Minnesota!

[scandiafowl]

Birthday gift from my rockstar brother.

 

[scandiafowl]

Yes beautiful day!

Absolutely! No reason to be in the house.

 

[aussiegal318]

Such a beautiful day! My DH & DIL came & got the leaves done in about 4 hrs. Last year it took 4 guys 10 hrs to get the job done as they didn't have the right equipment. DS had 2 mowers going & the blower. If I had a trac vac it would be faster yet. One day maybe. Grand daughter helped me wash windows. She did the inside I did the outside. I taught her how to do it the way that pros wash windows. Took us about an hour. I finished painting the outside of the coop & got the inside painted. I need to get the plastic up on the run but that won't take long. Feels so good to get things done!

 

[duluthralphie]

We continued working on the Turkey Palace. It is coming along great. A few turkeys inspected again. Only Penguin complained about it.

 

[duluthralphie]

I found this on craigslist. I have no idea one way or another. Just thought some might find it interesting.

http://duluth.craigslist.org/grd/5305615546.html

 

[KlopKlop]

Im back in the promised land! Made it back into radio range to listen to the last quarter and OT of the Vikings game. What a nailbiter!

Here is what I spent the weekend doing, besides playing with my nephew. My brother and I took apart my mom's old upright piano and turned it into a chest for a christmas present. It was very old and wouldnt hold a tune. It was nothing fancy and was something that was passed down the family a generation or two. The wood was all veneered pine, so we had to design the chest around the existing pieces as much as possible since we couldn't make too many cuts. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. No completed photo, but you get a good idea of it.




Then we spent most of today making jigs then hammering out mega piles of Lincolin Logs! we used to play them as kids, so we made them for his son and our other brothers kid. still have to figure out the roof trusses and slats.


In other news, while I was gone, one of our neighbors stopped over and chatted with DW and gave us this Terry Redlin print and invited us over for dinner! what a surprise! Not a great photo due to the glare but check out the neat farm scene!

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have a question, It seems there is one thing " He who knows everything" does not know.

Blanchranch is getting my largest BBB (turkey) He is coming Wednesday to send it to camp.

He plans on eating him a week from today at his Friends Giving day feast. This is a HUGE BBB at this point. I have never raised one before, I raised a BBW 35 years ago when my kids were young but it never got as big as this one is.

When he walks his knees or hips look like they are going to give out. He does not do a lot of walking anymore. He still walks but does not run and play with the rest of them. He spends most of his day sitting by the feeder eating. He still walks and comes outside but mainly sits.

I have been watching him and worrying for a week now and have told Blanchranch my concerns. He wants a fresh turkey I understand that too. I have raised lots of CX's broilers and seen them get into this shape. I normally send them to camp at this point. When I process them I have found they have ascites to some degree, but that does not seem to affect the taste or texture of the meat. I suspect this turkey has some ascites. we will see when he goes to camp.


Now the question part. If he is being eaten next Sunday what is the earliest he can be processed? I have seen people say freezing time does not count as resting, I have found freezing and thawing seems to do the resting required. Thoughts?

How long could he be kept in a fridge without degrading taste or safety?

Anyway any thoughts on all these and other implied question are appreciated. I have another BBB but he is very active and not as large as Jeff's is.

I worry will he make it to Wednesday or not. Anyways what is everyone's thoughts.

I know that people have often said to let them rest 2-3 days, and I would agree since whenever I have put them right in to cook after butchering, they were almost unfit to eat.
I do believe freeze satisfies the resting though. The process of thawing adds to resting time, so why not? I would never let a bird rest in my fridge for 2 days before I froze it. But I do let them thaw for a couple of days in the fridge, and then I normally brine for 24-hours too, but not because of the 'required rest period'.

I would be concerned if he is having that much trouble with his legs. It sounds like he should get processes as soon as possible so he is not lost to legs or even his heart giving out.
I don't like mine to get even as big as they did this year, but they were not to the point of worrying about their legs. I just don't like such a big bird to cook. I will have to watch how they do next time and adjust the processing date if I see them growing too fast.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Im back in the promised land! Made it back into radio range to listen to the last quarter and OT of the Vikings game. What a nailbiter!

Here is what I spent the weekend doing, besides playing with my nephew. My brother and I took apart my mom's old upright piano and turned it into a chest for a christmas present. It was very old and wouldnt hold a tune. It was nothing fancy and was something that was passed down the family a generation or two. The wood was all veneered pine, so we had to design the chest around the existing pieces as much as possible since we couldn't make too many cuts. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. No completed photo, but you get a good idea of it.




Then we spent most of today making jigs then hammering out mega piles of Lincolin Logs! we used to play them as kids, so we made them for his son and our other brothers kid. still have to figure out the roof trusses and slats.


In other news, while I was gone, one of our neighbors stopped over and chatted with DW and gave us this Terry Redlin print and invited us over for dinner! what a surprise! Not a great photo due to the glare but check out the neat farm scene!

Awesome deal on the print, and that is all looking like too much fun! My brother and I played with Lincoln Logs as kids too. It was fun!

 

[KlopKlop]

i am still fighting that darn wanna-be broody! i have gone out 4 times and thrown her off the nest each time since ive gotten home! everytime i toss her she runs over and eats... so i guess that is a good thing. she isnt mean either, just makes dinosaur sounds when i bother her.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I didn't get as much done today as I had hoped, but still did something.
DH put the new timer in for me for the big house. I got to go check that it is working before I go to bed. I need to go to Home Depot this week and get some more tabs so I can have them come and shut off twice a day. I don't see any reason for running the lights all day, so I need to have them turn off about 8am, then back on around 4pm. I need to change some of the bulbs too because I found the florescent ones I was using just aren't as bright as I like them. Having low wattage to save money just isn't panning out as well as I would have liked.
I got to work some on one smaller coop to prep it for winter. Tomorrow is making a hoop day to get the extra males into for winter. I may let them get out during the day until it really turns bad though. I still have about 30 cockerels to get rid of. I had a guy come today and he only bought 7 bantam roosters. I wish he would have take all of them. Maybe he will spread the word that I have them and someone will come and get them soon. I am surprised that the people who usually buy them haven't come down. It is definitely the drawback of raising so many.