I bit the bullet and bought chicks

[Double Kindness]

roseyred-

IDK if I can slaughter any of my animals, I suppose I will have to learn eventually. We're actually in a very urban area, so shhhh don't tell anyone I have 41 chickens! This is my first year with chickens, but I heard that you want to "process" your chickens before they start laying eggs, or the meat is tough. IDK which are girls and which are boys, so from my guessing, they are all going to freezer camp (the 26 itty bitties).

Now these tensey weensies, IDK. The boys freezer camp, but the girls might make it into the laying flock, as they are all inside my master bathroom on chick starter atm, not the 26% protein feed I have my itty bitties on. This morning though reminded me that "winter is coming" yeah, I LOVE game of thrones!

I'm waiting on pins & needles for the svart honas to get here.. but they haven't hatched yet. oh oh oh. And bresse. I might be getting my cemani through 3 different lines though, yay! After this raised garden bed gets enclosed, then work on the next coop for the cemanis, svart honas, white bresse for my sustainable meatie flock, as they are still in egg form in incubators atm at other peeps places.

If we had the zoning and the land, I would totally be raising heritage hogs and a2a2 milk cows, and growing far more veggies and fruit! This has been my first year since we bought this place 7 years ago that we've done anything outside, as there was a huge maple tree in my backyard that blocked all the sun from my property and we were in perpetual shade where nothing would grow. Then I got very very sick. I mean I was in the hospital barfing for a week every other week for 3.5 YEARS sick. Because our food system is so broken and I have celiac disease, and well, gluten free diet is the only cure for celiac disease, and come to find out, gluten is in absolutely EVERYTHING!! Including commercial chicken feed! organic non gmo soy and corn free.. I realize my chickens love corn, but if I didn't grow it and it wasn't organic non gmo corn, they are not getting any! My health and their health is too important, and if I don't take care of myself I can't take care of the people I care about.

I have 3 people who process their own chickens, and are willing to help come help me when the time comes, so it'll be me, my bf and our 3 friends on processing day. It should go fast between 30 chickens and 5 ppl, 2 with zero experience.

 

[LindaB220]

I'm just rotating several out, as there are escape artists already lol. I am trying to keep 10 in 1 box, 16 in the other. And who is in which box switches, as to who escapes and those with full tummies falling asleep get picked up and moved into the smaller box, while others scamper around.

So pecking orders are all messed up atm. It's just way too small to put them in 1 place. I have to do a head count every time I check on them, as up to 6 at a time are getting out.

Coffee is my fuel. My bf says these have to be "gone" by the time the chicks I get this weekend from my friends flock and another breed from another byc'er & bresse from another are ready to go outside to the new coop/run being started Friday.

I guess I'm not going to do the traditional meatie route any longer than these little chicks I have in the barn. Which I guess makes them dp? Idk if they will be "done" by the time the cemani, svart honas and bresse are ready to go outside to the new coop.

How long does it take to go from day old chick to ready to go outside in regular chickens (bresse, etc?) In the fall/winter time if I get them now? 9 weeks? 8 weeks?

These itty bitties were kinda piling on each other to sleep. And they should be outside I think. Fast little critters.

Hi Sweetie, Just found this. In this heat, they are ready to go out by one week. It should be warm enough in the night to have them bundle together to stay warm. Here's a site that I'm going to try for safety and saving money next time I need a brooder light

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/862691/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

 

[Double Kindness]

Ahh ha! Linda, my bf used to have snakes and we have a lot of fish tanks that have a heat mat and tiles over it, it's on the back porch where we usually keep chickens until they are ready to go outside and get integrate dinto the flock via a cage carrier also a broody breaker/isolation cage for naughty chickens. I might use that when i get the next round of chicks, and progress through the 4 other brooder boxes I have on standby for chicken triage.

The itty bitties got moved outside on Saturday! All 26 are accounted for still, not bad.

I got 5 more chicks just a day or so old from a friend, they were hoped to be purebreed ayam cemani, but she belives her black and white paint/splash (?) orpington roos got with her cemani ladies, so I'm trying my hand at chicks I'm not terribly invested in money wise, as svart honas chicks are in a breeder's incuabtor to be shipped here soon after they hatch, and those weren't free/inexpensive! So better for me to "practice" now than when I'm very invested emotionally/mentally/financially in baby chick breeds etc. Each chicken I have lost (2 so far) has been very heartbreaking.

1 of these orpington cemanis has a problem with putting weight on both it's legs, and had a bandaid splint on it until about an hour ago. I have been checking on it every 2 hours and giving it droppers of raw egg yolk from my hens and water with nutridrench via dropper. I'm trying to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. Everyone made it through the night though! phew!

 

[roseyred]

roseyred-

IDK if I can slaughter any of my animals, I suppose I will have to learn eventually. We're actually in a very urban area, so shhhh don't tell anyone I have 41 chickens! This is my first year with chickens, but I heard that you want to "process" your chickens before they start laying eggs, or the meat is tough. IDK which are girls and which are boys, so from my guessing, they are all going to freezer camp (the 26 itty bitties).

Now these tensey weensies, IDK. The boys freezer camp, but the girls might make it into the laying flock, as they are all inside my master bathroom on chick starter atm, not the 26% protein feed I have my itty bitties on. This morning though reminded me that "winter is coming" yeah, I LOVE game of thrones!

I'm waiting on pins & needles for the svart honas to get here.. but they haven't hatched yet. oh oh oh. And bresse. I might be getting my cemani through 3 different lines though, yay! After this raised garden bed gets enclosed, then work on the next coop for the cemanis, svart honas, white bresse for my sustainable meatie flock, as they are still in egg form in incubators atm at other peeps places.

If we had the zoning and the land, I would totally be raising heritage hogs and a2a2 milk cows, and growing far more veggies and fruit! This has been my first year since we bought this place 7 years ago that we've done anything outside, as there was a huge maple tree in my backyard that blocked all the sun from my property and we were in perpetual shade where nothing would grow. Then I got very very sick. I mean I was in the hospital barfing for a week every other week for 3.5 YEARS sick. Because our food system is so broken and I have celiac disease, and well, gluten free diet is the only cure for celiac disease, and come to find out, gluten is in absolutely EVERYTHING!! Including commercial chicken feed! organic non gmo soy and corn free.. I realize my chickens love corn, but if I didn't grow it and it wasn't organic non gmo corn, they are not getting any! My health and their health is too important, and if I don't take care of myself I can't take care of the people I care about.

I have 3 people who process their own chickens, and are willing to help come help me when the time comes, so it'll be me, my bf and our 3 friends on processing day. It should go fast between 30 chickens and 5 ppl, 2 with zero experience.

My body dosnt have an issue processing gluten. I'm sorry to hear. But things with high fructose corn syrup make me wanna die and soaps with all the **** in it and parabens, my body's like *** is that!. Who decided to put chemicals manufactured and geneticly modified in PEOPLE FOOD and ANIMAL FOOD! Don't they know what that **** does! Of course the people doing it do....it's the uneducated or don't give a ***** eating McDonald's once a day that are suffering from these companies "cheap" food. I wanna e able to one day produce enough food in green houses and outdoors that is natural and organic and pesticide free and plants with genes from way back when people grew things with just dirt and water, enough f that good ish to feed whoever wants to eat it for the same price as a McDouble or fries.

Dude I had someone at my work ask me why I only eat fresh organic food. I said because why wouldn't you want to eat the most normal natural thing? Why would you wanna eat toxic sludge? Cause that's normal? And they said only rich people eat organic.........

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

. How old is tooo old to eat a chicken? Like when they stop layin are they tough and gross?

They're never to old to eat, but the way you cook them changes between a young...say 10 week old meat bird and a three year old hen who has gone from 5 eggs a week to maybe one every two weeks. A spent hen is delicious if cooked properly. Think along the lines of a pot roast. You wouldn't want to slice a pot roast into steaks and grill it because it would be tough as shoe leather, but if you stew it all day with broth and vegetables so that the fibers break down you have the most delicious, flavorfull, melt-in-your-mouth feast when it is done.

I have several recipies for "spent" hen, but my favorite is cutting it into 6 pieces (2 leg quarters, 2 wings and halving what's left) and tossing it into a crock pot with a jar of Safeway's "Slow Cooker Caccitori (did I spell that right?) sauce plus about a cup of canned crushed tomatoes. I turn the crock pot to high until it starts simmering and then turn it down to low and heading off to work. I've cooked my 18 week old roosters this way for about 4 hours, but the spent hens need about 8 hours in the crock pot but they are extremely tasty when you are done.

 

[Double Kindness]

Fortunately my friends and family are into me growing my own food and raising chickens for food and meat and the whole going in on buying a whole half of an organic grass fed local angus cow, butchered to my specifications for about $3.50 a lb, which is a crazy great deal if you ask me. I'm making sure to get all the bones and organs to feed to my dogs, chickens, and my friend's dogs she shows. We have a stand alone upright chest freezer for my cooking addiction and ice cream making addiction; but I could use a few more deep chest freezers to either put in the barn or the garage. Or move my bf's desk out of the kitchen lol. They are all looking forward to my eggs and getting to eat these chickens I raise, as they know that I love my chickens and they have a pretty darn great life here with me.

The itty bitty peep peeps had to be corralled into the coop again tonight. I got a washed out home depot bucket with their 26% protein gamebird feed starting to ferment, i started it with super hot water and added a bit of grit and put it in the warm barn tonight next to the chicken run and closed the door up tight. I started to ferment the medicated chick starter at the same time for my teensy weensie chicks I got Sunday which are ayam cemani x black/white paint orpingtons. I started a new thread about these chicks, which I'm doing as part of my high altitude black fm meat chicken sustainable flock along with pure breed ayam cemani, svart honas and white bresse. the svart honas should be here soon and more ayam cemanis from my friend's flock where I got my latest batch of chicks. One I thought had splayed leg, but on further assessment, it looks more serious, like the hock is all messed up.

Back to these 26 itty bitty peep peeps, one of the br came and flew up onto my lap today as I was squatting in the run, checking fluffy bottoms for pasty butt. They seem to get much hungrier in the afternoon and early evening. Tonight I noticed every single one of them had a very full crop when they were getting locked up safe and sound in the coop. I wish they would start to roost on the 3 roosting bars we have hung inside a few inches off the floor. I move the water and feed in there at night just in case, but it was untouched the past 2 mornings when I let them out of the coop. A couple eggs fell off the counter but I saved them to cook for the itty bitties tomorrow. For my little messed up cemani/orpington I prefer to use my own hens eggs that were laid the same day. As I know my chickers get the best food and a pretty sweet nice life here. They like to fly around the run back and forth, there's a mirror on one side to add something interesting to look at. There's dirt from my garden for dustbathing and an occasional unfortunate earthworm or cricket that they find in the run that they play keep away with, another favorite is soft scrambled eggs. Today a handful of dried mealworms tossed into a pile of pine shavings and straw in the enclosed run resulted in excited trills and calls associated with food.

They love to fly up to this chair in the run and sit in little groups, scoping out the surroundings. The makeshift bamboo pole fencing I put up around 75% of the total raised garden bed to get a better enclosure and top to keep out predators. And my greyhounds that can get overexcited at little scurrying things. They listen well and atm don't go outside without supervision. Perhaps I am getting a little routine of rounds i do everyday.

Chicken keeping, meaties, layers and an awesome rooster, growing a bunch of fruits and veggies, herbs, medicine, flowers, going by the biodynamic calender for guidance, great friends and this great forum and it's peeps are an invaluable source for me to stumble along this path of urban homesteading we began this June. We still have a long way to go on this property, but we've talked of eventually getting someplace with a lot more land and can get off the grid etc, be fully self sustainable. The plants I grow are heirloom, and many of the plants I grow and breed in my indoor greenhouses are landrace genetics that I am part of a few that are working to preserve these lines/cultivars. It's not like chickens are my only obsession, but a healthier lifestyle too, connecting to my food, my community, and sharing the journey along the way.

I'm about to get another bucket washed out and get the flock feed started fermenting and some of the wild bird seed blend ferment and some boss soaking to sprout for my layers and these itty bitty peep peeps, my chickens lose their minds over sprouted boss, more than anything else I can possibly offer them even dried mealworms, so I planted a few more big pots of some boss I soaked for 2 days before planting into organic soil and some in front of the gate to the itty bitty peep peeps run and covered it with some gates with wire over them to prevent my dogs from pooping, peeing and digging everything up, hence, starting the raised bed to be closed off to deter them from going in there and pooping or getting overly excited about scurrying critters and bust through the fencing that I want to still reinforce, but there was an incident between my awesome bf and a power drill and it sent into his arm when he was being wonderful and putting up yet another chicken coop and run with yes, even more plans for more chickens and coops and runs and and and.

I've got one home depot bucket with nipples installed (5 in one bucket) how many should I hang for 26 chickens? I might take the happy hens treat ball out of the laying flock's run where it's completely ignored and put a bunch of tender grass and trim up the wormwood I have growing in my front yard to give them to get some greens and herbs into them and something to play with. I might move in a little ladder or something or some stumps for them to explore and a few shovels of bug filled dirt to get their social dustbathing/sunbathing on tomorrow, as most of their run is covered but gets lot of sunshine, yet offers lots of shade. These babies have got it made for their lives with me, however long that is. Yes these will be very yummy chickens eventually.

 

[roseyred]

They're never to old to eat, but the way you cook them changes between a young...say 10 week old meat bird and a three year old hen who has gone from 5 eggs a week to maybe one every two weeks.  A spent hen is delicious if cooked properly.  Think along the lines of a pot roast.  You wouldn't want to slice a pot roast into steaks and grill it because it would be tough as shoe leather, but if you stew it all day with broth and vegetables so that the fibers break down you have the most delicious, flavorfull, melt-in-your-mouth feast when it is done.

I have several recipies for "spent" hen, but my favorite is cutting it into 6 pieces (2 leg quarters, 2 wings and halving what's left) and tossing it into a crock pot with a jar of Safeway's "Slow Cooker Caccitori (did I spell that right?) sauce plus about a cup of canned crushed tomatoes.  I turn the crock pot to high until it starts simmering and then turn it down to low and heading off to work.  I've cooked my 18 week old roosters this way for about 4 hours, but the spent hens need about 8 hours in the crock pot but they are extremely tasty when you are done.

You make it sounds super delicious lol. I think when my layers are slowing down and I begin toget new chickitties I'll eat a few.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

You make it sounds super delicious lol. I think when my layers are slowing down and I begin toget new chickitties I'll eat a few.

I love having fresh eggs, and the facts are that after a few years hens become much less productive. I don't have the resources to just keep buying more pullet chicks when egg production goes down and keep a bunch of unproductive hens in an ever expanding coop. When I butchered a 1 year old Freedom Ranger hen (failed experiement in raising some second generation FRs) her body cavity was full or unformed eggs, ranging from large marble size down to not much bigger than a grain of rice. When I butchered a 3year old Barred Plymouth Rock, there were like 5 unformed eggs to be found. A pullet chick is hatched with all the eggs she will ever lay already inside her, just waiting for their time to develop. It was hard for me to butcher one of my layers, but when I saw how close to done she was, it make it easier.

She was tasty.

 

[Double Kindness]

Today went well phew! These little suckers eat a surprising amount of food!

Today I tossed in an unfinished chicken leg quarter from last nights dinner. The itty bitty peep peeps didn't even touch it even after their feeders were empty this afternoon. They got soft boiled egg whites (the yolks have been going to my cemani x orpington chick that can only use one leg) along with a 3rd refill on their feeders this early evening, and all went to the coop with a bit of me corralling them into the coop tonight again, and again it was faster/easier than it was last night.

My awesome bf made 2 new roosting perches for inside their enclosed run, the stumps and logs I put inside the run were a big hit too, it seems the addition of roosting poles helped them get onto roosting poles inside the coop tonight at bedtime.

I'm wondering how many and what size feeders and waterers should I hang inside the run for them?

Another first today, a barred rock flew up and sat on my head today. That cannot become a habit!

 

[Double Kindness]

They got grass and dandelion leaves from my yard today too and not a scrap of green anywhere to be found inside the run a few hours later.

I keep telling myself, yes, these chickens are living a very nice life and will be so tasty very soon!

Now I need to figure out how to keep them from continuing to eat wood splinters off the nonfunctional door in their enclosed run.