OMANI--- I checked the wall at the feed store and there are about 3 signs up right now with people selling hens, etc. I took one business card down and will look into it today, the other were signs saying "laying hens" etc. You may want to check that out. Also, there's a feed store closer to me, up near Geneseo that will order you chicks thru Murray/McMurray and you don't have to order 25, just how many you want, I'm going to give them a call today I think to inquire. The first time I heard about them I didnt call until maybe April and everything i wanted thry M/MC was sold out till august so I said forget it... The name of the place is Retsof Feed if you google them.
Everyone else......... one of my Broad Breasted Bronze Hens went into Heart Failure ( I think ) fri night so we had to hurry and find a butcher Sat. as she was too lame to walk anymore (but still wanted to eat.... hmm sounds like a Cornish Chicken to me ha ha) all our butchers our way were closed for the winter poultry wise, so my Uncle and Cousins came over and taught DH and myself how to butcher it, went very quickly and was a little sad (well DH was a little sad, I'm a nurse and knew that was no way to live). I sent the Turkey home with Dear Uncle as we had actually just cooked another one up that morning for DH B-day and no lie we got 4 gallon ziplock bags of leftover meat from it (whoa can we say turkey sandwhiches for the rest of the month?). Also I'm hoping that my Dear Auntie (if you are reading this/stalking my posts ha ha ha) will pass some lamb/venison along to me soon..........
This was the first year raising turkeys and I don't think we will ever do this again going into fall/winter as finding a butcher in the winter became a problem. (our local butcher only charges 1.80$/chicken and 8-10$ turkey not bad I think) On a positive note, we had not a single issue with all four bronzes (and my Bourbon Red TOM) as most people warned us they are very hard to raise. If some of you haven't before, i really recommend getting a few, the taste is a gazillion times better than store bought turkey BUT they ARE MESSY! (Poop wise)
Hope you all had a great weekend, it is thawing (and flooding) out my way and everyone is out of the coop and partying (I think they are looking for worms or something?) DH and I had to ice skate to the coop last night to fix the screen door that blew off in the high winds we had, he'll be so happy to see that tonight instead of ice skating there, we can now swim!