Michigan

[ChicwannaB]

Quote:
wow, you have a mixture of chickens. i thot I was bad, 5 breeds and 13 chickens total...

deekay

 

[ChicwannaB]

hey folks, when I decide to butcher, and IF I decide to butcher, would I be better off trying to heat a large pot of water out on the grill as apposed to doing it in the house?? You know, to scald so the feathers can be removed. I have stock pots I use for canning that I think would hold enough water and still have room to dip a bird. Just asking, in case. The temp is 160 degrees isn't it?

 

[ChicwannaB]

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oooooo...I love that little pullet. Id name her "Dainty" Shes very pretty.

 

[Olive Hill]

Welcome, DeeKay! That's quite a menagerie you've got there.

HH -- I know the icelandics discussion was some pages ago but I keep meaning to ask about their size. Are they LF or bantams? How do you know they're icelandics and not just random mix breeds? In reading it just says icelandics are a landrace... in chickens how exactly does that work since there are no pedigree tracking agencies to speak of?

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You'll find recommendations of anywhere from 130 to 170. 150-160 is most effective, ime/o. If you have a large grill that you can shut the lid down on the pot completely you can use your grill, if you don't I find it takes FOREVER even on really hot days to get the water up to temp. In that case a turkey fryer works or it's just as easy to heat your water in the house and carry it outside if you're only doing a couple. Just heat it 5 degrees or so hotter than you want to account for a little cooling on the walk outside. HTH!

 

[ChicwannaB]

Quote:
You'll find recommendations of anywhere from 130 to 170. 150-160 is most effective, ime/o. If you have a large grill that you can shut the lid down on the pot completely you can use your grill, if you don't I find it takes FOREVER even on really hot days to get the water up to temp. In that case a turkey fryer works or it's just as easy to heat your water in the house and carry it outside if you're only doing a couple. Just heat it 5 degrees or so hotter than you want to account for a little cooling on the walk outside. HTH!

thanks for the tips Olive, I was thinking I'd read 160 someplace.
I do like my Chante's best and thinking I'm probably going to want to stay with them and the Jersey Giants, but not sure yet. My rocks are nice birds too. I won't make any decisions till after they all come of age and start their laying.

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
You'll find recommendations of anywhere from 130 to 170. 150-160 is most effective, ime/o. If you have a large grill that you can shut the lid down on the pot completely you can use your grill, if you don't I find it takes FOREVER even on really hot days to get the water up to temp. In that case a turkey fryer works or it's just as easy to heat your water in the house and carry it outside if you're only doing a couple. Just heat it 5 degrees or so hotter than you want to account for a little cooling on the walk outside. HTH!

thanks for the tips Olive, I was thinking I'd read 160 someplace.
I do like my Chante's best and thinking I'm probably going to want to stay with them and the Jersey Giants, but not sure yet. My rocks are nice birds too. I won't make any decisions till after they all come of age and start their laying.

You're planning to process young hens? My honest advice, in that case, is to skip plucking altogether. Most DP hens aren't meaty enough to justify the effort. The easiest and most efficient way with hens, imo, is to just breast them (at most breast and thigh them) and be done with it. The best way I've found, honestly is if you happen to have a long branch on a tree or a 6 foot high fence line somewhere, hang them right there, all in a row, kill, slice the skin on the front of the bird from where it meets the leg up along the breast bone to the neck, pull it back, cut out the breast meat and, depending on the meatiness of the bird, cut out the thigh meat and be done with it. Just rinse the cuts and put them directly in a bath of ice water for cleaning and cooling. Toss the carcasses out as a peace offering to the wildlife or compost them. You can then make chicken sausage, chop it up and make filler meats, etc. And it really doesn't waste much on a hen because she just doesn't have the meat like a cockerel would. Even old hens, I don't ever bother skinning and trying to store the whole carcass. It's a waste of time and storage space.

 

[Hopper]

Good morning everyone! Just love reading all the posts even since yesterday. We have a few things to finish up on the coop today. Once I got my chickens we stopped working so today I want it done. have to finish my nest box interiors, I decided to add small vent holes in the south side for winter ventilation, and need to insulate the big main door. Oh and make a plexiglas window covering for winter months. It blows so hard here in Ionia as we live in open fields and we all know how cold it can't get. I'm worried about having enough ventilation and not freezing them out with open spaces. Anyway back to coffee and more reading!

 

[fifelakelooper]

Morning everyone! Welcome to the newbies.....I'm sure you will both enjoy this forum!

We have friends from Florida visiting and the wife loves to go out and get the eggs from the nest and gather veggies from the garden. I happened to look out the kitchen window yesterday and saw my hubby acting suspiciously as he went into the fenced chicken area. I cornered him later and asked what he was up to....he put a round, smooth ROCK in one of the nest....wants to see how our friend reacts when she finds a rock, hard egg today!!

Should be interesting

 

[LoveMyChicklets]

I had a pleasant surprise yesterday. I posted my EE chicks and NN chicks again on
Craigslist and they were ALL sold within 5 hours to two very nice families! We felt pretty good about who took them and thats a big relief! I guess it's all in the timing.

Woke up this morning to 2 pips in the bator!!! We have 4 more EEs, 2 Polish and 1 showgirl/banty mix in there. I am SO eggcited ... yet again

AND another pleasant surprise... Out of 8 eggs we purchased from someone on BYC (bid) only 2 of them ended up making it to this point in the bator. Well, yesterday I had a delivery to pick up at the post office. It was a whole new batch of Polish eggs, a Sumatra egg and a mystery egg!!!! I can't wait till these hatch in the bator so I can set these bad boys!!!! Come on babies!!!!!!! Hatch!!!

Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL day!!!!!!!!

 

[LoveMyChicklets]

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That is hilarious! Sounds like something I would do - Teeheeee!