The Front Porch Swing

[Triple Willow]

I floated the idea of cooking raccoon ... just got one of those looks. That's probably best as my refrigerator is SO full of turkey right now. Got the second-biggest pot on the stove making broth. The biggest pot is hot-tub size for scalding turkeys, so I'm using the smaller pot this time. 

It really is good bbq'd. Could freeze it for later. Some people feed coons to their birds. I was reading about one guy that had a crock pot just for his birds that he cooked coons and other predators in then fed to his birds.

I can't imagine a 40lb turkey in the freezer. What I really can't imagine is slaughtering and dressing one! That's almost as big as my dog! lol How did you kill it? Wrestle it down and cut its throat. LOL

 

[bruceha2000]

Woke up pre dawn today and heard all the chickens screaming. I went out there in my pjs and flip flops ... saw a raccoon sitting right outside the dorm room of the coop staring at my birds through the hardware cloth. I had to practically stick my face in his to see what it was (besides a lump where there aren't supposed to be any lumps), and I saw the mask. I yelled at him, clapped my hands, told him to get out of here ... literally just barely out of arms reach of him ... he didn't flinch. I walked through the coop but didn't see a thing unusual except over 100 screaming & panicking chickens. But then I barely see well enough to see when there's lots of light ... The raccoon seemed to be gone when I came out of the coop.

Before today something has gotten at least one duck by reaching through the wire fence of their area at night.

Time to get some traps, I think.

And time to train Gust as a Livestock Guardian Dog!!! Maybe you can catch the coon, kill it then throw it and throw it and throw it until Gust gets the idea that coos are toys. And, until killed, they are self "throwing", much better than a Frisbee

.

In order to do that, I need to be able to hang clothes to dry outside. I need more clothesline. Dad knows how to put it up right, but to do it, he requires a favor. He says I need to do it today, but he won't tell me what I need to do!

That seems just a little unfair!

Out of curiosity, I just weighed the cooked breast meat from that turkey. Boneless, mostly skinless, cooked weight at over 10 lbs.

We look for a whole turkey no bigger than maybe 15 pounds!

 

[LindaB220]

It really is good bbq'd. Could freeze it for later. Some people feed coons to their birds. I was reading about one guy that had a crock pot just for his birds that he cooked coons and other predators in then fed to his birds.

I can't imagine a 40lb turkey in the freezer. What I really can't imagine is slaughtering and dressing one! That's almost as big as my dog! lol How did you kill it? Wrestle it down and cut its throat. LOL

Bahahahaha Maybe with a lasso.

And heaven forbid that it fights back.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

It really is good bbq'd. Could freeze it for later. Some people feed coons to their birds. I was reading about one guy that had a crock pot just for his birds that he cooked coons and other predators in then fed to his birds.

I can't imagine a 40lb turkey in the freezer. What I really can't imagine is slaughtering and dressing one! That's almost as big as my dog! lol How did you kill it? Wrestle it down and cut its throat. LOL

I stay away during the actual killing part. Yeah ... I'm that girl. But I have a medical excuse. But I did find and order the extra large turkey size killing cone. We built a strong frame for that. The cone and frame live in the driveway. Dad gets one of the guys who works here to help him put the bird in the cone and cut its throat to kill it. Then they hang the bird under a tree by the back patio to finish bleeding out ... bailing twine around the legs. Then Dad and I take the bird to the scalding pot and dunk & swish it. Then we put it on a plastic patio table and I do the plucking and remove the legs. I need man hands to help me remove the neck before I can eviscerate, so Dad comes back for that. Then I eviscerate. Then Dad helps me weigh the bird and put it on ice. We had to get a couple chest freezers to store them. Costco had a good price in smaller chest freezers so we bought one of those. Our foreman who lives on our property let us borrow another old freezer.

Some of the birds we took to a processing plant this last year. Right in the middle of processing season the guy who helps us with the killing had a big family emergency and had to take an extended leave of absence from work. And Dad won't do the actual killing any more than I will.

It is a lot of work per bird, that's for sure. I know we do a better job of bleeding the birds here, and I prefer the way we remove the necks. But the processing plant does a better ... and FASTER ... job of plucking!

When I get rich I'm buying a turkey plucker.

 

[enola]

It really is good bbq'd. Could freeze it for later. Some people feed coons to their birds. I was reading about one guy that had a crock pot just for his birds that he cooked coons and other predators in then fed to his birds.

I can't imagine a 40lb turkey in the freezer. What I really can't imagine is slaughtering and dressing one! That's almost as big as my dog! lol How did you kill it? Wrestle it down and cut its throat. LOL

That guy might have been me. My chickens have their own crock pot.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Bahahahaha   Maybe with a lasso.       And heaven forbid that it fights back.  

They are so tame. Most of the females have huge crushes on Dad, so follow him around like tweenage girls, squatting and stuff. The males do fashion shows for me outside the kitchen windows all day long. Every time we say anything the turkeys answer. They will just follow us to the gallows. This is part of why we can't kill them ourselves. Turkeys are extremely personable. Personable and delicious. :/

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

That guy might have been me. My chickens have their own crock pot.

I read about someone with old oversized army surplus pressure cookers for road-kill type animals. Though I appreciate the frugality ... and have eaten some odd things myself ... it gives me pause.

 

[perchie.girl]

I just had my first ever incubator hatch.... I set 33 eggs. 3 were clears from the first candle, but I left them until the next. At lock-down we saw development and movement in all the eggs, with a couple that were dark and we weren't sure, so we left them in. 10 chicks hatched- one died because yolk hadn't been absorbed, so 9 healthy chicks. 2 pipped, but never zipped. The rest did nothing.
Egg-topsied this morning because the incubator was starting to smell funky. Out of 19 eggs left, 1 quit pretty early-you could see development, but not a formed chick. 1- quit early, but had a nearly formed chick, but it was small. The rest had fully formed chicks, several were malpositioned, 2-3 had pipped internally, but MOST had a LOT of fluid. So I am thinking that humidity was too high sometime during lock-down. What do you all think? I didn't take pictures because it was only me doing it, and I couldn't do both. Not sure what I am going to do next round.... I have 2 dozen Salmon Faverolles eggs coming around the 21st.... I don't want to screw up that hatch, because the eggs aren't exactly cheap! So...for those of you that incubate regularly.... What did I do wrong?


I put eggs in the turner fat end up. Did NOT add any water, and humidity stayed between 16-25%, temp stayed 99* (therm. just did whole degrees...) I candled at day 7, 14, 18. I "twisted" the eggs in the turner once every day or two so they were turned more than one way. At lockdown I dropped temp down to 97* and bumped humidity up to 60%.... It did get up to 74% at one point when all the chicks started hatching.... I'm thinking that may have been the problem....



Ok, I know this reads kinda funny since you all know what is going on... but I'm going to copy and paste into the incubation thread. I'm lazy this morning, and only wanted to type it once....

Here is my reply from your thread.... LOL

I am not an expert hatcher But lots of people talk to Sally Sunshine Who wrote the bottom article.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

There are soo many factors I have read online here and other places. My one and only hatch had so many things going wrong with it from the get go.... All Pullet eggs, No idea of how old they were, First time hatcher (me) brand new incubator 1588. Two types of eggs went in the incubator.... Chicken and guinea... chickens take 21 +- days to hatch and Guineas take 26+- days to hatch. Guineas take more humidity at lock down.

I stopped the turner for all during lock down for the chickens and just kept the guineas in there.... I did NOT open the incubator but about three times during the whole process. ITs very very dry here. I had six chicken eggs and five Guinea eggs. I had three Guineas hatch. I am the recipient of beginners luck on stuff.... I consider that hatch to be incredibly successful.

deb

 

[Triple Willow]

I stay away during the actual killing part. Yeah ... I'm that girl. But I have a medical excuse. But I did find and order the extra large turkey size killing cone. We built a strong frame for that. The cone and frame live in the driveway. Dad gets one of the guys who works here to help him put the bird in the cone and cut its throat to kill it. Then they hang the bird under a tree by the back patio to finish bleeding out ... bailing twine around the legs. Then Dad and I take the bird to the scalding pot and dunk & swish it. Then we put it on a plastic patio table and I do the plucking and remove the legs. I need man hands to help me remove the neck before I can eviscerate, so Dad comes back for that. Then I eviscerate. Then Dad helps me weigh the bird and put it on ice. We had to get a couple chest freezers to store them. Costco had a good price in smaller chest freezers so we bought one of those. Our foreman who lives on our property let us borrow another old freezer.

Some of the birds we took to a processing plant this last year. Right in the middle of processing season the guy who helps us with the killing had a big family emergency and had to take an extended leave of absence from work. And Dad won't do the actual killing any more than I will.

It is a lot of work per bird, that's for sure. I know we do a better job of bleeding the birds here, and I prefer the way we remove the necks. But the processing plant does a better ... and FASTER ... job of plucking!

When I get rich I'm buying a turkey plucker.

I'd say! lol I can see plucking one of those babies taking a good while! Maybe a customized weed eater...? LOL

But a lot of work for a lot of reward so as Martha would say, "It's a good thing". haha

I'd prolly wuss out on the killing too. It's easier if the critter is crazy wild or mean.

 

[Triple Willow]

That guy might have been me. My chickens have their own crock pot.

I don't know, it might have been you.