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

[Sally Sunshine]

I just need convincing, I just hate processing chickens anyway, rabbits not a problem, I just feel bad IDK if I should hold out (for maybe nothing) but I already know I need to do It im wasting time and money, Its been almost 2 months with these older hens and maybe 6 eggs total, 1 I think will start I feel them in her abdomen ( which happened by mistake)

But She still hasn't laid it and its been a week or so its traveled up near the vent... I think they're laughing at me, after I feed them left over manicotte and macaroni, lol

And they are territorial

Thanks Aldo

I am the opposite! Rabbits are so cute! lol
When are you planning to process them?

 

[jajeanpierre]

Opinions, please.

Last night I must have forgotten to lock up one of my rooster's coop and something got it, a raccoon I believe.

Dogs were let out early this morning and brought in around 7:10. Nobody was excited or anything so I don't think the rooster had been killed yet or the dogs would have not been patiently waiting on the porch to be let in. The rooster's coop is only 40 feet away from the front door and the main coop where the body was found is another 50 feet away. The dogs would definitely have found that rooster if he had already been attacked. I cannot believe they would have left a dead chicken alone if they had found it, the pit bull maybe but not the Dachshunds.

I found him at about 8:00 when I went to let the chickens out. The animal had tried to drag him through the fence and wasn't able to get him through. The animal ate meat that it could reach on the neighbor's side of the fence.

This was a rooster I had been putting off slaughtering--so typical of me.

There didn't seem to be any damage to the body other than the meat that was eaten--some meat from the breast, back and legs. Very little meat was eaten--the animal certainly didn't get his fill. Rigor had not set in. I skinned him under running water and found no damage other than the meat that had been eaten and the neck injury. The body cavity and vent had not been damaged at all. I am really angry to lose good meat so processed him under running water and put him on ice. Blood dripped out the neck and I did all my processing with him neck down and drained a fair amount of blood out. There were blood clots in the lungs and heart. Rigor had not set in and hasn't set in even now that I have him in ice water.

I just can't believe he was killed in the night--everything was just too fresh looking, plus the dog's behavior--but maybe I'm wrong. Why hasn't rigor set in? Or has it set in and already released? I didn't notice a lot of heat in the guts (hot night), so maybe the animal was killed in the night. I wish I had paid more attention to the blood on the pen. I remember it being really fresh, but memories have a way of being inaccurate. The entrails looked good. Nothing smelled at all. It really looked as if it had been done very recently. The animal had a fair amount of meat, but not as much as one would expect. I think the animal was interrupted eating this morning.

The meat is safe, right?

 

[mominoz]

ummm, thinking of the slim chance of Rabies,maybe...? we have had local raccoons or possums show up with it .... I don't know if I'd eat something killed by a wild animal... and I just had a goose choke and it was still limp and warm when I found him , and hubby had just seen him 15 min. earlier struggling... so I am not above eating a kill I know what happened ... I guess if you cook it hot enough it should kill anything ....

 

[jajeanpierre]

ummm, thinking of the slim chance of Rabies,maybe...? we have had local raccoons or possums show up with it .... I don't know if I'd eat something killed by a wild animal... and I just had a goose choke and it was still limp and warm when I found him , and hubby had just seen him 15 min. earlier struggling... so I am not above eating a kill I know what happened ... I guess if you cook it hot enough it should kill anything ....

You know, that was something I thought about and did a search on the risk, which is slim. The risk is really small, but I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed my hands and arms and then had a shower and threw everything in the wash for two cycles. Logically, I don't think there is much of a risk from rabies. It is more the ick factor and the possibility that the animal was dead longer than I thought.

I just really, really hate wasting good food, especially meat from an animal I raised and intended to slaughter.

 

[MargaretYakoda]

You know, that was something I thought about and did a search on the risk, which is slim. The risk is really small, but I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed my hands and arms and then had a shower and threw everything in the wash for two cycles. Logically, I don't think there is much of a risk from rabies. It is more the ick factor and the possibility that the animal was dead longer than I thought.

I just really, really hate wasting good food, especially meat from an animal I raised and intended to slaughter.

-
If your dogs have had their rabies shots, I don't think there could be much risk if you cook the meat and feed it to your dogs as a treat? Others here might be more skittish than I am, though.

But, yeah... Boil the carcass until the meat falls off the bone, shred it, then dry it on a low oven. The dogs will probably go nuts over it.

 

[curious chickee]

My four bared rock cockerels are driving me nuts going after the pullers and crowing all the time. I need to process them, but first I had to wait until I got my new fridge so I can store them in the old fridge. Then I was going to do it tomorrow but it supposed over 105 tomorrow and Friday. I can't do it over the weekend as we have family coming to town. I guess they will have to wait until next week.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Checking to make sure its totally normal for CornishX beasts to drink so much water? Poo looks good, birds are running from end to end in the run. But OMG the water intake!

 

[fisherlady]

Quote:
Absolutely!! they are camels with feathers! most likely they need it to keep their crop from impacting with all of the dry food they eat and even just as a way to promote cooling since their high calorie burn produces so much body heat. I have never checked their skin temp but it always feels sky high when I have handled them...

 

[fisherlady]

Duplicate post

 

[fisherlady]

Duplicate post.... don't know why my tablet stuttered.... LOL