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

[Beekissed]

I guess ol' Bud didn't complete his training??

He did! He straightened right up...mentally AND physically!

But he wasn't a keeper..he was obtained for eating.

But..yes, I know you're kidding!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Merry Christmas my friends!

 

[BCMaraniac]

Merry Christmas, Sally S!!!

 

[RockerHen]

I just read through this entire thread. I had lots of time, it took me several hours. Not that I need help getting through processing, as I have no problem with it, but just to have an interesting and informative read. Lots of nuggets (lol) of wisdom in this thread. Recently processed all 10 of my 4 year old wyandotte hens, which was a little sad as I raised them from chicks and they were great layers for me, but they had really started to slow down, and I needed to make way for new hens. Aged for a while and slow cooked, they were absolutely delicious. I'm getting ready to process some of my extra tom turkeys (I have 5, I only need 2, and they're hitting maturity so play fights are starting to result in bloody heads), so that will be an adventure. I think I'm gonna need a bigger killing cone. And those of you who pluck turkeys, do you dry pluck a turkey? How do you get a pot big enough to scald them if not? Or do you only dunk and pluck sections at a time? We may just skin them if it takes too much trouble, that's what we did with the old wyandotte hens because we knew we weren't going to cook them whole or use the skin. We do usually pluck younger birds.

 

[Arielle]

WOw, your wyandootes were still laying well as 4 yr olds??? IF I might ask, where did you buy them??

As for processing turkeys, I use a canning pot.I can almost get the whole bird in . I have med sized turkeys-- bourbon reds and narrigansetts. I do need to turn the bird to get the whole thing heated up. So often I do a section, then redunk to get the next section. NOt a biggy as I need to dunk my chicken a couple times too and they fit completely i nto the pot very easily. ( I think Ijust talked myself out of getting larger varieties of turkeys. lol)

 

[Beekissed]

I've had a good many birds still laying extremely well at 4 yrs and even some putting eggs in the nest 5 days out of 7 at 5-6 yrs old.

 

[Arielle]

I've had a good many birds still laying extremely well at 4 yrs and even some putting eggs in the nest 5 days out of 7 at 5-6 yrs old.

Did you keep chicks from these hens????

 

[Beekissed]

Did you keep chicks from these hens????

The chicks/offspring were given to a co-worker when I dispersed my flock to travel a couple of years back(lost touch with her and she lives 4 hrs away). Tried to hatch some this summer(my 6 yr old WR went broody and did a great job) but my roo was shooting blanks and the clutch was bad. Too late. Wish I had been more proactive about it all but they were hatchery stock and my life had taken a different turn back then.

I still have one of the original WRs, at 6 yrs. putting eggs in the nest this winter at that rate and the NH did it all year until about a month ago when she went to molting. I expect when she is done molting she'll get back to her stellar laying as per usual. They are the only two out of that original flock to still be laying and laying well.

On the other hand, I have 4 heritage line birds that have not started laying yet at 8 mo. of age.....go figure.

 

[Arielle]

LOL, Seems like breeder birds are a crap shoot. Sorry. Finding good breeder birds are a real challenge so it seems.

I'm surprized the hatcherybirds lasted that long. Impressive. Maybe they were moderate layers their whole life, just chugging along at a moderate pace.

 

[Beekissed]

LOL, Seems like breeder birds are a crap shoot. Sorry. Finding good breeder birds are a real challenge so it seems.

I'm surprized the hatcherybirds lasted that long. Impressive. Maybe they were moderate layers their whole life, just chugging along at a moderate pace.

Nope...they've been stellar layers from the start. I cull rigorously for laying and for the first few years they have to be a daily layer in peak season, after that they are allowed to lay every other day and I'll still feed them but they must be a layer. This past year is the first I've seen them slack off from that daily or every other day laying and they also started taking longer to recover from down times that are common for all layers, like molt, broody recovery or winter slow downs. That's when the culling started...I won't feed a slacker for very long.

That's why I was so surprised that so many on the Heritage thread are content with their birds laying 4-5 eggs per week and thinking that was good....in my flocks that better be an old bird. I'd never be content with a new layer only giving me 5 eggs a week, even a dual purpose bird.