Maine

[Hiltonizer]

Finished our new brooder in response to our missing birds (100 meat chicks over 2 batches, then a few juvenile layers)

$150 in materials and 2 sunday afternoons later, I've built a full hardware cloth brooder with a tight fitting cover. If any rats/minks can get get to chicks in this i'll be amazed.

New game camera has also arrived and will be focused on this when my 140~ Thanksgiving Poults arrive next week.



In other news, our plants are looking good too... The woven ground cover is amazing.



Went to the tuber sale @lazy gardener , great decision... 2 types of tates looking great too.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Sorry, nope, though I bet I could learn from you. I bumble my way through processing on my own. Do the broom stick to start, then move on from there. My biggest issue is that I NEVER have a sharp knife to use, even if hubby has just sharpened them. I need a QUALITY set of knives that will hold an edge, and would love some input from you all regarding what knives work best for processing.

I use one Wusthof knife - long and thin for most everything, butchering related. Neck gets chopped off with a Fiskars axe over a table BF built for me that has 2 screws in it to hold the head. A Wusthof pair of poultry scissors gets the neck opened up to get the crop/trachea, gets the neck off after crop/trachea removal and gets the tail section off once the guts are out. I did buy a lung scraper, and don't regret it, at all.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

This is the exact knife I use. It is fantastic.

https://www.amazon.com/Wusthof-Gour...srs=3067346011&ie=UTF8&qid=1497915859&sr=8-73

 

[Hiltonizer]

I use a 6" Victorinox boning, nearly identical but half the price, because my wife won't let the Wusthoff's out of the kitchen. They're perfect for poultry start to finish, fitting nicely between the joints and using finesse to remove the vent.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

"using finesse to remove the vent."
Now those are words I never thought I'd hear uttered.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks to both of you for your responses. Any one else have a favorite knife they use for processing chickens? Also, what do you use to keep your knives sharp? Any special tips there???

 

[Hiltonizer]

I keep one of these with me, I need to run the knife through fine every half dozen birds or so: https://www.amazon.com/KitchenIQ-50...?srs=8480411011&ie=UTF8&qid=1498066068&sr=8-1

... but I also use the knife to bleed them which requires it be 'wicked shahp' to go smoothly.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Popping in!

So I have been seeing a overaboundence of SNAPPING TURTLES.MEAN ones to, Like, my mom was trying to help one cross the road yesterday, no gloves, and it kept turning around trying to snap her, she couldn't pick it up!
And I found one in the Garden, TWICE!First we brought her in a box to the pound, came back next day, so we fought her down the driveway and put he rin a marshy area.Came back UP the driveway and went to the pound three days later.
Anyo e else have this problem?!
P.S.I saw a guy helping one cross the road and we said that we had one in the garden, he said he was on a four wheeler track and saw 37! 37 SNAPPERS!

 

[DwayneNLiz]

@Cluckcluck1215 snappers are laying eggs right now so you will see a lot of them

i hate snappers, they eat ducks and ducklings quite regularly