Peeps in Europe!

[CuddleNest]

There is no issue with butchering your own in Germany. Though you are not allowed to sell the meat or give it away. This is for your houshold only!
The law requires you to knock the bird unconcient with a blow to the head. They go into the butchering cone upside down... the head sticking out at the bottom. You take a knive an cut their throat. It is faster if you take the head and pull it to the side a bit as that makes the blood run out faster.
The cone makes it easier for you since you don't have to hold the bird. It is held in place as they tend to flap their wings even when dead.

I see, the cone makes a lot of sense. Thank you for the description.

Can I ask what it takes to knock a rooster unconscious...? Once you have caught him, is a stick enough or is there a more...direct method?

"For your own household" would be the case for us. This clarification is a big relief!! Thanks!

 

[abpatchy]

you need a heavy stick... I was told yesterday a good option would be a wooden handle of a hatchet (Beil) works well. That's what I used and it really did work very well. You hold the rooster upside down by the legs and wings so he won't flap.

 

[abpatchy]

so here I am always worried that I don't have good enough animals for breeding and show.
Well, when I was at the coop this morning, I had a visit from the head of the special breeding club for my breed. He looked and said that there are some really good animals in there.
I guess now I can be a little bit more relaxed. I am relieved!!!

 

[chickengr]

Do you mix this yourself, or do you purchase a relatively inexpensive waterfowl (Wassergeflügel) mix that you could recommend? If you mix yourself, what ratio of the ingredients do you use? I’m looking for something that would cover all bases, especially in the winter when foraging in the yard will provide less nutrition. I’m ok with buying each ingredient in bulk and mixing it every few months. We can store quite a bit of food. I want to start a worm farm, which will hopefully supplement the B vitamins a bit.

I buy it already mixed. I know that barley is about 10% only. somewhat more wheat than corn.

 

[abpatchy]

Remember the chick pictures back in February and March? Well, those chicks are almost grown. There is a picture of a Bielefelder hen as well as one rooster. He is my biggest hope! Nice comb, very quiet and very good size.

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

As a long shot I’m asking here in the hope someone may be able to help me out (well it’s a family member, but I’m asking on their behalf).

They have received some text in German and we’ve tried the usual google translate but as we all know, it’s not accurate and it doesn’t make sense when translated to English.

It’a only a small amount of text but if anyone could help I’d really appreciate it

 

[abpatchy]

sure! pm me

 

[Papa John59]

Hello, British in Spain here

I have a Brahma rooster, Buff Orpington with her 3 chicks, and an Easter Egger... for now.

Welcome to the fun!

 

[Papa John59]

WOW! I go away for a few days, ok 2 weeks and I see that we have like 4 new members here! Welcome to the best thread here at BYC! Why is it the best thread you ask? Because it's for us, here in Europe! Just to catch you old timers up, the house is almost finished! The rains have slowed down the progress, but yesterday, the roof was finished! What a project! And the painters also started yesterday....boy are they fast! Today they applied the second coat of paint, tomorrow they will paint the windows and then they are finished! The lighting rods were replaced today and tomorrow, our solar panels go back up!

The chickens will be happy when all of the remodeling is finished, so they can free range again! They are getting bored having to stay in the run all day as the workers are here (until 19.00 every night). They slowed down laying eggs the first couple of day, stress I think, but the last few days they are back laying daily.

OS (only son) enlarged his flock of quail so now he has 10 of them. The other night, he came home late to discover a fox walking around their coop/run. So today, he and his hunting instructor set up a live trap. He's not worried about the quail as his coop/run was properly built. We just don't want a fox in the yard.

@abpatchy , so proud of you! Processing your own birds! That is a big step for anyone to learn to do. But I am sad, you were so close to me, we could have visited! Next time maybe!

Later!

 

[abpatchy]

@abpatchy[/USER] , so proud of you! Processing your own birds! That is a big step for anyone to learn to do. But I am sad, you were so close to me, we could have visited! Next time maybe!

Later!

Thank you John!! It's quite something to learn. And honestly I do feel proud of myself.
Well, next time maybe! This time I was pretty busy with everything. There was no time really to visit with anyone else. I might head down for the show in fall... if it happens. Thanks to Corona some shows have already been canceled.