The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[stonykill]

x2 ...normal. sometimes the cockerel willl climb into the nest with the hen and sing or encourage while laying.
I have always called it bragging rights.

I actually find this all very handy. Being many of my Sumatra's are rather ferrel lil things the girls tend to lay whereever they want. Most often there is a Rooster standing guard either silently or singing along. Either way it helps me find nests

 

[stonykill]

I have never used a torch on chickens. I do not eat the feet. I have saved them and boiled them for the pigs when we used to raise them.

that was part of what I enjoyed about all of the pics. I do it all quite differently. But in the end the results are the same. Freezer bound

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Stony - do you have one of the electric plucker thingies? I guess the idea behind the torch was to remove the very last little feathers that you can't get out by hand. How do you handle those?

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

For all you experienced Rooster peeps out there...

Today as I was doing what I do best,,, mucking stalls, I was listening to what sounded like another egg song from one of the girls. I have gotten to know three different songs from three different pullets. The others seem to go about laying an egg quietly without making much noise at all.

Well, I thought I heard a loud, and I mean loud egg song, so I went out to the coop to see who might be laying. It was Duke my rooster imititating the same exact song my barred Rock does. She is very loud and animated as she is about to lay. It has a distinct squawk at the end.. very strectched out. Is this normal roo behaviour. It's different than anything Ihave heard him do before. It was hysterical!

I tried to get my phone out to video tape it, and of course, he stopped!

MB

Quote:
Mine will do the egg song if one of the girls can't find them after laying. Another time he does it is when a hawk attack is in progress. That is how I was able to stop the attack on my EE pullet. My neighbors roosters did it too when the eaglet attacked one of his hens. So If I hear a rooster doing it I am out the door with the gun.

 

[stonykill]

Stony - do you have one of the electric plucker thingies? I guess the idea behind the torch was to remove the very last little feathers that you can't get out by hand. How do you handle those?

a wiz bangplucker is on my list of things to build, but no...I pick by hand. How do I deal with the ones you can't get out by hand.... by hand....lol. Seriously. I just use hot water and my fingers. And end up with this



to get a bird this clean by hand takes me around 20 minutes. The last few are under the kitchen sink with the hottest water I can handle running over the skin as I finish cleaning and rubbing the skin. FYI for the scalding water what I have found works est for me is to bring it to a rolling boil then remove it from the heat. I let the water cool about 5 minutes and dunk, swish , bob etc the bird for I would guess around 30 seconds. Pull the bird out let it drip. Recover the scalding water, and remove the wing and tail feathers. Then start removing handfulls of feathers. That is the fast part. Then the tedious picking etc.
I have actually never seriously timed it but today it took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to scald, pluck, gut , rinse and pat dry 3 small roosters.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote:
My wife and me don't like the skin, so we will just be skinning ours when we process them. Just have to remove a few from the vent to the keel to have a clean cut.

 

[Bulldogma]

For all you experienced Rooster peeps out there...

Today as I was doing what I do best,,, mucking stalls, I was listening to what sounded like another egg song from one of the girls. I have gotten to know three different songs from three different pullets. The others seem to go about laying an egg quietly without making much noise at all.

Well, I thought I heard a loud, and I mean loud egg song, so I went out to the coop to see who might be laying. It was Duke my rooster imititating the same exact song my barred Rock does. She is very loud and animated as she is about to lay. It has a distinct squawk at the end.. very strectched out. Is this normal roo behaviour. It's different than anything Ihave heard him do before. It was hysterical!

I tried to get my phone out to video tape it, and of course, he stopped!

MB

I've seen the boys do this if they believe there is danger. Funny story - when we went to the Silkie farm to pick up my daughter's Christmas presents, my DH sneezed. All the fuzzy little roos started singing away to warn of imminent danger - LOL!

a wiz bangplucker is on my list of things to build, but no...I pick by hand. How do I deal with the ones you can't get out by hand.... by hand....lol. Seriously. I just use hot water and my fingers. And end up with this

Yummmm!! Next batch isn't even hatched yet and I'm already looking forward to cooking the extra roos!

How's that broody article coming, Stony?

 

[stonykill]

My wife and me don't like the skin, so we will just be skinning ours when we process them. Just have to remove a few from the vent to the keel to have a clean cut.

we don't eat the skin either but have found it cooks better with the skin on. Unless crock pot cooking

 

[stonykill]

I've seen the boys do this if they believe there is danger. Funny story - when we went to the Silkie farm to pick up my daughter's Christmas presents, my DH sneezed. All the fuzzy little roos started singing away to warn of imminent danger - LOL!
Yummmm!! Next batch isn't even hatched yet and I'm already looking forward to cooking the extra roos!

How's that broody article coming, Stony?

I got a good start on it. My brain is kinda fried tonight.... so I may take the night off

I'm stuffed from our delicious chicken dinner

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: I kind-of thought that if I did them at my house I wouldn't use the torch either. We just went with what they were doing. In fact, the guy torched his way more that we did ours. He ran the torch enough that is shrunk the skin down tight on the bird. I didn't really like that and thought I'd try doing it totally without the torch at all. So...good to hear you do it that way!