Good goobledy goo! I got the 2013 Meyer hatchery catalog in the mail today - my first 3 chicks came from them 7 years ago & they still send me a catalog each year --- good grief!!! the prices!!! $18.00 straight run on blue copper marans -- for ONE chick -- and several other "rare" breeds, too, along w/a maximum order limit. Do you think people will be lining up at the door at those prices?
Meyers prices "ain't nuthin" shoot! here the new Bielfelders at Greenfire:
http://www.rarebreedauctions.com/au...-auction-only-pair-for-2012&auction_id=109212
HUH? $1320 for a pair? not to shabby huh? LOL that's One thousand,three hundred and twenty dollars and no/100's
See with numbers like those you don't even have to draw a long line on the check or MO to fill in all the blank on the written part of the amount line, LOL
Jeff
I' m so sorry! there was a La-yer who had Coronation Sussex but I can't remember who -- somebody here maybe will step up -- hey Lay-yers -- who had them??
Hey guys. So I did attend the swap at O'Keefs a few weekends ago. I ended up getting three 6 week old girls. Well unfortunately the coronation died yesterday. The day prior we had noticed that her nose was running. 24 hours later and she was a gonner. The other two are doing great and they don't have any signs of being sick.
Do you guys know where I could find some more girls around the same age?
Jeff we need to create a "designer breed" of chicken! got any ideas?
Kuntrygirl, You know I'm gonna have a suggestion. Let someone with the skill and experience, like your husband "Do the deed" while you watch and learn.(After all, if he were laid up for some reason,with this country going the way it is, you may HAVE TO "do the deed" to keep food on the table. Then, when you think you know exactly what to do, ask him to stand by with a sharp knife, so he can take over, if you need help! That way it should take the stress off your fear of botching the job until you become comfortable with your ability to do it right the first time. After all, when you raise your own, you know what they eat and how they are raised and the life they live is a good and natural one, unlike the poor animals you would buy in the supermarket! I will be waiting for pictures of the Thanksgiving Turkey, you not only plucked and cooked yourself, but processed yourself. I posted some pictures on the Turkey thread of the 3 we processed yesterday.I will try. LOL
When we process all of the extras, someone else comes over and "does the deed". I don't do the deed. I can't. I have to go inside until the deed is done. Afterwards, they call me to go back outside to help with the plucking and skinning. The 1st ram that we took to the butcher, I cried in the butcher shop. My family ordered me to go back in the truck until I got it together. I still get teary eyed when we take a ram to the butcher but I'm getting better. I just think about all of that lamb meat in the freezer and I'm back to myself.
I think what makes me so scared is not doing it right the first time and seeing them suffer until I can get it right. I want a quick way that I can do it and know that it will be done right the first time. I need a sure thing method. Any suggestions? I don't think I can do the slitting the throat thing. That's too close and personal.
TerriLaChicks,I'm no help for sure - and that's in spite of growing up helping to butcher hogs & calves every fall. I never "knew" them personally, though - & I never watched them being killed, so all I ever saw was the carcass strung up for processing.
I have "offed" several mean roosters - after they attacked me & drew blood, I got mad enough that I grabbed a sharp axe & marched them down to the bayou & whacked their heads off & pitched them into the water for "gator bait".
OK, so I finally processed one last year- Jim grew up on a farm in Wisconsin & he walked me through the process - plucking & all that -- & I put it in a ziploc bag in the freezer.
And there it stayed - I could not bring myself to cook it! I finally got rid of it. I felt so guilty every time I opened the freezer door & saw it laying there...
Now I remember my Grandma going out & pointing out a chicken for me to catch when I was a little kid, & she would wring its' neck right then & there, pluck it & we'd have chicken & dumplings or fried chicken for dinner! - and I know she is frowning down on me for being such a wimp! -- so, I am determined that the next roos I hatch are going to be processed AND cooked & eaten.
Jim said his Dad used to say: ''I fed you, now it's your turn to feed me" - about the lambs & chickens he raised for them to eat. That's a good philosophy; I just have to hold fast to it!
Celie you have such a good, positive attitude! - you definitely have my vote for group motivator!
See, even your chickens are encouraging you! They know they have lived a good chicken life and when it's their time to "fulfill their destiny", they know you will be there to make sure their death is not for naught. They were hatched to nourish your family and death is just part of living. Even as humans, when we depart, we are instantly with Our Father in Heaven and all that remains is organic matter, to go back into the earth to nourish other living things. (One day, I'll let you in on the secret that "there is no NEW water" and the water that we buy in all those plastic water has been used before.) But that's another time and another story. I know you and Terri will be putting lots of meat in your freezers next year. If you need any Turkey eggs to get you going, let me know, I'll be having a dozen or so hens laying around February. I know you can, I know you can! I know you both can!!! So, Gals, Do your Mamas and Grandmas Proud !Celie, I don't know what message you sent to my chicken yard but when I got home, I had 1 dead hen and I have no idea what happened. She was still warm, soooooooooooo I went ahead and processed her and put her in the freezer for gumbo. I was sad to see her dead but I thought about you and you were screaming in my ear FOOD FOR YOUR FAMILY. So, you gave me the courage to do it again.
Now, If I can only do the deed on a live one huh?
I had a peacock when we moved back to LA. Her name was MS. Peabody, because she was so nosey and a bit of a busybody. She would hop into the golf cart and sit beside me and not let any of the chickens get in. She went everywhere with me, since she was hatched. She was the only pea that hatched out of 4 eggs. I lost her very soon after Hurricane Gustoff. She was on the patio when we went to bed and dead the next morning. We think she must have eaten something poisonous, because there wasn't a mark on her nor any other indication of what might have happened. And yes, I did get attached!!!! But I didn't raise her for food, she was a pet. I do not name my food! So, now you know, I'm not so tough, just practical.When we were at the vet's office last Fri for Mal's checkup, we ran into the lady whom we gave our original peahen Bisnu to - she was imprinted on people - this lady lived way out in the woods & her husband raised pheasant - they got a mate for Bisnu & she successfully raised peachicks. She always stayed tame & wanted to come into the house every time the door opened & would rather be with people than her mate. She passed away last year - she was about 20 years old.
My peachicks don't want to be touched particularly but they also won't leave me alone - if I'm in their pen they are jumping up wanting to be on my lap or pulling at my pants legs & shoestrings.
We're going to close off the middle section of the big peas' run & add another 3 sided coop structure & move them in there, I'm hoping after a few weeks of getting to know each other through the fence we can open the whole area back up to all of them again.
So now it's Romeo, D'artagnan, White Spot,Vishnu, Amtrak, Acela, Burtis, Cloud, Hindu & Screamer.
Because I get too attached.....wonder how many I'll end up with next year?
Good for you !Seriously -- I wanted to get some smoked pork hocks to do a crockpot of beans with & that section was right next to the hams...... crowd was so thick that I finally gave up & went on to pick up some other things I needed & circled back around to get the hocks!
Added a final egg to my 'bator this morning -- fully loaded w/24 eggs now. And I already told Jim, this time -- extra roos WILL BE PROCESSED & EATEN. I mean that. Really.
Chris in Covington has some GORGEOUS buff orps - heritage stock!
