Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[chippysmom327]

CHF Cornish roaster was doing worse today... breathing really labored. I had hoped the cool temps would help him hang on a few more days until DH got home to help me process, but it didn't look good this afternoon. I reached out to a local chicken friend who has kids the same ages as mine (part of the difficulty in me processing him early is just that I have 3 small children to tend to on my own while trying to figure out how to process a chicken, not just the fact that I couldn't bring myself to do the actual dispatching). Unfortunately for me, she was busy today and couldn't come up to help. I went out to check on him about an hour before bedtime and I doubted he'd make it until morning. I decided I'd rather process a live chicken on my own than figure out what to do with a dead chicken in the morning... I put the kids to bed and went out to get him. I called hubs for some moral support as he was hanging in a kill cone/bag and then I cut his artery. Not gonna lie, I might have teared up a little, but I did it. Heating up a big pot for scalding right now. I wonder how much of a mess I'm going to make in my kitchen since I can't exactly do this outside at 10 at night... at least the kids are sleeping! In other news, the turkeys thought the deck railing would be a nice place to roost for the night. Too bad it's really slippery, I think they decided to go back down to their regular little tree/bush for the night. But it was funny to come around the corner into the kitchen and see a bunch of turkeys on the porch railing.

Good for you! I'm so glad that you helped end his suffering. He's not in pain anymore, and your family gets to eat something that you raised. It's a win-win for both of you.

 

[BassetHound]

I just gave my birds out of date Greek yogurt. Mixed it with layer pellets and corn. I will take a picture next time. They all had yogurt all over their faces. I'm guessing yogurt will not hurt them?

 

[winc564]

I just gave my birds out of date Greek yogurt. Mixed it with layer pellets and corn. I will take a picture next time. They all had yogurt all over their faces. I'm guessing yogurt will not hurt them?

I've heard that yogurt is fine, but it is best if it is plain. The added sugars in the flavored yogurts are not good for them.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

My first 2 little turkey poults are a week old today and I think I've fallen in love with these guys lol. They're so cuddly and loveable! I open the brooder up and they both come running out to cuddle up with me just based on their personalities and sizes, I'm guessing I have 1 Tom and one hen. Does that work with poults? Can you make a good guess?
it's actually taken me about 3 times longer than it should have to type this because these little goofballs have an obsession with my tablet and keep pushing buttons lol

That's awesome! I knew Dheletzel has said turkeys are very friendly too. I will have some someday!

Our 10 chicks from MPC are almost 6 weeks old and I think it's time to go outside to the coop tomorrow. I'll probably brood them in the coop with the sweeter heater for another week or so depending on the weather and only allow them to explore the run if the weather is good. Here are the girls...

2 bantam mottled cochins, Fili and Kili

Barred plymouth rock named oreo - she seems to be the boss and the friendliest

Silver grey dorking, Giada aka GiGi. She also loves attention.

Easter egger, Eggy Eggy

Columbian wyandote, Mary Poppins

Speckled sussex, Princess Leia

Buff orpington, Buttercup

Double laced barnevelder named Fleur

The kids had fun with naming them!

Awesome names! My barred Rock is my sweetest also to this day.

I just gave my birds out of date Greek yogurt. Mixed it with layer pellets and corn. I will take a picture next time. They all had yogurt all over their faces. I'm guessing yogurt will not hurt them?

My girls LOVE yogurt. It does make a mess though. I find it helps if I smear it on a feeder or flat surface and just allow them to peck at it. With my chickens, I would often mix in oatmeal and fruit if I had any left over. The funniest is when they peck it off each others beaks or backs when it gets flipped around. My girls are very healthy after eating yogurt, but I agree with the other comment, it is best if it has no sugar or additives.

 

[fisherlady]

I think this guy might have had an impacted crop, I'm not sure how to tell but it was REALLY full and felt hard. I did not restrict food because I didn't plan on processing any birds today. That would probably explain why he was a smaller one, dressed out at just 2lbs and a bit smaller than the others. Is there a general guideline for what percentage you lose from live weight to dressed weight? I'd like to get an idea of how big the others are, maybe we want to give them a bit more time. Other than one with a messed up leg, the rest all seem in good health.

I feel like during my research about how to process a chicken I came across the mention of yellow liquid in the cavity and what it meant (heart issue?). I don't remember what it was now, but this guy had quite a bit of yellow liquid in the cavity.

Sharron, do you make hearts and gizzards? I remember eating that meal as a child up at my grandfather's hunting cabin, I think it was with egg noodles and gravy. I did save the heart and gizzard (and liver), and plan to save them from the rest of our meaties. Have any great recipes to share?


Yes, this was my first time... first time intentionally killing an animal, first time gutting anything. It took a long time, haha... I'm sure it will go faster when hubs is here. Plucking was the worst part (actually cutting the neck was probably the worst, but plucking took longer), I sure wish DH would have coordinated with his friend about getting a plucker built before it was too late. *He says he hates when I 'nag' him, but if I don't remind him to do stuff it will never get done!

I find the meat birds tend to have a hard crop for a while after eating.... I believe it is from their habit of gorging on their food and then later trying to drink a bunch of water to flush it down. If his system was shutting down he may have eaten a lot (out of habit) and then it didn't pass through because of the pressure from the fluid build up.

The yellow fluid is usually called ascites (pronounced ah-see-tees). It is common in meat birds due to CHF but can also be found in abdominal cavities due to other health issues and it even occurs in humans. When you pull the heart you will also sometimes find the sack around the heart (pericardium) has fluid in it.
The fluid could theoretically be drained but it won't correct the underlying condition and will only buy a couple days grace.

Birds with early acute CHF often don't grow as well simply because their organ efficiency isn't what it should be so nutrient absorption is impaired. Birds that develop it later are more likely to be normal sized. Some birds are just more genetically prone to the early onset and they are the ones which just never seem to keep up.

Most show early signs which you will come to recognize as you get more used to seeing them.... poor face and comb color (I tend to notice that rather early), bulging backside with a feeling of 'drum tightness' in skin over backside once fluid build up is worse in late stages, failure to thrive (noticeably lagging behind others in weight gain) and lethargic in appearance.
If the skin showing between feathers on the back half of the bird looks sort of bluish or purple then they are declining rapidly.
DH and I got in the habit of daily evaluation of bird activity levels and color, any who had questionable evaluations were marked with a spritz of blu-kote and re-evaluated more often. We were able to rather accurately track the CHF birds and thankfully avoided all but one 'flipping' without warning.

2.b process weight is small for CX (I don't remember how old yours are) but is very understandable with an early CHF bird. I processed 2 at about that size (out of 57) because they were failing... it sucks but it is better to do it for the bird.

well, ours were alot heavier, but then they had a head start when i bought them, around two to three weeks old, we only bought i think four bags of feed for them, plus they could go outside in the pasture to graze. i know i'm glad they're done, thats for sure.
did you cut the bile sack out of the liver without busting it? you have to be careful otherwise the bile makes everything so bitter you can't eat it as for cooking it, if i fry the chicken, then of course i fried everything (cook gets it) if i baked it, again everything baked, if you want gravey, you boil everything, slice it up and add it to the gravey.
plucking does make a mess but it has to be done unless you skin it. i know my momma used to wash the feathers afterwards, spread them out in the sun to dry, then make feather pillows from them, she gave me two when bill and i got married and i used my feather pillows until they just plain wore out, to this day the pillows in the stores just aren't firm enough for me.

One of these days I'm going to give that a try... DH likes firm pillows... and goodness knows we had enough feathers for a few of them!

Our 10 chicks from MPC are almost 6 weeks old and I think it's time to go outside to the coop tomorrow. I'll probably brood them in the coop with the sweeter heater for another week or so depending on the weather and only allow them to explore the run if the weather is good. Here are the girls...

2 bantam mottled cochins, Fili and Kili

Barred plymouth rock named oreo - she seems to be the boss and the friendliest

Silver grey dorking, Giada aka GiGi. She also loves attention.

Easter egger, Eggy Eggy

Columbian wyandote, Mary Poppins

Speckled sussex, Princess Leia

Buff orpington, Buttercup

Double laced barnevelder named Fleur

The kids had fun with naming them!

The are adorable, and love the names!

My first 2 little turkey poults are a week old today and I think I've fallen in love with these guys lol. They're so cuddly and loveable! I open the brooder up and they both come running out to cuddle up with me

just based on their personalities and sizes, I'm guessing I have 1 Tom and one hen. Does that work with poults? Can you make a good guess?
it's actually taken me about 3 times longer than it should have to type this because these little goofballs have an obsession with my tablet and keep pushing buttons lol

everyone mentions how friendly the turkey are and I can't help but think.... they will end up as pets because I just know DH will give them a name!

 

[sharron]

@chippysmom327 , and anyone who goes to the uniontown swap meet, there won't be a swap meet because of the bird flu, guess they're all canceled for the year or at least til farther notice, pass it on

 

[fisherlady]

@chippysmom327 , and anyone who goes to the uniontown swap meet, there won't be a swap meet because of the bird flu, guess they're all canceled for the year or at least til farther notice, pass it on

That sucks... I just got a schedule from Steve S. a couple of weeks ago when I was down to get eggs.

 

[sharron]

tell me about it, those days are one of the things i love to do anymore, get to check out all the different poultry and see my friends all in one place. and i would just like to know how they are going to manage to keep it from spreading, no way can they control the wild birds

 

[fisherlady]

tell me about it, those days are one of the things i love to do anymore, get to check out all the different poultry and see my friends all in one place. and i would just like to know how they are going to manage to keep it from spreading, no way can they control the wild birds

exactly!

 

[emorems0]

Quote:

Thanks so much for all of that info, Google and other threads on BYC weren't giving me much info other than fluid happens with CHF. The meat is safe to eat though, right? It's not like they are 'diseased' or anything so the meat should be fine. I didn't see anything saying the meat would be okay, but I did see BYC members saying they won't eat them if they are full of fluid. I can always just give it to the dog, but it really doesn't seem like it should be an issue... unless I'm overlooking something.

My meaties are almost 9 weeks, but they are Cornish 'roasters' from MCM so they are supposed to take a few extra weeks... I also have them on regular feed (16%) and free ranging so they are growing a bit slower. I lost a couple when they were sharing the brooder with the turkeys and eating higher protein food. Haven't lost any (other than this one) since I put them outside. I don't mind the slower growth if it means they will be happier and healthier. If we decide not to process the rest this weekend (I'm going to weigh a couple and see what their live weights look like), we'll have to wait two weeks because we'll be out of town next weekend. **Back to Allentown, if anyone has anything for the Chicken Express!

Some of you might get a chuckle at this... I was just making lunch with my almost 4 year old and I sometimes make up goofy sing-songy lyrics to keep her interested in what we are doing. I had a cold baking dish with a leftover roast chicken in it (we were making chicken with gravy and egg noodles), I made a roux and then it was time to add the chicken juices for the gravy, but they had solidified since it had been in the fridge. I didn't want her to think it was weird so I made up a little song...
"Chicken jelly, chicken jelly
In the pot, in the pot
It's gonna make good gravy, it's gonna make good gravy
When it's hot, when it's hot"

She had fun helping me scoop up the 'chicken jelly' and started singing the song too. It was precious and will be pretty funny if she starts singing it out in public somewhere!