"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[Celie]

I only have 2 Black Copper Maran Roos. No extra. Sorry. As far as the ducks, we just skin them. It's way easier than plucking. We found that out the first time we tried to pluck 35 Muscovys.

Ducks are soooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My DH likes duck meat, but I have never tried any, YET ! I guess I'm gonna find out, with 150 of those over-producers out back! LOL We have mostly Rouen, which is suppose to be lean meat for a duck and also some Pekin, and of course they made a few mixed, my DH call his Rouenkings, because they are larger than either parent. I have read that the duck fat is the best part, but what do you use it for? Frying? Like lard? Anyway I told him I would like to keep a couple dozen of each pure bred on the 2 ponds for mosquitoes control mostly and the eggs for hatching from time to time as people want the ducklings for their pond and my brother has a pond on 40 acres where raises steers, so I will be bringing him some on Thanksgiving, for his pond, not eating, we have lots of turkeys for Thanksgiving, fried turkey, baked turkey, smoked turkey, beef roast, hams, venison, but not ducks. I am the oldest of 8 and with the kids and grand kids and I think a few have great grand babies, well it's usually about 100 of us when we all get together for the holidays. Anyway, I told DH I would learn how to pluck a duck, so I guess I will. Thanks, you are so nice!

Celie I am in the process of making(remaking) Delawares, a project I'm in on with a lady in MO but I will be probly 3 more years(generations) down the road before they are finalized. I have some Ideal Delawares they are good layers but poor in type for Dels which is so very common (the norm). Delawares have been so mixed and jumbled up by the factories they no longer represent the breed any longer just the same with most hatchery quality stock they have the patterns and colors down pat and also the egg laying skills are superb, but the intended qualities are lacking severely. So therefore when we get done they will be as per their standard calls for. She is on her F3 generation with hers and they are looking awesome. I will be starting up my F2s this hatching season. I got along way to go still yet I'm going just a bit different route than she did but will end up with the same results just maybe a little less hatching (I hope) F2 results in a Delaware type (1 in 200) it takes a lot of time and eggs and FEED too LOL

Jeff

I can just imagine all the hatching, culling and perfecting you would have to do and are doing. I read somewhere that they are or were a great duel purpose heavy breed, raised for both meat and eggs and were really delicious. The egg part I'm not so concerned about as a lot of chickens lay almost every day, nor the fancy show part, as I am utilitarian by nature, but the meat part interests me, as I cull my extra roos for meat. Thanks for the info and good luck with your project. I know you will have yourself a great chicken when you are finished!

Pot of hot water dip them in and the feathers come off really easy. Just be careful not to get burned.

But what about the oils in the feathers and all the hairy down on their breasts, how do you deal with plucking oily feathers? I have plucked chickens and turkeys, but not very familiar with the water fowl plucking and down feathers!

Thanks everybody, I just love you guys, you are all so nice !

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Thanks to all of you Veterans out there!

(including my husband Jim - Vietnam -- and my Dad - Korea)

 

[catdaddyfro]

Thanks to all of you Veterans out there!

(including my husband Jim - Vietnam -- and my Dad - Korea)

You bet, thanks for your services guys and gals, both today's and yesterdays Veterans

Jeff

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Good Morning La-yers! Happy Veteran's Day! This weekend my granddaughter wanted to make a "victory" cake for Primrose for winning the Pets in Pink contest. She wanted me to share it with you. Yogart and scratch blended into a thick mush, put into a small jello mold, decorated with banana, grapes and small tomatos and set on a soft corn tortilla. All Primrose's favorite treats. She and the other girls ate it right up. I don't know why this foto is upside-down, it was rightside-up in "my pictures."

 

[kuntrygirl]

Good Morning La-yers!  Happy Veteran's Day!  This weekend my granddaughter wanted to make a "victory" cake for Primrose for winning the Pets in Pink contest.  She wanted me to share it with you.  Yogart and scratch blended into a thick mush, put into a small jello mold, decorated with banana, grapes and small tomatos and set on a soft corn tortilla.  All Primrose's favorite treats.  She and the other girls ate it right up.  I don't know why this foto is upside-down, it was rightside-up in "my pictures."

How yummy!!!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Good morning La-yers. I hope that everyone had a nice weekend. I was a lazy bum this weekend. I think I have bed sores because I stayed in bed so long.

Terri, for the last week, I have noticed that my eggs are XXXL in size. I wonder if the game bird feed is contributing to the increased size. I can barely close the egg cartons. I was getting LARGE eggs already but now they are SUPER HUGE. The only thing that is different is the new feed from Petrus. All I can say is WOW!

Is everyone preparing for Thanksgiving? I'm still trying to determine who will go to the chopping block (Tom Turkey). I'll have to make my decision soon because it will have to rest in the fridge for about 4 days. Home grown turkey. It can't get any better than that.

Have a good day ya'll.

 

[BayouPoules]

Good morning La-yers. I hope that everyone had a nice weekend. I was a lazy bum this weekend. I think I have bed sores because I stayed in bed so long.

Terri, for the last week, I have noticed that my eggs are XXXL in size. I wonder if the game bird feed is contributing to the increased size. I can barely close the egg cartons.

I was getting LARGE eggs already but now they are SUPER HUGE. The only thing that is different is the new feed from Petrus. All I can say is WOW!
Is everyone preparing for Thanksgiving? I'm still trying to determine who will go to the chopping block (Tom Turkey). I'll have to make my decision soon because it will have to rest in the fridge for about 4 days. Home grown turkey. It can't get any better than that.

Have a good day ya'll.

Hey ! thanks for mentioning the info about the XXX lg eggs,.. I have been using the organic feed that Brandy got for me and some organic game feed that a friend got for me in TX and we too have seen a sudden jump in eggs size,.. even though we were getting xlg eggs to start with,.. a few girls molted ,..so that's bumped their eggs up a notch,.. but the rest just jumped in size overnight,.. I was thinking in was the new feed too. Brandy was right,.. the organic feed really goes far,.. they ate less,.. but look awesome,.. shiny, fat and healthy,.. and better eggs.

Home grown turkey,.. sounds too good! do you confine and fatten them up at the end or do they come straight out of the yard? We have never raised a tom but sure would like to try.

Just had home grown rooster gumbo with Mamou sausage last night,.. ya know it will be better today! Sure hope everyone is doing OK,.. it took me 20 minutes to read all the posts I've missed,.. so much going on it's like poultry soap opera!

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Good morning La-yers. I hope that everyone had a nice weekend. I was a lazy bum this weekend. I think I have bed sores because I stayed in bed so long.

Terri, for the last week, I have noticed that my eggs are XXXL in size. I wonder if the game bird feed is contributing to the increased size. I can barely close the egg cartons.

I was getting LARGE eggs already but now they are SUPER HUGE. The only thing that is different is the new feed from Petrus. All I can say is WOW!
Is everyone preparing for Thanksgiving? I'm still trying to determine who will go to the chopping block (Tom Turkey). I'll have to make my decision soon because it will have to rest in the fridge for about 4 days. Home grown turkey. It can't get any better than that.

Have a good day ya'll.

That's fantastic! maybe it is the feed.
Home grown turkey sounds delicious!

I haven't even thought about Thanksgiving yet - spent the weekend celebrating Mom's 81st birthday - I made a lemon cheesecake with lemons off my Meyer lemon tree - it was yummy! we froze the rest for dessert later on. Guess I'd better get it in gear & get into "holiday" mode.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Good morning La-yers. I hope that everyone had a nice weekend. I was a lazy bum this weekend. I think I have bed sores because I stayed in bed so long.
Terri, for the last week, I have noticed that my eggs are XXXL in size. I wonder if the game bird feed is contributing to the increased size. I can barely close the egg cartons. I was getting LARGE eggs already but now they are SUPER HUGE. The only thing that is different is the new feed from Petrus. All I can say is WOW!

Is everyone preparing for Thanksgiving? I'm still trying to determine who will go to the chopping block (Tom Turkey). I'll have to make my decision soon because it will have to rest in the fridge for about 4 days. Home grown turkey. It can't get any better than that.

Have a good day ya'll.

Hey ! thanks for mentioning the info about the XXX lg eggs,.. I have been using the organic feed that Brandy got for me and some organic game feed that a friend got for me in TX and we too have seen a sudden jump in eggs size,.. even though we were getting xlg eggs to start with,.. a few girls molted ,..so that's bumped their eggs up a notch,.. but the rest just jumped in size overnight,.. I was thinking in was the new feed too. Brandy was right,.. the organic feed really goes far,.. they ate less,.. but look awesome,.. shiny, fat and healthy,.. and better eggs. 

Home grown turkey,.. sounds too good!  do you confine and fatten them up at the end or do they come straight out of the yard?  We have never raised a tom but sure would like to try.

Just had home grown rooster  gumbo with Mamou sausage last night,.. ya know it will be better today!  Sure hope everyone is doing OK,.. it took me 20 minutes to read all the posts I've missed,.. so much going on it's like poultry soap opera!

Glad to hear about your increase in eggs too. So you have been using organic game feed? I'm glad that you co-signed about the size of your eggs. I thought I was hallucinating. What is the protein of the game bird that you use? You will have to tell us more about the feed. How much more expensive is it? I think I found a winner with the Game Bird Pellets from Petrus and feeding it to all of the animals. Although, I am cutting the protein down a bit, so it's not too high for the ducks, geese and chickens. They seem to LOVE IT!

As far as the turkeys, this is will be my first year harvesting my home grown turkeys. I think I will take them off the ground probably today if I'm planning for Thanksgiving. I don't "do the deed" because I'm still a whimp as far as that is concerned. Someone else has to do it for me. So, I have to make sure my "Deed Doer" is available. If not, then I will plan on having the turkey for Christmas.

Gumbo????????????? Boy, I wish I had some extra roosters but I don't. Enjoy the gumbo!

 

[BayouPoules]

Glad to hear about your increase in eggs too. So you have been using organic game feed? I'm glad that you co-signed about the size of your eggs. I thought I was hallucinating.

What is the protein of the game bird that you use? You will have to tell us more about the feed. How much more expensive is it?

I think I found a winner with the Game Bird Pellets from Petrus and feeding it to all of the animals. Although, I am cutting the protein down a bit, so it's not too high for the ducks, geese and chickens. They seem to LOVE IT!
As far as the turkeys, this is will be my first year harvesting my home grown turkeys. I think I will take them off the ground probably today if I'm planning for Thanksgiving. I don't "do the deed" because I'm still a whimp as far as that is concerned. Someone else has to do it for me. So, I have to make sure my "Deed Doer" is available. If not, then I will plan on having the turkey for Christmas.
Gumbo?????????????

Boy, I wish I had some extra roosters but I don't. Enjoy the gumbo!

The Game feed is 24% protein and my little ones are eating it up. It came from the same feed store in TX that my friend got the Coyote creek organic layer feed from,..it's $35.00 /50lb,...but it sure goes a lot further than the other stuff. they get satisfied on the organic and eat less but with better nutrition..... it's still way too expensive to keep this up right now,.. and I need to find something else,.. but non GMO is important to us and to those buying our eggs.,.. almost none of the "Organic" yard eggs advertised on Craigs list and FB are NOT organic.
I really don't see you as the wimpy type,.. nor myself either,.. and if we HAD to I think we could butcher a bird,.. our for-mothers grew up doing it and so it was not such a big deal.,.. but I am so glad we don't HAVE to!