The Old Folks Home

[Amberjem]

dang u old timers recycle everything

LOLOL I ment deskin

 

[Highcotton]

Hes an excellent driver

I like your avatar. Is that you in BYC jail.

 

[bamadude]

I like your avatar. Is that you in BYC jail.

yep. Perchie girl made it for me

 

[Highcotton]

There is a gal here in San Diego that has made hatching double yolkers a hobby.... they have to be assisted... because the air sack is not on both ends.
I heard that as chickens get older their eggs get larger....


Very carefully

I have a Red Star that lays a Jumbo every day usually they are about 74 grams. She has laid several double yolk eggs. Her largest was 118 grams (4.16 ounces). That's 2 large eggs.

 

[dsqard]

I have skinned a couple roos I processed. It really didn't save much time for me.

 

[ronott1]

LOLOL I ment deskin

I skinned one but it was over a year old. It was not as easy as one would think. Everything is tougher with old chickens; similar to my joints in the morning....

 

[ozexpat]

Here is a recipe for fried intestines from the Philippines. They eat everything but the sqwark

Crispy Fried Isaw Cooking Instructions
Clean the intestines by gently squeezing it with fingers to remove some remaining waste. Pass a running water through the intestine by using a small water hose. Or to be sure open the intestines with scissors and clean it with running water.
Then boil it by adding salt and pepper while boiling. Add vinegar then simmer until the intestines are tender (about 30 minutes). Drain and set aside to dry.
In a large mixing bowl, cut the “isaw” into desired length (approximately 3 inches) then skewer it.
Add in the egg, soy sauce and all the dry ingredients. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients.
Deep fry until golden brown.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I know but they appeal to me I thought they might be big fluffy broody for chicks n have a brahma roo for size of the chicks with the cross, I just find them appealing........maybe I wouldnt like them or maybe the feathered feet might be issue....

not if I can find a local one, course driving 5 hours to pick up a chicken makes me wonder if I might have lost my mind it's a catch 22 drive far or trust and mail order.......... I dunno I guess the fowl wind will end up blowing where it lands

I say if you're within 5 hours and it's a pretty drive, go pick them up, especially if they're other than day olds.
IMHO, day olds ship a lot easier than started or adult birds but if you can get food and water in them 2 days earlier, that's a jump start opportunity you've lost with shipping.

there is a big difference between hatchery and heritage. I do understand though.

Dick has:

Large fowl:


Red dorkings will go broody. The rocks are good winter layers and the partridge rocks are very pretty.

I've had barred, white and partridge rocks

Ron, okay then, Viiru was a bit flightier. A week before she was killed, I found her up on our roof, she could actually fly.

If I get a dog attack the Penedesencas are on the roof. If I corner them, they'll fly straight up out of a 7' pen. If not pressed, they're content inside a 2' fence. Most of my fences are 3' with 4' on the perimeter. Makes for cheap fences.
Did I say I love these birds?
When I had a bunch of Jersey Giants, I couldn't keep them in a 5' fence once they knew tomatoes were on the other side.

Ooh all this talk of chicks makes me wish it was spring soon. I don't really have enough room to do chicks right now. And I really really really want to hatch some.
Did I say I really want to hatch some?
Of course I do!

I really have to get busy butchering. I have at least 10 cockerels to cull and another 10 or 15 pullets that aren't going to be breeders. I'd like to make room for more chicks but really have to get numbers down before the dead of winter.

@ronott1

By the way folks, thanks for taking all my cold weather!

we are still warm and RAINY up here!

We did it last winter too. I saw you'll be warmer than us by the end of the week.
It will be 70F here this afternoon and 34 by the same time tomorrow.

I have one either leghorn or white rock that continues to lay ginormous double yolkers sometimes 3 days in a row! When I say ginormous I mean they weigh 3.3 oz! What's up with that?

Pretty big difference between leghorns and rocks
Courtesy of the Feathersite.




3.3 oz is 93.5 g. That's huge. I had a pullet cross of a blk Penedesenca and white Minorca that laid 84 and 92 gram eggs on sequential days. Black Minorcas are supposed to lay larger eggs but I've only had whites.

Can u hatch double yolkers?

Possible but very unlikely and the responsible thing is not to try.

One embryo almost always dies because there's not enough nutrition for 2. A dead embryo isn't good for the live one.
A mammal's abdomen can expand to provide space and more nutrition can find its way in there. An egg shell can't do that.

Quote:

I think that mine usually do....I like having chicks hatch April 1-ish.

However, talking with other Alaskans, their leghorns also lay all winter with no light. Many of these Alaska people have warm garages and such, so start chicks in Jan. And Feb.

So.....I think it is a Leghorn only thing.... Not a when they start laying thing..... Since no one else has mentioned a breed that keeps up all winter without light.



My pepper plants lost their labels....... And I cant rememeber what they were... The one that came into the house is a bit like a big jalapeno shape, but way hotter.

As a pure old breed/variety, White Leghorns are definitely the best layers of all.

I can't comment on laying near the arctic circle but the first couple winters with them, I had good production out of Jaers, Wellsummers, JGs, Rocks, Orps and Anconas.
I bet Jaers would do great there. They're built of cold. They're like an arctic leghorn.
........
Did you raise serranos? Sounds like what you have.

I can't go by personality when they're young. Usually (but not always) the ones slow to feather out with small butt feathers and small wing feathers are boys. That's usually the first sign, and then the comb and wattles get big and red like I posted yesterday. It's clear by 6 weeks what sex you have - unless you have something with the small pea comb and it's much harder to tell. I'm also awful with silkies. I never know with them until they crow. In fact, I'm not even certain Miss Piggy(I think she's 3 years old now) is a girl. She doesn't crow, but she doesn't lay eggs, either.

With all the same breed, it's fairly obvious early on. Boys will also have thicker longer legs.
With a mixed flock, it's hard to tell. I had 17 breeds in one flock and thought my Cochin was a girl for the longest time till the rock cockerels started attacking it.

...
I heard that as chickens get older their eggs get larger....

...

Pullet eggs are tiny as every one knows. As a general rule, after each annual molt, eggs get slightly larger. That's partly due to fewer eggs and more protein deposition.

One of my silkie hens has decided to go broody under the nest boxes. I havent "seen" her for days. Everyday I take a stick and gently slide It under until I hear her do her little clucking. Just to make sure she is still there and is OK.

Is she sitting on fertile eggs?

There are two main physiological things that limit egg production

The first is the number of eggs the hen was born with - thats why daily egg layers stop laying after 1-2 years and why others last so much longer. The second is the hormones requires to stimulate the follicle into preparing the egg. In humans when those hormones wane, we call it memopause

I used to think that. At the time of hatch, a female chick has as many as 4000 ova. Regardless of their prowess, they can't lay that many eggs in a lifetime. Many other metabolic and physiological things prevent those ova from becoming mature follicles and full sized yolks.

And yes, the waning is similar to menopause even though humans will still have undeveloped eggs available.
The hormones do stimulate sexual maturity and follicle development. Photoperiod is a huge but not the only determinant of that.

Those are good links on ova and ability to lay egg over many years.

We're down to about 8 hours of natural light right now, but the chickens are getting added light so that they're on 14 hour days. They're making eggs nicely still. All of them have had a bit of a break some time in the fall, so I'm comfortable keeping them on longer days.

We're down to about 10. First light in the eastern sky is at 6 and last light in the western sky is gone just after 5.

 

[hennible]

Here is a recipe for fried intestines from the Philippines. They eat everything but the sqwark

[COLOR=222222]Crispy Fried Isaw Cooking Instructions[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]
[/COLOR][COLOR=222222] Clean the intestines by gently squeezing it with fingers to remove some remaining waste. Pass a running water through the intestine by using a small water hose. Or to be sure open the intestines with scissors and clean it with running water.[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]
[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]Then boil it by adding salt and pepper while boiling. Add vinegar then simmer until the intestines are tender (about 30 minutes). Drain and set aside to dry.[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]
[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]In a large mixing bowl, cut the “isaw” into desired length (approximately 3 inches) then skewer it.[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]
[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]Add in the egg, soy sauce and all the dry ingredients. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients.[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]
[/COLOR][COLOR=222222]Deep fry until golden brown.[/COLOR]

I thought you might know how to do that, thanks. Feel like posting that in "how to use the whole animal" thread?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I can't go by personality when they're young. Usually (but not always) the ones slow to feather out with small butt feathers and small wing feathers are boys. That's usually the first sign, and then the comb and wattles get big and red like I posted yesterday. It's clear by 6 weeks what sex you have - unless you have something with the small pea comb and it's much harder to tell. I'm also awful with silkies. I never know with them until they crow. In fact, I'm not even certain Miss Piggy(I think she's 3 years old now) is a girl. She doesn't crow, but she doesn't lay eggs, either.

The pullets will chest bump as much as the boys.

nope. Never seen a chicken intestine. I have not processed a chicken yet. Im almost at my 1 year anniversary having chickens.....pig intestines are chitterlings or chitluns around here. Im not a big fan of them.

Right, chitlins are from pigs.

anyone just reskin the chicken instead of pluck it?

I frequently hang the chicken and skin it like a rabbit. It does save some time but you lose the back and rest of carcass for soup. If I do so, I still go in under the ribcages and steal the livers and hearts. After skinning, I cut out the breasts, then wings and lastly legs.

Here is a recipe for fried intestines from the Philippines. They eat everything but the sqwark

Crispy Fried Isaw Cooking Instructions
Clean the intestines by gently squeezing it with fingers to remove some remaining waste. Pass a running water through the intestine by using a small water hose. Or to be sure open the intestines with scissors and clean it with running water.
Then boil it by adding salt and pepper while boiling. Add vinegar then simmer until the intestines are tender (about 30 minutes). Drain and set aside to dry.
In a large mixing bowl, cut the “isaw” into desired length (approximately 3 inches) then skewer it.
Add in the egg, soy sauce and all the dry ingredients. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients.
Deep fry until golden brown.

With hogs, we used to say we use everything but the squeal.
The hair is for paint brushes.