Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

You know, I warned my boys about the smell. And I mentally prepared myself for it. But I don't think the smell was that bad? I was expecting "you're gonna puke" type of smell. The odor was different, but not stomach turning to me. Maybe my sense of smell is off!!

I was told the smell would be horrible too, but it wasn't for me. :shrug: maybe it's like cilantro tastes like soap for some people and yummy for others?

To me the smell is similar to working with a Whole Body chicken from the store.

I admit to being a bit jaded though--I was a meat clerk for 9 years--I smelled a lot of very "strong" things back in the cutting room.
 
To me the smell is similar to working with a Whole Body chicken from the store.

I admit to being a bit jaded though--I was a meat clerk for 9 years--I smelled a lot of very "strong" things back in the cutting room.

so what your saying is your smeller don't work quite right any more.
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It isn't a horrendous smell. it is just an odor that sticks with you for a day or two.
 
Why don't you eat the feral hogs? That's a lot of bacon... Just wondering? I haven't tried them myself, but I'm told they are delicious. Free meat on the hoof...
 
If you can catch a smaller one (less than 150 lbs or so), then you can pen them up and feed them out for a couple of weeks on corn - pretty much to flush out their insides. They are nasty, nasty creatures and if you do not flush them (or if you try to eat one any larger) then the meat is extremely greasy and the taste isn't that great. So, that means if you want to eat one, then you either have to (a) go out with a bunch of hog dogs trained to corner one until a human can literally jump in there and "hog tie" it (dangerous for both dogs people) or (b) try to trap one, which is doable, but harder then you would imagine. My husband has had a baited trap out now for several months. There are constantly fresh hog wallows all around it, but not a one has gone in the trap. The last time we were able to successfully trap one was almost a year ago, so trapping is just not as effective. You have a higher chance of actually catching one with the dogs. Again, very dangerous.
 
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Just ate my first home-grown cornish x. Roasted it whole just like a store bought bird and smelled heaven for about an hour and a half.

Raised these birds on fermented feed fed twice daily and they had a large run to move around in. The birds were active and acted like chickens. Scratched, dusted, roosted, used their wings. None were lost to "flip", and there were no leg problems.

Butchered at 8 weeks; weighed 4-4.5 pounds dressed. None had evidence of acites, and I raised them at 7,500 feet elevation.

I am a convert now for these birds and no longer believe the franken-chicken myths. Treat these birds right and like the chickens they are and it will work out. Cram them in a tractor and pour the feed to them and have a different result.

I never would have done this without you great folks on BYC.

eta- would love to share my experiences with those of you cautiously considering cornish x.
 
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Just ate my first home-grown cornish x. Roasted it whole just like a store bought bird and smelled heaven for about an hour and a half.

Raised these birds on fermented feed fed twice daily and they had a large run to move around in. The birds were active and acted like chickens. Scratched, dusted, roosted, used their wings. None were lost to "flip", and there were no leg problems.

Butchered at 8 weeks; weighed 4-4.5 pounds dressed. None had evidence of acites, and I raised them at 7,500 feet elevation.

I am a convert now for these birds and no longer believe the franken-chicken myths. Treat these birds right and like the chickens they are and it will work out. Cram them in a tractor and pour the feed to them and have a different result.

I never would have done this without you great folks on BYC.

eta- would love to share my experiences with those of you cautiously considering cornish x.

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That is great!
 
Just ate my first home-grown cornish x. Roasted it whole just like a store bought bird and smelled heaven for about an hour and a half.

Raised these birds on fermented feed fed twice daily and they had a large run to move around in. The birds were active and acted like chickens. Scratched, dusted, roosted, used their wings. None were lost to "flip", and there were no leg problems.

Butchered at 8 weeks; weighed 4-4.5 pounds dressed. None had evidence of acites, and I raised them at 7,500 feet elevation.

I am a convert now for these birds and no longer believe the franken-chicken myths. Treat these birds right and like the chickens they are and it will work out. Cram them in a tractor and pour the feed to them and have a different result.

I never would have done this without you great folks on BYC.

eta- would love to share my experiences with those of you cautiously considering cornish x.
great job.


f you raise them like chickens. they act like chickens. because they are chickens. just giants. i have raised on pasture since i started raising meat birds. i did 1 experiment like a factory setting. never again.pasture is the way to go. ferment is a great thing. it is just better for the birds.
 

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