Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[chippysmom327]

I need to vent because I can't openly vent in my house right now.

Yesterday there was a swap, but I couldn't go because we were getting ready for my mom's surprise party. It was a bummer because I really need to go to the swaps to find Chuck a girlfriend and sell my quick growing cockerels. They smell awful in my basement. I understood that yesterday was really important so we didn't HAVE to go to the swap. I wasn't gonna be a brat about it. Well, there was one this morning right down the road. Well guess what? Last night my two cousins (9&10) invited themselves to sleep over! On my mom's birthday. And their parents were like yeah that's fine. Like, it was my mom's birthday. They should have said No, that's rude, it's your aunt's birthday, sleep over a different night when they don't have to clean up after a party and etc. But they didn't. So now I couldn't go to the swap this morning because I wake up and my parents are making breakfast for and fussing over them. They don't even have other clothes to wear so my mom's trying to find them things to wear, and i can tell you she's not looking in her closet. Ugh. I'm soooo mad I missed both of those swaps and now I'm gonna have to clean that disgusting brooder, and figure out something to do with those cockerels until August. All because people are ignorant. Like, my blood is boiling right now, there's probably smoke coming out of my ears.

Omg my cousin just yelled at one of my baby cockerels who's trying to crow to shut up.

I love my cousins, but I'm pretty annoyed right now. Rant over.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I need to vent because I can't openly vent in my house right now.

Yesterday there was a swap, but I couldn't go because we were getting ready for my mom's surprise party. It was a bummer because I really need to go to the swaps to find Chuck a girlfriend and sell my quick growing cockerels. They smell awful in my basement. I understood that yesterday was really important so we didn't HAVE to go to the swap. I wasn't gonna be a brat about it. Well, there was one this morning right down the road. Well guess what? Last night my two cousins (9&10) invited themselves to sleep over! On my mom's birthday. And their parents were like yeah that's fine. Like, it was my mom's birthday. They should have said No, that's rude, it's your aunt's birthday, sleep over a different night when they don't have to clean up after a party and etc. But they didn't. So now I couldn't go to the swap this morning because I wake up and my parents are making breakfast for and fussing over them. They don't even have other clothes to wear so my mom's trying to find them things to wear, and i can tell you she's not looking in her closet. Ugh. I'm soooo mad I missed both of those swaps and now I'm gonna have to clean that disgusting brooder, and figure out something to do with those cockerels until August. All because people are ignorant. Like, my blood is boiling right now, there's probably smoke coming out of my ears.

Omg my cousin just yelled at one of my baby cockerels who's trying to crow to shut up.

I love my cousins, but I'm pretty annoyed right now. Rant over.

Happy Birthday to your Mom! Hope you find a girl for duck soon.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Great job, knew you could do it...
I ordered my scales from chefs.com......they have nice little one's that are about the size of a book.......I needed something accurate and the one's I was buying at auctions would not work right....

I have a small one the fits nicely on the counter while packaging..the only down side is it has a 12 pound limit.

Thank you so much!! We will be checking out this site for sure...we only ran into one issue with all this..the storage bags we have weren't big enough! hahaha, I guess that is a "good" issue to have..hahaha, so we will also be looking into larger freezer/storage bags. It obviously wouldn't be an issue if we had pieced out the bird, but we wanted whole.

These are gorgeous! How old were they? We are on our first year with meat birds, we have them in a hoop coop. Hope mine doesn't decide to fly away! It's not nearly as nice as DHetzels! Mine has much less wood on it and would probably take to the air more readily.

Our baby goat girl Eva goes to her new farm today. Boo. We stumbled through tattooing them yesterday, what a mess! I'm sure there is an art to it, I hope one of us picks it up soon.

Thank you !! We cleaned and cleaned!! hahaha, wasn't too bad though...This was our first year with them too. Learn a lot in a very short period of time I don't think you will have an issue with them "flying" ..hahaha. Your pens are awesome!! I would love to be able to do that, but our yard is becoming smaller & smaller with the fruit trees and berry patches!! hahaha...I am even throwing the idea of expanding the veggie-garden next year!!! I am nuts!! We are looking forward to having Cornish X next year..and more than just a couple. We didn't want to bite off more than we could chew..so to speak. Now we just have this turkey ...I wish it's pen mate would have made it past chick stage

, but these things happen. The turkey is lonely I believe, but we are doing the best of the situation. Next year is questionable on them..but I think if there were more , it wouldn't as much of an issue. It becomes upset when it can't see the hens, when they go into roost..I have to put it to bed by hand...that part I don't mind as much as the constant "peeping"-chirping..it does become very ...annoying...

...hahahaha...such is life though.

Your daughter is lovely Blarney! You must be so proud! Her hair is to die for!!

...beautiful irish lassy ...hahaha

Awesome!! I am so glad it went well!

You'll be looking to do a lot more of them next time... I'm sure it's partly a mental thing... but there is just something so much more satisfying about eating something you know you were responsible for from start to finish!

Thank you Fisher!!
I believe it all matters, especially the "mental" thing..hahaha..we have to feel good about what we are eating..or serving to loved ones.
We are going to be handling more next year, we are very excited about it too. Once the layer coop is completed, we will have the little coop/run to house them in..until they get bigger of course. Having that extra space will give us the opportunity to raise.
It also opens up an area for any broodies we may/will encounter next spring...because you KNOW it will happen...

..ahaha
The BLRW that is sitting on eggs now is doing very well with it.She is extremely dedicated..this is her first time too! I am looking forward to having some chicks around, even if it only for a short time. The eggs are from Motorcycle Chick! They are Marans ...should be very nice! I will not be able to keep them though, unfortunately...I don't want to count them before they hatch though..it is ahrd not to get ahead of myself sometimes...hahaha

FYI... I am a 1 or 2 pot a day person!

I am right there with you on that one!!! I drink way too much for any "normal" person!! hahaha.."normal"...ahahhaha

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

I'm so impressed with you who do your own processing. I had to help my daddy as a tot and I still can't get the smell outta my nose
Last year I bartered with the Amish. For every 5 of mine they processed - they kept one. It worked out well.
I may need to rethink that though if I start selling the meat. ...

The smell is something to be desired..but, the payoff in the end is great! Nothing a good hot shower won't cure...and some incense..hahahaha
Go for it!! The popularity with "homegrown" food is growing like wildfire!! With the right advertising...you would be VERY busy..hahaha, depending on how big you wnated to go.

Lmp, a good pair of kitchen shears are also a must,, I have a couple pair of these that I like because they come apart for cleaning and I have dipped them in boiling water also without hurting them....I have high quality west off one's also but never use them

http://www.chefscatalog.com/product/26074-oxo-poultry-shears.aspx

This place is a little pricey, but you can get the idea.

yeah, they would be very handy!!! We are very interested in this site!! Thank you!!

X2!
Sounds possible to get them them very tame, but to get them back after they have been loved on and named.... You make be asking a bit much.

Wow! Awesome job! I'm so impressed! I'm sure this is a start to many years of successful processing.

Thank you!!!

What a great picture!!!
I have a silly question, can a meat chicken be used as a layer? Since I know myself and could never process one of my girls...was just wondering if there are people like me who had the intention of using their meaties for food but couldn't go through the final processing. Do these hens lay decent eggs??

No such thing as a silly question...
I know of one person who was able to get a cornish X to lay and mate...it was *Aoxa(sp?) here on BYC....she was able to manage the weight of a bird and get it to mate /lay with another of her roosters..(can't remember what breed), but she created her own "breed" of meat bird..now that it has CornishX in it...pretty cool in my opinion, but it took A LOT of intense managing/work to make sure that bird stayed at a good weight/health...it finally had to be processed because it just wasn't meant to be "around" that long....
I will try to find the thread that she explained all this on..it was very interesting though.

I reality though..they were meant to gain weight- fast, then be processed..if you wait too long, their weight becomes an issue for the bone structure(breaking)..and organ failure(heart), as well as the heat is oppressive for them, breathing gets very hard. ..not a good time for anyone.
**Our birds were 8 weeks and 4 days. They were ready. I really would not have wanted them to get bigger.

The unfortunate thing about Cornish cross meat birds is that they eventually put on so much weight that they either can't walk any more or they break their legs trying to move. The 4h market bird project suggests 8 - 10 weeks and then slaughter at max. I've gone 12, but that was on a lower protein feed so they developed slower. These birds are bred to be slaughtered for meat , IMHO trying to keep them for layers would be cruel because they'd injure themselves before they started laying.

 

[wingstone]

LMP
I couldn't agree more, the effort is well worth it, this is the last for us for a couple weeks, so I will stock my own freezer with these, kept 1 whole and halved 3 for grilling.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

LMP
I couldn't agree more, the effort is well worth it, this is the last for us for a couple weeks, so I will stock my own freezer with these, kept 1 whole and halved 3 for grilling.

They look very nice!!!

....okay, where did ya get the bags??!! hahaha.....i like the idea of halving them, that is perfect for grilling!!

does anyone have any ideas as to why this bird, (Babs), would not be laying..did the whole check list of obvious "things it could be"...she hasn't laid for..I can't even tell you the last time this bird laid..I am so stumped & bummed..cause if she doesn't get it together...then, we all know what comes next.She is only a little over a year ..17 months...





I just took these pics..for some reason she just turned "emo-chicken"

...this all started when the others started going broody..she didn't, but she got..weird..now, no-eggs..

..

The rest of the gang..



And then.."turkey".....i think it should be bigger. It circles the food, eats, circles, eats...i think it is TRYING to keep it's weight down...

....



Thanks for any help on the whole 'non-laying' chicken thing!

 

[wingstone]

LMP, Most likely the heat, I have a few Orpington that never lay in the summer..

As for bags, I keep an eye open at the dollar tree, they often have the 2 gallon size, I also order on line in bulk, but you need to order by the hundreds, so not practical for most...

Most of your restaurant stores online will also sell freezer bags, Lancaster city also has a cheap restaurant store, forget the name, will post when I remember

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Just putting this out there.

For those that want to buy farm fresh meat instead of raising it.
I have a batch of 50 Cornish broilers going in on the 14th, will be starting the processing around labor day and after.

None of these are presold so I thought I would offer here first.

Yes yes yes! I would like three and and friend of mine will take two please (I will pick up for her). Your birds were so gorgeous and I appreciate even the "extra parts" in a little baggy in the bird. I will be enjoying the chicken on my salads all week... Yum yum yum. Thanks again for your hard work in raising and processing them.

 

[BullChick]

Danielle, here are mine at 8 weeks.


You have seen the difference six weeks makes!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

@LittleMissPurdy. I know why Babs is not laying. She's so gorgeous she knows she doesn't have to! Seriously, she's beautiful and she knows you wouldn't get rid of her. Haha!