The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Quote: Do you know if either are available for Mac or Ipad? I am at work and when I did a brief search on my Iphone I couldnt find Gimp

 

[delisha]

That tiny quail on top

My first BCM
These eggs are so dark I really want them all to hatch.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I DID IT! I DID IT !

I had 5 roosters that had to be processed.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Del - Contrats on the certification!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Del - I don't remember...did you say where you got the BCM?

 

[bbsnooks]

I get "Error 404 Page not found"

Me too.. If some one can give the condensed version.. of the "bad news" that got LW going..

I had class today ..I am an official NPIP certified tester for everyone now..

Perfect.. - can you explain.. to me. what this is .. and why.. i got it. ?? ( not really on the last one. .but i'm generally opposed to Rx's but i did get this. )

Also.. -- I'll be getting my chick delivery.. on Monday.. < way to excited > I'm sure you all remember.. but my heart just went into.. Hyper excitement
- going to dbl check the brooding area.. and start the chick feed ; )
I'm so. so glad.. to have y'all here as support.!!

 

[countrygirl74]

I DID IT! I DID IT !

I had 5 roosters that had to be processed. These were from my Buff Orpington that hatched 12 on Christmas Eve day. 7 pullets and 5 roo's. They are just mutts. I was happy due to the fact I finally had a hen go broody.
They are knocking on the door of being 16 wks old (Monday). A friend of ours lives up the road, and has processed chickens before. I asked his help in showing me how, and standing by in case I needed some assistance. He did the first one for me, to show, and I did the other 4. I'm still not good with doing the neck cut, but I will get better. I have been looking forward to taking this next step in raising chickens, but also unsure if I could do the actual killing cut. I made some bad cuts, I was afraid to put too much pressure on the knife, and caused one bird to have to be cut 3 times, and I hated that!!
I have another group of straight run chickens, white rock and mottled java's, 20 of them total, and from what I can see, I have 13 roosters in that bunch. I picked them up at the hatchery on Jan. 30, so they are close. I head one of them crowing this morning....
I cut the birds up, and skinned them and have them in the freezer. My DH will only eat skinless breasts, and he was not at all happy about my decision to raise and cull some. So the dark meat is in it's own package to cook for casseroles, chicken salad etc.

I do have a question... all of this talk about giving the hens meat, can I give them the raw chicken wings? Or will they start turning on each other due to the taste of fresh chicken?
Thinking of a shark feeding frenzy in my mind......

Kacey

Yay!!! I think everyone has done multiple cuts on at least one first bird, so just know you are not alone. It is hard to get it just right but I think that just comes with practice. You'll have some great chicken dinners! Our first 5 roosters that we did were also about 4 months - very tender breast meat!



I finally finished reading all the posts that happened over the last couple days - lots going on! BD - hope your daughter gets better soon. Hospital stays are no fun.

If I remember right, someone on here was talking about rooster behavior... I learned some great stuff from aoxa and so far have had no issues with all 3 of mine. I didn't want to use a stick because I wanted them to be respectful of ME, not what I was carrying. What if one day, I don't have a stick or shovel or anything else with me?? Just a thought and my .02....

I got my grow-out coop, and the babies are all outside today - yay! It's really windy but they don't seem to mind too much and they have a nice little sheltered area they can go in. I'll try to check in later this evening - gotta head out to work again - heading into our busy season with work, lots of weddings and high school senior sessions this month.

 

[Ashdoes]

So where does everyone reccomended we order meat birds from?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Can you share a photo of your grow-out coop?

Quote:

 

[aoxa]

I DID IT! I DID IT !

I had 5 roosters that had to be processed. These were from my Buff Orpington that hatched 12 on Christmas Eve day. 7 pullets and 5 roo's. They are just mutts. I was happy due to the fact I finally had a hen go broody.
They are knocking on the door of being 16 wks old (Monday). A friend of ours lives up the road, and has processed chickens before. I asked his help in showing me how, and standing by in case I needed some assistance. He did the first one for me, to show, and I did the other 4. I'm still not good with doing the neck cut, but I will get better. I have been looking forward to taking this next step in raising chickens, but also unsure if I could do the actual killing cut. I made some bad cuts, I was afraid to put too much pressure on the knife, and caused one bird to have to be cut 3 times, and I hated that!!
I have another group of straight run chickens, white rock and mottled java's, 20 of them total, and from what I can see, I have 13 roosters in that bunch. I picked them up at the hatchery on Jan. 30, so they are close. I head one of them crowing this morning....
I cut the birds up, and skinned them and have them in the freezer. My DH will only eat skinless breasts, and he was not at all happy about my decision to raise and cull some. So the dark meat is in it's own package to cook for casseroles, chicken salad etc.

I do have a question... all of this talk about giving the hens meat, can I give them the raw chicken wings? Or will they start turning on each other due to the taste of fresh chicken?
Thinking of a shark feeding frenzy in my mind......

Kacey

Congrats!! I messed up the first one as well. The second one wasn't as quick as I'd like and every other one after that was awesome. You'll get the hang of it!

I don't know about 10:1 but yes, the males are a rare breed here.

I guess I just thought you and LW were the only guys here.

Do you know if either are available for Mac or Ipad? I am at work and when I did a brief search on my Iphone I couldnt find Gimp

Yes I use gimp on my Macbook Air. Simple download.

That tiny quail on top

My first BCM
These eggs are so dark I really want them all to hatch.

So cute!! I'm up to 11 now.