She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[NTBugtraq]

For meat birds or layers. I hate raising Cornish cross (though I do love eating them). If I can raise a nice dual purpose I'd rather do that.

Yeah, I am still working on the economics. For me, if I can get ppl on my farm I have so many other things to sell its worth it not to make a lot on the chicken. At the same time, caponizing sounds like a way to save money. But in any event, I am not going to grow something that might break its legs or have a heart attack cause it grew to fast.

 

[WalnutHill]

Well, for now I can't challenge quotas, I don't have the spaces or experience. But it does suck, and its definitely a way to protect "big business"...if people can buy mine at C$10/Kg, why would they buy grocery store crap for C$11/Kg? Worse, our stores have just the one type of bird...so we will eventually have to educate ppl that different birds taste differently...that concept has been forgotten in Canada. The same is true of eggs. I am not restricted in the quantity of eggs I can sell, only how many layers I can have, so 100 will give me more eggs than I think I can sell from my farm gate. Of course not being able to sell off farm means I likely wouldn't want more than 100 layers, but it is a poke in the side reminder to not try to make money as a farm...thanks to our .gov...

I'm sorry to hear that Ontario has taken up the Michigan "small farms are bad" mentality. I did fight, and won...but many have lost.

I sell meat birds for considerably more than grocery prices. Egg prices are on par with specialty grocer Organic Brown Eggs.

Diversity in food is something that we do need. I am glad you get it, I am glad my customers get it. Some of them haven't made the move on the meat birds, others have.

 

[scflock]

Because the pudding is delicious!

Not having to buy chicks for meat birds?

I like you

An identical sense of humor without all the baggage

 

[FridayYet]

So, the next couple of days I should be busy getting everything done and ready to get away for a couple days. It's been two years since I last took a little vaca and got away from the house and my caretaker responsibilities. I love my dad and wouldn't want it any other way, but I really need this. When I got out of college I moved a couple hours away, down by my sister and lived there for 12 years before my mom died and I moved back to take care of my dad, so I have a whole life down there I miss too and my Bestest best friend is down there. So, excited to get away for the weekend and just hoping my van doesn't strand me anywhere between here and there. My other sister will be coming up to take care of our dad and my chickens. I just need to get motivated and get everything done....lol

Hope you have a great time off! You deserve it.

We have got into the 90's here in England!! That's right we have these temps right now and I have to say it's horrid

My birds are too hot and the chicks in the shed are even hot without the lamp, the door is open too. Don't know what else to do for them they have shade, ice water and lots of cold veggies out of the fridge but they are still panting in the shade. We are so not used to this type of weather over here!! I've got burnt and my arms are killing me just feels like there is no air.

Any tips to help would be very much appreciated

I soak my run down every other day, then the chickens dig down through the leaves and rest on the damp ground. Maybe you could put some col damp soil in your boxes? I need to move my smaller chicks outside, but I don't want them to bake in the shed - so they come back in in the afternoons. I have a fan in there, but it's still over 90 inside with the door wide open!

I spent my whole winter building roofs over 50% of my pens, just for the shade. Summers can be miserable here, and this one is the hottest in years, so the timing was perfect. My hens have been panting some, but overall look much more comfortable than last year, even on the worst days.
The Polish were just a business decision. They were costing me more than I was making from them, and although they were beautiful birds, they were quite flighty, and that was the only pen I had that all chickens didn't come running to me when I walked in. The young man that got them (13 years old) bought them with money he had saved from selling his own eggs, and is planning on breeding them to show. I sold them to him cheap, because I was proud for him to have them, and I replaced them with a fantastic group of BBS Ameraucanas, so it worked out for both of us

That is so cool. I hope he lets you know how he does raising and showing them!

That is so nice to give the lad a chance. I like young people who save up for things, I think they appreciate the things they buy much more that way. I hope it all works out well for him and you get on better with the BBS Ameraucanas. I've always made my son save and pay for all the extra things he wants. He appreciates money too which I think is a good thing although he does go a little far. He's 13 and I was winding him up about its time he got a girlfriend and his answer was they cost too much money!!

I have covers on my runs, just got the second one up and done and it came with a cover (grey one). First run did not so I used a tarpaulin. After seeing how good the grey one is I've ordered one for the other run. Tied with elastic and it does not flap in the wind like the tarpaulin does. Plus then with my OCD they will match.

First they're too stupid to eat, now they're eating too much?

EEs!?

My EEs are half Cuckoo Marans and they are huge! would definitely make a good meal if you put the in the crockpot for a couple of days...... (They are 2 years old)

 

[WalnutHill]

My EEs are half Cuckoo Marans and they are huge! would definitely make a good meal if you put the in the crockpot for a couple of days...... (They are 2 years old)

Read up on dry aging. It sounds gross...but a couple of days in the fridge does WONDERS for even older birds. Waiting until rigor mortis breaks, then freezing the bird, then thawing when ready to eat also tenderizes as the freezing process breaks down cells.

Be sure to DRY age, hang the bird so no fluids sit inside or underneath it.

 

[scflock]

That is so cool. I hope he lets you know how he does raising and showing them!

I do too. I asked him to keep in touch, and he was infatuated with all my pens, so I think he may be coming back to buy more birds. I get a lot of repeat customers once they see the setup. It's hard to convey on CL, but it really is a pretty setup. I have nice custom coops, and my wife has done some beautiful landscaping around them. I'm thinking of maybe looking into a small website for next year

 

[NTBugtraq]

I'm sorry to hear that Ontario has taken up the Michigan "small farms are bad" mentality. I did fight, and won...but many have lost.

I sell meat birds for considerably more than grocery prices. Egg prices are on par with specialty grocer Organic Brown Eggs.

Diversity in food is something that we do need. I am glad you get it, I am glad my customers get it. Some of them haven't made the move on the meat birds, others have.

Its not just Ontario, but Canada, which sucks even more.

I have spoken to customers who definitely get it...granted, not a lot, but enough to keep me hopeful. My constraint is marketing. I can legally have a website that offers produce here at my farm (they have to come here), but I can't take produce like this to the farmer's market I sell in every Saturday. A person who lives 5 mins from the market shows up 1 hour before the market closes and sells what I could...and seemingly doesn't care about the law...

I do believe my meat birds could be sold for a lot more than store prices, but we have no diversity in the stores...so everyone thinks chicken sells for 2 prices, one for "normal", another for "organic". I think their pallets would appreciate the diversity of breeds, but they've never eaten them...so they have no clue they exist. Same with eggs.

Of course it doesn't help that I have no idea who much meat are going to be on my birds, but next year...

 

[rossfam06]

For meat birds or layers. I hate raising Cornish cross (though I do love eating them). If I can raise a nice dual purpose I'd rather do that.

Why do you hate raising cornish crosses? I am just curious.

 

[NTBugtraq]

Read up on dry aging. It sounds gross...but a couple of days in the fridge does WONDERS for even older birds. Waiting until rigor mortis breaks, then freezing the bird, then thawing when ready to eat also tenderizes as the freezing process breaks down cells.

Be sure to DRY age, hang the bird so no fluids sit inside or underneath it.

There's some other way??

 

[NTBugtraq]

Why do you hate raising cornish crosses? I am just curious.

They are a freak of nature and not yet developed to the point where they can actually survive their own genes.