INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

I have another processing date to plan and coming soon. Its for our 8 guinea fowl, but the procedure is just like a chicken. I may (?) restart my guinea flock next spring, but for now the current flock is not working out. Will not stay out of the roadway and insists on traveling far beyond our property. We have 5 acres, never had this issue with Guinea before! I bought eggs from a different breeder last year, and regret it. In the past I have easily trained guineas to coop up. These guys ugh! After all the cooping issues all summer, they have to go. If you want to learn to process its free, send me a personal message (pm) and I can share date, time etc. You can BYOB (Bring your own bird) or buy one of mine super cheap. I offer this event a few times a year, there will be 2 more this year for excess ducks (drakes) soon too. The final processing event this year will be our excess goat wethers early winter (neutered boys).
This is truly hands on. I will show you how, and then help you do it step by step.

 

[Finnie]

I have another processing date to plan and coming soon. Its for our 8 guinea fowl, but the procedure is just like a chicken. I may (?) restart my guinea flock next spring, but for now the current flock is not working out. Will not stay out of the roadway and insists on traveling far beyond our property. We have 5 acres, never had this issue with Guinea before! I bought eggs from a different breeder last year, and regret it. In the past I have easily trained guineas to coop up. These guys ugh! After all the cooping issues all summer, they have to go. If you want to learn to process its free, send me a personal message (pm) and I can share date, time etc. You can BYOB (Bring your own bird) or buy one of mine super cheap. I offer this event a few times a year, there will be 2 more this year for excess ducks (drakes) soon too. The final processing event this year will be our excess goat wethers early winter (neutered boys).
This is truly hands on. I will show you how, and then help you do it step by step.

Oh that reminds me! I cooked Val on Sunday. He made a big pot of soup plus extra broth, and then I cooked all the bones again and made stock. 29 cups of broth and stock in total!

Since he was over a year old, and tough, the dark meat didn't come off of the bones well. (I should have simmered a lot longer.) So there was a lot of meat left on the bones for the cooking of the stock. And I chopped the dark soup meat up a lot finer than I normally would to make it less chewy.

I'm gathering up equipment to be able to do my own processing here at home. But now I'm thinking it might be nice to attend your class one more time for some practice before flying solo. I have some 6 month old cockerels on Craigslist that are not moving, and I have way too many male ducks too. Bringing a young bird should be easier than doing Val.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Ohh looks YUMMY ! Yes I put older guys in the crock pot overnight. Sure, you are more than welcome to come again! I hope to set up a canopy this time in case of rain, lol.

 

[Finnie]

Ohh looks YUMMY ! Yes I put older guys in the crock pot overnight. Sure, you are more than welcome to come again! I hope to set up a canopy this time in case of rain, lol.

Well we timed the rain perfectly last time!

 

[Faraday40]

Oh that reminds me! I cooked Val on Sunday. He made a big pot of soup plus extra broth, and then I cooked all the bones again and made stock. 29 cups of broth and stock in total!
View attachment 1546016 View attachment 1546017

Since he was over a year old, and tough, the dark meat didn't come off of the bones well. (I should have simmered a lot longer.) So there was a lot of meat left on the bones for the cooking of the stock. And I chopped the dark soup meat up a lot finer than I normally would to make it less chewy.

I'm gathering up equipment to be able to do my own processing here at home. But now I'm thinking it might be nice to attend your class one more time for some practice before flying solo. I have some 6 month old cockerels on Craigslist that are not moving, and I have way too many male ducks too. Bringing a young bird should be easier than doing Val.

Looks yummy.

I do the same type of recipe in the slow cooker. (& add the home made noodles at the end) After about 8 hrs on low, I take out a few veggies & the meat. After removing meat from bones, I return the bones to cook overnight & make stock. I sometimes freeze some stock in ice cubes. (Backyard chicken has a stronger flavor, so it works like bouillon cubes.) But normally, I just use the broth throughout the week.

My 1st time cooking one of my birds, I knew to "let it rest" but had no idea how long. I processed in the afternoon & put the old hen meat in the slow cooker the next morning. Normally 6 hrs works for grocery store chicken, but that old hen was still tough. (Plus I didn't know that I should have either cooked right away OR waited 3+ days.) Oh well. I learned something.

Congrats on learning & trying something new. No one likes the act of processing, but it can also give us a sense of pride when we put that meal together & know all the love & effort it took to prepare.

 

[Finnie]

Looks yummy.

I do the same type of recipe in the slow cooker. (& add the home made noodles at the end) After about 8 hrs on low, I take out a few veggies & the meat. After removing meat from bones, I return the bones to cook overnight & make stock. I sometimes freeze some stock in ice cubes. (Backyard chicken has a stronger flavor, so it works like bouillon cubes.) But normally, I just use the broth throughout the week.

My 1st time cooking one of my birds, I knew to "let it rest" but had no idea how long. I processed in the afternoon & put the old hen meat in the slow cooker the next morning. Normally 6 hrs works for grocery store chicken, but that old hen was still tough. (Plus I didn't know that I should have either cooked right away OR waited 3+ days.) Oh well. I learned something.

Congrats on learning & trying something new. No one likes the act of processing, but it can also give us a sense of pride when we put that meal together & know all the love & effort it took to prepare.

Thank you. I do feel pretty proud that I got over the hurdle. And now I feel empowered to eat those of my birds that cause me trouble and don't seem to sell well. No more having to give cockerels away for free!

I must say, I enjoy being out in the chicken yard more now that I don't have to keep track of whether Val is nearby!

 

[Faraday40]

No more having to give cockerels away for free!!

That's why I decided to learn. We love to hatch & sell chicks, but all the time & $ that goes into growing out those cockerels is just lost when they're given away. It allows our family to get a little something back. The old hens are more emotionally difficult, but for us, there's always been more than one reason to put them down (age + injury or shell gland issue). Sadly, my DH can't help. Our DD doesn't like the idea, so we decided not to make her eat backyard chicken. She may choose to make a PBJ on those nights. DS has no problem. In fact, I was helping a fellow chicken friend process some of his cockerels when DS came home from school. I shouted to DS that we were processing a bird but he could come back if he wished. (I didn't want to shock him by the sight.) DS came up, looked around, and simply asked, "Who are we having for dinner?"
My answer, "No one you know. This is ----'s chicken."
DS said OK & went back into the house. My friend busted out in laughter.
Perhaps in time, DS will be my helper.

 

[Finnie]

DS came up, looked around, and simply asked, "Who are we having for dinner?"

Gotta love that attitude!
Especially coming from a guy who tames pet chickens. He seems to understand the difference between the pet ones and the "business" ones.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Here are photos of the laced orp kids today. 16 weeks old.

Lucy
Such a pretty girl.

Blue Band
No name yet....

Red Band
Also no name yet...

@Faraday40

 

[Faraday40]

One of my kids' fav books was Tille Lays an Egg. (Hide N Seek picture book for the egg from a hen who lays everywhere but the nestbox) In the story, Tillie is a leghorn who loves to explore & eat worms. We hatched some leghorns and kept one for DS. He named her Tillie.

This is Tillie (hatched May 1, 2018)

Unlike all the other Leghorns I have hatched in the past (for my classrooms), this one enjoys to be around people. She's sweet but also likes to explore & get into things. ie - flew to the top of the swingset to hang out with the turkeys, climbed a tall tree by hopping up the branches, found a way to squeeze into the fenced garden, explored the garage in search of scratch, etc. Because of her adventures, she earned the nickname "Silly Tillie." She started laying a week ago & has made an egg daily ever since.

Yesterday she was missing for a while. We eventually found her. She hopped the fence and discovered a cozy place in our screened room ( Half of it is used for misc. storage.) Just like the book, can you figure out where Tillie laid her egg?

I really needed this lighthearted comical distraction yesterday = chicken therapy. It was a rough day & I'll share more about it later.