even the guineas go back inside to roost. Of course I won't turn out 40+ cockerals loose on the flock that would be awful for my hens. Hence the tractors coops.
In the winter only very inclement weather keeps us from opening the doors and we make sure they're comfortable and have what they need. Our flock regularly goes out into weather down to zero. After that a few lessons go out but as long as it's not super windy or sleeting we generally let them out.
I can’t cull my own. I’m blessed I have a friend who can. He even took care of a skunk I trapped. He’s single so all it takes is a home cooked meal here and there. Maybe a cheesecake or two.
Thanks no worries. LOL you just described our plans.
We are at one of DH2B's family's rental houses currently so we can't make too many permanent changes hence the tractor coops.
We are planning to buy my Grandparent's 65+ acres and then add more land as we are able. DH2B is also set to inherit his family farm of around 2-3 thousand acres but for now we're doing our own thing. All crops and rental properties right now but we want to diversify it more. Mint, canning crops(peas green beans sweet corn Lima beans), seed corn field corn and a few soy beans they grow just about all of it.
If we had the facilities here for cattle we would already have them and we've been planning on trying rabbits as well but we want to butcher a few to try first. We plan on having Highlands and maybe 1-2 other breeds of cattle as well.
Goats and pigs are definitely on the list with emphasis on heritage breeds.
Partly for their milk, meat, fiber and ability to help clear some of my Grandparent's land. My Grandpa had Alzheimer's so the property became overgrown in the last 10 years. We go out once a week but can't keep up.
I also want horses and a couple alpacas at some point. We have to make sure the farm is making money first before horses. As much as I love horses they don't give money back to your wallet in good to your freezer like a pig can. We have some friends that raise sheep and I would like to try some of those too on our homestead.
You could absolutely raise meat birds without taking them to the butcher. We don't take ours to the butcher. We live maybe a mile from one but it's booked months in advance and then there's the cost. Not to mention the stress on the birds.
We eventually want to have a building dedicated to processing but currently we do it open air in the yard. The killing cone(we are also adding another) is on the wall of an old grainery. DH2B built a whizzbang drum plucker and it's amazing! Way cheaper than buying a prefab plucker. We use a table or when the table is in use for something else we put cheap plastic table cloths over a huge spool we have. Soap water and bleach. Rinse and we are ready to go. Each state is different and some states do allow you to sell a number of home processed birds from your property. Without USDA approval or whatever it is. Mostly we process for ourselves.
We are also planning to add aquaponics at some point for trout and DH2B has started us with Black soldier fly larva which should be arriving this week. If you've never heard of them look them up on YouTube or the internet! They're amazing and I can't wait to try them. They'll be used for chicken feed and also for fish eventually.
I'm sorry for your loss it's hard when something like that happens but accidents do happen please don't beat yourself up too much. I too have been going to bed when I looked out the bathroom window and saw DH2B had forgotten to lock up the main coop. Of course out I went. It too is the coop we do first.
Sometimes things get forgotten and it can be a lesson when you don't lose a bird but a heartbreaking lesson when you do.
