Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[BullChick]

It was an interesting time, let me tell ya! First one was up and down so much, I can’t say eggs would have hatched. The second sat on the first. That is when I stopped collecting eggs (she tried to kill me). The third sat for two days after the first week, but stopped until a few days ago. The first stopped leaving the nest nonstop a little over a week ago. Keeping them in the cage took me remembering that the plastic nest boxes close.

 

[VictoriaTemple]

My Barred Cochin, Maggie has been playing with the idea of brooding for weeks, even started bathing in the feed to cool her tummy. Now she’s settled in a nest box and seems very committed, so I’m gonna let her try. I just hope she doesn’t abandon them. Thankfully she isn’t gathering the other hens’ eggs, I think she’s sitting on 1 of hers and an Easter Egger. Good practice. 18 chicks so far with only 1 assist, 3 pips left that I can see but 2 are very still.

 

[bgill1215]

Anyone here grow strawberry plants? I started last year. I put straw over them over the winter. Do I wait until end of may to remove the straw so they don't get frost damage? Or when do I remove the straw?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Anyone here grow strawberry plants? I started last year. I put straw over them over the winter. Do I wait until end of may to remove the straw so they don't get frost damage? Or when do I remove the straw?

Remove it now. We removed ours a few weeks ago

 

[Blarneyeggs]

The Turkeys are a growin. By leaps n bounds!! I think they’ll be ready in July, but they look so huge already!!

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Is anyone in PA NPIP certified? I am wanting to get NPIP certified this year.

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know (and a few things you didn’t) about NPIP.

http://www.poultryimprovement.org/documents/ProgramStandardsJanuary2017.pdf

Here’s a list of PA NPIP Breeders:

http://www.poultryimprovement.org/documents/pa.pdf

If you are seriously interested in becoming NPIP Certififed, your first step should be to complete the training to become a CPT (certified poultry technician), that way, you can draw your own blood -saves a lot of money. I believe they are offering the classroom portion of the certification on-line this year. The field portion (where you demonstrate your ability to draw blood successfully)... would have to be in person, one would assume. You go through this training once, demonstrate your ability to draw blood (bleed birds), put on leg bands, swabbing, ect....pay your $15 and ta dah! You’re certified. Then each year you pay your $15 (might even be $10) and every 4-Her in a 50 mile radius will know your name (and beg you to test their birds for Fair)

 

[fisherlady]

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The Turkeys are a growin. By leaps n bounds!! I think they’ll be ready in July, but they look so huge already!!

They do look huge!
We got a flat scale (I think from Cabelas, but available from other sources) for bird processing. Once our meat birds get decent size we begin to weigh them, we mark the biggest with a spritz of blu-kot on the base of their neck or tail depending on their weight (over 8lb...7-8 lb, etc). This allows us to butcher in smaller batches and to know which are closest to being ready. Any batch of meat birds will have some fast and some slow growers. Weighing them allowed us to plan for a few 'big roasters' and keep the rest at average 6 to 7 lb birds.
The scale is slippery, but placing a towel or box on it and then resetting it to zero makes it simple enough to weigh them.
For a rough estimate I would figure that cleaned carcass weight would be 75% of live weight.
By weighing we had a good handle on when to plan butcher days, we usually broke it up into 3 batches to get the best weight results... If you are sending to a processor you may not have as much flexibility.

 

[HeartoftheMatterFarm]

What weight do you want the turkeys at to butcher?
Here is 1 of 6. I took the picture may 19th.

 

[BullChick]

I wanted my jake at 36#
About fifteen live, 25 if you are feeding 16-ish people.

 

[fisherlady]

Weight for processing is completely dependent on personal preferences and intended usage. As Bullchick said, different weights feed different situations.
At minimum I would say it should be judged on having a rounded out breast and the keel bone well covered. The weight to achieve that will vary depending on the bone frame of the breed. When raising them you need to handle them at least weekly to check development and to check for problems anyways. Once you've handled and weighed a few you will have a good idea of the averages you are looking for at any age for that breed.