Minnesota!

[scandiafowl]

@Minniechickmama

Is this the Vaughn you're looking for?

 

[Minniechickmama]

@Minniechickmama



Is this the Vaughn you're looking for?

That looks like Robert.

 

[scandiafowl]

To everyone south of the Twin Cities - batten down the hatches!

Hope that the National Weather Service is wrong and snow is minimal.

One of the Marans from Cyrus laid her first egg in her new home.

 

[scandiafowl]

AlezaJ I butcher my roos somewhere between the end of summer and middle of fall. I just do it before it snows. But I raise smaller and larger breeds. Alot of roos I butcher are ones I hatch but I always have a few roos from the straight run bin at the feed store. So the r around 20-30 weeks when I butcher but many prefer butchering around 20 weeks when they get sexually mature.

Do you have one of those plucking machines?

 

[KlopKlop]

Do you have one of those plucking machines?

I don't have an automatic one but I have this model and it works fantastically. Doesn't beat the snot out of the carcass and leaves very few pin feathers to pick

 

[holm25]

Do you have one of those plucking machines?

Not anymore... I hate them...

 

[AlezaJ]

Yes they are bigger and also I like the uniform sizes by getting all of 1 gender.
I would be curious to hear the experience from people who talk about fighting issues. I have raised many groups of broilers both straight run and all cockerels and have never had fighting issues. They get processed before they ever reach full sexual maturity, unless you are keeping them a long long time. I process my CX between 8-12 weeks depending how big I want them. This year I kept 10 birds to 12 weeks and they were over 10 lbs after processing.

My Dixie rainbows this year I kept to 16 or 17 weeks and they were straight run. Still no issues with fighting. My birds are all tractored or pastured in rotating pens

Thank you

I think I'll just get all male and butcher before they start fighting.

AlezaJ I butcher my roos somewhere between the end of summer and middle of fall. I just do it before it snows. But I raise smaller and larger breeds. Alot of roos I butcher are ones I hatch but I always have a few roos from the straight run bin at the feed store. So the r around 20-30 weeks when I butcher but many prefer butchering around 20 weeks when they get sexually mature.

Thank you

 

[scandiafowl]

I don't have an automatic one but I have this model and it works fantastically. Doesn't beat the snot out of the carcass and leaves very few pin feathers to pick

Can you tell me more about it? I want to invest in one.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Not anymore... I hate them...

holm why do you hate them?

 

[Minniechickmama]

The snow is just really starting to come now, the wind will increase so we are over 20mph by 1:00 this afternoon. They cancelled school already yesterday evening, which, in hindsight, they could have gotten half a day in. I am glad they just called it though, other years they wait until the last minute or until buses are in ditches. We have a new Super this year though and he seems to have a good head on his shoulders.

The birds are good to go for now. I got some pens cleaned this weekend and hauled out the the compost pile I kind of wish I hadn't blown out the path so well the other day, it was mushy and not so easy to push the wheelbarrow in.