South Carolina

[Texasboy4ever]

Well I know the Delawares were developed for meat and eggs and at 5 months old they are huge. But I would have to send the kids away and not tell them when we ate them.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I keep trying to get our DD to come outside and help. I was helping my dad clean rabbits, geese, ducks, quail, chicken and deer when i was a youngin'. It is a great practice to learn and we should all know where our food comes from. It would be great for the kids to learn how our food comes about. Then again, my DD won't eat home grown chickens, she only wants store bought because she thinks they never had a personality.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

We're new to farming and animals. I'm having the same issue with my two children (5 and 9) and... me. I can't quite get my mind around eating our animals. At least not yet. I just sold one of my Ameraucana roosters that my daughter didn't even like and she cried her eyes out over it. I know we'll get there in time but right now all I can handle is eating eggs!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

It would certainly be harder to learn this later in life than when I was young. I don't envy you all at all. Not meaning that in a mean way! We hate doing the deed but it was always a way of life for us so we know it has to be done. Too many roosters are hatched and we hate the thought of them not getting a good life like they have here before they have to go over the Rainbow Bridge. We like to know they will go very quickly and not be kept in someones small coop, neglected or under fed, beaten up by other roos or whatever horrors our minds can summon up. We always picture the worse for our extra roos so unless someone specifically needs them then they usually stay to enjoy a summer and have a decent life up until "the day".
I would not like having to find homes for all the roos I have here. Unfortunately, the bantam Cochin roos haven't enough meat so they are all sold with a pullet.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

I know. I have hatched and acquired 60 chicks since January. Now they are all getting big and I have gobs of roosters. I'm hoping the cochins and silkies will behave so we can keep them. At least the bantam cochins. I have 3 or 4 (one I'm not sure about - looks like a roo but has never crowed like the others and doesn't act like a roo) LF cochins. They pick on the silkies all the time. I'm moving them this weekend in with my Ameraucanas and my one Maran hen. I have some EE that will move when they are a bit bigger. I have 7 of those and I think 4 are boys. ARGH! If my kids didn't spend so much time in the chicken run, I could probably get a few out there without them noticing. But they all have names and I wouldn't get away with it!

 

[Texasboy4ever]

I don't mind killing or cleaning the insides of the chickens, I just hate to pluck them. I think I will have a chicken party and invites some friends over to help pluck them on the halves

 

[WestKnollAmy]

We do not pluck ours. The only parts we eat are the breast and the legs/thighs so that is all we take off. No plucking. We don't care for the skin so that is not part of it either. Seldom do we save a whole carcass for grilling.

 

[enola]

Nadine, I am so sorry to hear about your heat problems.

My chickens are lucky, my chicken house (garage) is nestled up under some LARGE oak trees......

I have finally gotten a reliable car (if there is such a thing), so I am planning on visiting you soon. I hope I don't pick a hot day, although the weather doesn't bother me like it does a lot of people. I work in Lawn & Garden at Wal~Mart, so I am out in the weather most of the day every day that I work watering flowers and shrubs.

I still need a DARK brown egg breed rooster, also.

I think maybe when Country Preacher has his "Chicken Day" I will bring along a fryer to butcher. Right now I probably have about 15 roosters of varying sizes that are headed for freezer camp.

I also only use the breast, thigh and leg of the roosters that I butcher for my personal use. The rest of the carcass (feathers and all) go into an old crock pot in the morning..... I put it on low to cook all day ...... and that is what the dogs and cats share at dinner time. They love it. Using the bird like this eliminates all the plucking and cleaning time.

I hope this doesn't gross anyone out..... But, I fast the chicken for 24 hours, with water of course, and do not remove the innards before cooking the bird.....

 

[Mark & Nique]

Howdy fellow South Carolinians!

We're in Hartsville. Our family has recently started a backyard flock with 3 chicks (a Sussex, Easter Egger, and Barred Rock).

As keeping chickens is illegal within the city limits, we talked with our neighbors (none had a problem), then I built a 'stealth' chicken tractor that we keep by our daughters' tree house. Everyone who sees it says they thought it was part of the tree house! My long-term goal is to meet other chicken-keeping-city-dwellers here and rewrite the city ordinance to allow small, backyard flocks.

- Mark

 

[huckleberryfarm]

Enola, I wish I had known! We're in Greenwood and I just gave away two French Copper Maran roosters. ARGH! To someone who won't appreciate them. I do have two Ameraucana roosters if you want a blue layer. I don't need them both. Blue coloring. Our farm is near Cokesbury.