"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[Ron Skekel]

I have never had any large fowl Ameraucana.  But I sure do love me some Easter Eggers   I just love those green eggs and your right.  They are a very nice size.  All of the EEs that we have had the bit of yellow at least on the bottoms of their feet.  But this one is all slate gray legs and feet.  But she is definitely an EE, not a true Ameraucana.  And she has an egg shell gland defect, so I am trying to decide what to do with her.  The shells on her eggs have always been wonky and she had that episode with being egg bound late summer.  Now she is molting.  So when she starts laying again I hope its better.  If not.......she will probably go into the pot .  

I like Easter eggers too. I hope after the molt her eggs are normal. When you cull older chickens are they tough? or just like any roasted chicken? Pam

 

[LemonMeringue]

I like Easter eggers too. I hope after the molt her eggs are normal. When you cull older chickens are they tough? or just like any roasted chicken? Pam

I like to cook them in the pressure cooker. They can't really stay tough after that. I put in about 1/2 cup of white wine if I have it, some cold water, seasonings, onion, garlic, bay leaf etc (like you are doing up a nice broth) and I add the chickens. Then I pressure cook it for about an hour or so, then let it cool. We have always had nice chicken from that treatment. Now it does have a bit more texture, but not tough at all. I really like the flavor from the older birds though. They make a very nice broth. And I recently found that Silkie meat is indeed delicious

Oh, and soaking the birds for a couple of days in salted water is a great pre treatment I like to use.

 

[LemonMeringue]

But I would not say they are just like any roasted chicken. They certainly take more cooking to get them to that sweet spot.

Kind of like the difference between cooking a good steak you want to be med-rare vs cooking a cheaper, more tough cut of beef that you want to roast in the oven until it falls apart tender.

 

[Ron Skekel]

Ya, our Welsummer hen is always on the top perch.  But when she is molting she stays down on the bottom one.  Funny bird.  When its her bed time......IT IS HER BED TIME!  And if you are in the barn putting out feed for the morning or getting someone out of a nest box so they don't POOP it up........she lets you know how ANNOYED she is that you are disturbing her beauty sleep!  Ba CAWK!!!! :cd

 

[Ron Skekel]

My Mr. Ziggy Pants hanging out by some of the pumpkins. The Moon flowers in the garden have been growing like crazy this fall. I think if we don't clean up right away we will have a MILLION seed pods all over the vines. Crazy. A Christmas present I am working on for my Mother in Law. I just learned how to do this. Its called Broomstick Lace Crochet ( or Peacock stitch). I really like this one! Hope she does too.

Thats a gorgus sticth. I haven't seen that before. I invested in the soap cutter when they had a sale. Love it. Pam

 

[Ron Skekel]

I like to cook them in the pressure cooker.  They can't really stay tough after that.  I put in about 1/2 cup of white wine if I have it, some cold water, seasonings, onion, garlic, bay leaf etc (like you are doing up a nice broth) and I add the chickens.  Then I pressure cook it for about an hour or so, then let it cool.  We have always had nice chicken from that treatment.  Now it does have a bit more texture, but not tough at all.  I really like the flavor from the older birds though.  They make a very nice broth.  And I recently found that Silkie meat is indeed delicious  


Oh, and soaking the birds for a couple of days in salted water is a great pre treatment I like to use.

Thanks for the tips. Haven't had to cull yet but sure that day will come. Pam

 

[campingshaws]

Evangeline seems more alert today. She drank water from a cup (that I was holding) and was picking at stuff on the floor. I mixed a little scratch with the little egg crumbles left from last night, and she was picking at that when I left.

 

[Cody A]

My advice would be to go to your local feedstore and find out what breeds they can get, if they can get what you want, then order them from there, and only order hens for eggs, it is a lot cheaper because you aren't paying shipping costs, plus you will only get maybe 1 or 2 duds out of a 100, where as straight run chicks can be as high as 100% roosters, for eggs and a bunch of them, i would go with the Red Sex Link, They lay an extra large dark brown egg, the RSL eggs are in the front, the Barred rock, BSL, Dominique eggs are assorted in the back 3 rows, We sell the RSL eggs and the larger of the others in a mixed assortment dz, 6 xl and 6 reg size, my costomers want more eggs, so i talked to the hens to see if they could lay a little faster, so far, i am not convenced they heard my plea's, we are going to add more RSL in the near future

This is a days gather for 11/7/14 This is a gather from a few days ago
We get a steady 26 + 1 green egg about 5/6 a week, I did a lot of research before deciding on the RSL, they have a good feed to egg covertion ratio, one of the most efficient, they only lay prficiently for about 2/2.5 years, so they are still young enough to make quality food use when culled. I have 10 and i can not remember a day when i didn't get 10 eggs from them, they lay great in the winter without putting a light in the coop at night. I bought my cartons from Vicksburg and they are extra large size, i print my lables at home and lable them as i need to.

For meat birds, order one of them broiler specials or cornsh cross's, or order throgh your feedstore and save the shipping. Be ready to process them at about 6/8 weeks after reciept of them.

TD,
You must not have said the right words to your girls. You may have to play the ukulele and sing them a lullaby at night to get them in the mood to lay.

If I order through a feed store I assume I'd only be getting hatchery birds. What I'm looking for is a happy medium with a single breed or a couple different breeds that have good genetics and will be free range savvy. I don't want a ton of eggs. I'll have more than I can eat anyway and I'll probably be giving some away. Right now I'm more or less doing this for fun, put a little meat on the barbie and to learn. I'll spend the extra bucks to get the genetics. I wish winter wasn't coming on it really narrows my choices. I've sent a few emails out. One to the XW Ranch for the barred rocks, one to Cacklejoy for the Marradunas, and I'm trying Jeff Lay again for the Buckeyes.

Cody

 

[Cody A]

I agree the breeder has breed for the dule purpose . The hatchery has breed for egg production. They breed the cx for meat birds. So ofcorce they want to sell you 2 birds instead of one. They breed the layers to lay almost everyday for approximately 2 years then you eat them or let them retire . The breeder has breed a dule propose bird to meet both eggs and meat. They May not lay everyday but will lay for many years. So I agree with Linda and Terri. I just got 2 RIRs x with New Hampture Reds. As for breeds their are several heritage dual purpose breeds.right now my hen's have almost stopped laying even tho they aren't molting. The few still laying are SLwyandotts, my Easter eggers,my cc legbars ,and the G l Wyandottes. My Biefeleders haven't started laying yet but I've read they are great for both. Now you have a lot to think about and resurch. Keep us informed on your choices. Pam

Pam,

Originally I wanted to start with Buckeyes. I was stood up by a breeder in Arkansas and I had several emails/phone messages with Jeff lay whom would not reply, so I gave up on them at the time.
The dorking I find interesting. Would give it a try if I had the chance.
The marraduna.
A good quality barred rock.
These are the breeds I'm interested in right now. I can pursue these avenues and see where they take me.

 

[Ron Skekel]

Evangeline seems more alert today. She drank water from a cup (that I was holding) and was picking at stuff on the floor. I mixed a little scratch with the little egg crumbles left from last night, and she was picking at that when I left.

Great news!