I have to check and see how many we have left! I have no clue how fast we go through them as kids bring them up for me lol!!!!! where did you get them?Latest shipment of meat birds are here.
Hopefully we will be done then for a while.
We got ours through Mt Healthy hatchery in Ohio. We have had 3 previous good runs with their birds so stayed with them, ordered 50, got 51 and they arrived in great shape.
This is Myers Poultry(I confirmed/checked the spelling), it is near Johnstown Pa.
Hello! Just wanted to say a big Thank You to Sally and the many byc'ers who have taken the time to share methods and experiences here. I read a lot, watched video tutorials to prepare myself and learn before taking the steps to processing here on our own.
Yesterday, my husband and I processed our first roosters! We had an experienced helper to walk us through it but we did everything ourselves. I'm happy to say everything went well and we feel good about handling this on our own going forward! I was also glad my 13 year old son wanted to participate and learn!
We are hatching quite a bit and so of course we have birds we cannot keep and although we try to find homes but that wasn't possible with these 2 males. Our silver laced Wyandotte who was nearly a year suddenly decided he hated us and flogged my husband and I. So he was not a candidate for rehoming. His son was the other one we processed yesterday.
What we did:
My husband used a sharp hatchet and he dispatched the birds quickly and without suffering.
I scalded and plucked (apparently I am a "natural" at this and looked like I did it 100 times so this is my job forever lol.)
The older rooster I removed the legs, tail and cut around the vent, my husband removed most of the innards- I got the lungs and those were tricky but I was able to remove them.
The younger bird was 14-15 weeks old so he was pretty scrawny after I plucked. We opted to filet him. I did a leg/thigh, my husband did the other one and my husband removed the breast meat.
My family is really tender hearted about animals and we werent looking forward to this process day. But we took care of things in a very calm, organized and matter of fact way. If we can do it, anybody can! We actually think we may try get meat birds later this year
Hello! Just wanted to say a big Thank You to Sally and the many byc'ers who have taken the time to share methods and experiences here. I read a lot, watched video tutorials to prepare myself and learn before taking the steps to processing here on our own.
Yesterday, my husband and I processed our first roosters! We had an experienced helper to walk us through it but we did everything ourselves. I'm happy to say everything went well and we feel good about handling this on our own going forward! I was also glad my 13 year old son wanted to participate and learn!
We are hatching quite a bit and so of course we have birds we cannot keep and although we try to find homes but that wasn't possible with these 2 males. Our silver laced Wyandotte who was nearly a year suddenly decided he hated us and flogged my husband and I. So he was not a candidate for rehoming. His son was the other one we processed yesterday.
What we did:
My husband used a sharp hatchet and he dispatched the birds quickly and without suffering.
I scalded and plucked (apparently I am a "natural" at this and looked like I did it 100 times so this is my job forever lol.)
The older rooster I removed the legs, tail and cut around the vent, my husband removed most of the innards- I got the lungs and those were tricky but I was able to remove them.
The younger bird was 14-15 weeks old so he was pretty scrawny after I plucked. We opted to filet him. I did a leg/thigh, my husband did the other one and my husband removed the breast meat.
My family is really tender hearted about animals and we werent looking forward to this process day. But we took care of things in a very calm, organized and matter of fact way. If we can do it, anybody can! We actually think we may try get meat birds later this year
