INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!


There is nothing worse than buck stink. In vet school, groups of four of us cared for random goats from a local auction then performed surgeries on them for our education. (They were very well cared for until they were euthanized at the end, which a lot of us found and still find objectionable, but we didn't make the rules--things are somewhat different now.) Anyway, we had a big mature buck, and quickly named him "Big Stinky." Our favorite pasttime was watching him ram our fellow students in the *** when they were distracted taking care of their own goat (they were housed in common pens). We knew better than to turn our back on him. He was a nice buck otherwise, kind of like one of my roosters. He's great as long as you don't turn your back on him. Anyway, I am certain that the musk permeates the meat, probably through the fat, and you'd probably have to soak it for a week in weak brine with frequent changes to get that smell out. I think in cultures where goats are eaten, they typically eat wethers (neutered) or males before sexual maturity (don't remember what they're called). Does would certainly taste better. The best use of an old buck that has to be killed is probably taxidermy to mount the head, if it has nice horns, and/or skin and tan the hide for a nice small rug. I bet the chemicals tanners use, plus the removal of all the fat and meat, too, would eliminate most of the buck stench.
 
Ifyou soak it does not matter the age. Id soak it then put in in the slow cooker with some pepprocini a little bit of the juice. Whala goaty beef sandwiches. My husband said he'd just cook it on the grill. He's the cook in our house
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Ifyou soak it does not matter the age. Id soak it then put in in the slow cooker with some pepprocini a little bit of the juice. Whala goaty beef sandwiches. My husband said he'd just cook it on the grill. He's the cook in our house
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just so you all know I've never ate goat or lamb. I can't stand the smell. Thou, i love deer. Plus, I've had bear, bison, and turtle. There's a number of others just can't think. My husband has had goat and he loves lamb. He too will eat any thing.My big thing is i could never eat a animal i took care of. So, all my animals become pets.lol
 
Quote: Maybe a doe, or a fixed male would taste better. The quality of the meat look excellent. just the right amount of marbling in the ground meat for me to consider it a high lean ground meat. Not nearly as red as the ground dear meat I've had in the past. But clearly more red than the cheapest hamburger stuff that comes in logs at walmart. Ohh I tried one of those logs when I was in college on a very tight budget. Its an eye opener for sure about the differences in quality of meat. So for quality I'd say the goat meat I got is high quality but for smell and taste I rank it as pet food.

Dh though says he will eat it if I keep cooking it and coaking it in some kind of strong sauce. But Dh eats almost anything.

Some folks use apple or apple cider to simmer the meat to remove buck odor. That musty smell and tasle is hard to get past! Some folks do like it and is part of their culture. A wether or doe is a big difference in the quality and flavors, let alone the smells.. If I do take the jump and start using the wethers for food, I will plan for it like deer meat. Very similar.
Here's an updated photo of Cogburn, my English Black/Lav Split Orp cockerel (won't be a year until August), as well as his new girlfriends from Tennessee. The blue hens are from Donna Rippy and the Fancy Chick, per the previous owner. Very sweet girls, but two of them will not walk up the ladder, so we have to put them in the coop and leave the coop door up. I told DH he spaced the steps too far apart, but one of the girls and Cogburn have no trouble at all.

I incubated a few of their eggs from the previous owner's black roo, and so far have one blue that I'll swear is a cockerel (which I wanted), two blacks (which are actually less black than my splits, hmmm), and maybe one more yet to hatch. Their fertility was low because they weren't trimmed until I got them home. I have 100% fertility now but no plans to hatch anything else out of them until next year. At least that's what I think I'm doing. I'll probably keep all of their chicks, unless they are all roos. The blue cockerel is a piece of work! Very cute and all boy.

I have been lucky and have an abundance of lavender chicks this round, and just a handful of black/lav splits. Some have been sold, more may be sold tomorrow, but if anyone is interested, just PM me. A list member who purchased some splits a month ago came back for some lavs this time, so thanks for that! I appreciate the vote of confidence.

And yes, I still have three Jubilee Orps. I will entertain any reasonable offer. I think one is a cockerel, one is a pullet, and one I'm not sure.

OK, here's Cogburn. The garden hose in the background looks like some feathers sticking up, but it's just black hose.






























Here are the three blue girls. They've all had their britches trimmed, FYI.


Still no name for this girl. Something will hit me eventually.


This gal, who is the biggest female English Orp in my whole flock, is Ellie.


This is Twisty. She has a mild case of permanent torticollis that the seller carefully hid from me, but it's not inherited at all, and she gets along just fine. She's a doll and very fond of Cogburn. I am keeping them bred so they don't "forget" what it's like to live with a roo, and Cogburn is A-OK with that.
Gorgeous birds!
 
Hello Hoosier BYCers

Anyone out there using " spent grain" from homebrewers??

.I have an opportunity to get with a home brewer and receive his " spent grains "  my Q is....assuming it needs to be dried out before offering to chickens, how do you all dry them out?  Thanks for your replies.....

Paul


We home brew and I always feed the grains. Not Hops but just the grains.

I don't dry them. We just made a batch today and I let it cool and immediately threw it out for them. They love it!
 
Yours are almost the same age as my hens. When i turned off the light mine we actually scared to go in the coop. We got a good laugh over that. Also, if they are used to you being home they may miss you. Mine have the run of the yard and love to come visit us and hang out on the windowsills. They are used to seeing us all the time. When we are gone all day they want to be with us as soon as we get home and will actually cry for us if dark is hitting and we loxk them up right away (yes we have spoiled chickens). My guess is they will adjust to less light and your new schedule and start laying again soon. Hopefully it is just a little stress from those 2 factors and not that they are eating them all!
How is your dad doing?

I agree. Turning the light of on them will cause a pause. In most anyways. Give them a bit. They just need to adjust.
 
Well, we moved Bacon, our hog to the growout pen tonight. A few hours went by, and every guinea, goose, chicken and turkey were yelling their heads off! Appears Bacon decided he wanted to move back in with our boar
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He managed to pop all the fence wire on one side, and escape! So I have spent the last 2 hours coaxing a hog back into his pen...Finally, gave in and let him back into the smaller pen with my boar. Took all of 2 minutes to open the panel, and coax him back in lol. I swear, they remind me of a dog more every day.

I also learned Tom Turkeys are fearless, they were actually challenging a 200 lb hog! Whats funny is, they scared poor Bacon so much he flat ran back to his old pen.
 
Any abrupt change seems to trigger a pause in laying patterns, totally agree. When I finally cooped all my EEs together, it was a month before I got eggs again.

I'm dealing with that since moving everyone into separate breeding pens.

I've gotten an egg or two every once in a while and none from some of them! Driving me nuts. I want to make sure the eggs are not fertile before putting a roo in with them
 
I have a question, my chickens have not layed a egg in 5 days. Their comb color is bright red, their feet look good and fully feather. their feathers look nice and shiny. I just can't figure out what is going on with them? Are they mad at me because they could not go run around the yard? I have not wormed them yet. They have been eating their oysters shell. I just dont get it. Ive checked for broken egg and i see no signs of any broke eggs. Any one know what it could be?
I'm guessing that the change in routine-- not being able to free range and you being gone-- has caused some stress (I'm glad your Dad is doing better, though!) My (non-scientific) observation from my three years of owning chickens is that they quickly adapt to routines so if a routine changes, it can cause stress. Usually if it's a temporary condition, they'll bounce back (that's been my experience).

From what you said, their feathers look good so it's doubtful that molting is the issue. As you probably know, hens stop laying when they molt because all of their energy is used for replacing their feathers. I've had four of my hens molting this spring. I gather feathers from the coop each morning and release them to the wind for the wild birds making nests. I saw two birds fighting over one feather the other day!

I've never wormed my chickens and never (knock on wood) have had any issues. I put a Tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar with "the mother" (unfiltered) in their (non-metal) waterers each day, which apparently does the trick. I always wonder how much ACV they actually ingest when they fill their tiny beaks with water!
Well, we moved Bacon, our hog to the growout pen tonight. A few hours went by, and every guinea, goose, chicken and turkey were yelling their heads off! Appears Bacon decided he wanted to move back in with our boar
idunno.gif
He managed to pop all the fence wire on one side, and escape! So I have spent the last 2 hours coaxing a hog back into his pen...Finally, gave in and let him back into the smaller pen with my boar. Took all of 2 minutes to open the panel, and coax him back in lol. I swear, they remind me of a dog more every day.

I also learned Tom Turkeys are fearless, they were actually challenging a 200 lb hog! Whats funny is, they scared poor Bacon so much he flat ran back to his old pen.
Haha Funny story! I don't know anything about pigs other than they are very intelligent. I would think that they're social animals, too.
Your Tom Turkeys sound like they rule the roost! My mini-bantam cochin, Screech, chases our cats by herself-- and they run!

@kittydoc ~ Beautiful Imported English Orpington roos! That's great that your breeding program is going so well. I want to see pictures of your lavender chicks, please! JUST for curiosity…JUST looking…I will be rational!
 

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