The Old Folks Home

[Wickedchicken6]

I have regular joe chickens and I butcher around 6 months of age, otherwise they're scrawny. After butchering and cutting up and putting into the vacuum seal bags they sit in my fridge for about 48 to 72 hours to be completely out of rigor before they go into the freezer (in the meantime I make stock from the extra bones, necks, etc - cook in a slow cooker about 24 hours until the meat falls off the bone, then strain - meat goes into 1 lb packs for freezing for stew, stock gets canned, veggies and bones/marrow go out to the birds to eat). Some of them are a bit tough or chewy, but if you brine them for 24 hours before cooking they are very tender. I have some boys that will probably go to camp on Sunday.

I haven't heard of Joe Chickens. I'll have to look those up!

 

[room onthebroom]

Thanks you Penny.


That's so true...about friends.

We never camped, growing up. I have no connection to it and the same...livestock and pets put a big damper on being able to go away for more than a day...lol.
(Which is a very good reason for me to stay home)

I'm a mega homebody too. I HAVE to take the kids to visit family once or twice a year & when we go, DH stays here to man the menagerie. My favorite part of any trip is coming home!!!

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

I haven't heard of Joe Chickens. I'll have to look those up!

Love my Joe chickens! lol

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Joe chickens are better than Frank(enstein) chickens in my opinion.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Looks much more laid back than mine. Nice!

 

[Alaskan]

Ok I've got a good question and need some suggestions. What and how long do you feed your chickens before you butcher them to make them tender? Last year I had some tough birds

It isn't what you feed them...but how you cook them.

Low and slow.

So...if you are making soup, a boil equals tough meat. It needs to stay at a low simmer.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

It isn't what you feed them...but how you cook them.

Low and slow.

So...if you are making soup, a boil equals tough meat. It needs to stay at a low simmer.

Yep, and same for roasting. Also if you wait till it's almost done cooking to add salt it will stay more tender and juicy.

 

[chickisoup]

Hope everyone is having a good Monday.
Hi AL!!!

Miserable hot and sticky today, again, sigh, so we gave up work on the coop around noon and decided to head to town for the stuff we forget to get on the last trip and more of what we didn't buy enough of, like caulk and lumber. Stopped at our post office to let them know there are chicks coming and make sure they have our phone#. Love that little P.O. It's like stepping back in time. White Clapboard siding two story building about the size of a small store (the postmaster lives in the upstairs), small front customer area with 100 yr old wood floors and antique brass front p.o. boxes for those who live too far off the route or just never wanted to bother putting up a mailbox. The small cage window allows you to peek into the entire "business" end which I bet still looks pretty much like it did during the heyday of the logging boom when the town had a bustling train station just across the street. A little strip of park now sits on the spot where the small depot, loading platform and tracks once commanded the center of attention. The only visible nods to the modern world in our little post office is the small, not so new, computer next to the cage window used mostly for printing out labels and looking up shipping fees and outside, the wooden handicap ramp that new regulations required. The construction of which, by the way, took a mean bit of engineering skill to accomplish. Because of the very close proximity of the front (and only) door to the road, the ramp wraps around two sides of the small building. The postmaster knows everyone by name, even the "snowbirds" (the retired folks with the funds to fly south to Florida every winter). She even remembered my horrors of last year's two shipments of DOA chicks. Another apology (none of which was her fault in any way) and asked how my two survivors have fared. She told me my neighbor has chicks coming in as well and promised to call the minute the babies were in her hands. Sometimes it's just nice to live here.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Hope everyone is having a good Monday.
Hi AL!!!

Miserable hot and sticky today, again, sigh, so we gave up work on the coop around noon and decided to head to town for the stuff we forget to get on the last trip and more of what we didn't buy enough of, like caulk and lumber. Stopped at our post office to let them know there are chicks coming and make sure they have our phone#. Love that little P.O. It's like stepping back in time. White Clapboard siding two story building about the size of a small store (the postmaster lives in the upstairs), small front customer area with 100 yr old wood floors and antique brass front p.o. boxes for those who live too far off the route or just never wanted to bother putting up a mailbox. The small cage window allows you to peek into the entire "business" end which I bet still looks pretty much like it did during the heyday of the logging boom when the town had a bustling train station just across the street. A little strip of park now sits on the spot where the small depot, loading platform and tracks once commanded the center of attention. The only visible nods to the modern world in our little post office is the small, not so new, computer next to the cage window used mostly for printing out labels and looking up shipping fees and outside, the wooden handicap ramp that new regulations required. The construction of which, by the way, took a mean bit of engineering skill to accomplish. Because of the very close proximity of the front (and only) door to the road, the ramp wraps around two sides of the small building. The postmaster knows everyone by name, even the "snowbirds" (the retired folks with the funds to fly south to Florida every winter). She even remembered my horrors of last year's two shipments of DOA chicks. Another apology (none of which was her fault in any way) and asked how my two survivors have fared. She told me my neighbor has chicks coming in as well and promised to call the minute the babies were in her hands. Sometimes it's just nice to live here.

Sounds like a lovely place to live. It's still small town USA here but not as small as it was 15 yrs ago and growing everyday it seems. It's getting to a point where I hate to have to leave the mountain to go to town anymore. Only go when necessary...lol

 

[chickisoup]

Sounds like a lovely place to live. It's still small town USA here but not as small as it was 15 yrs ago and growing everyday it seems. It's getting to a point where I hate to have to leave the mountain to go to town anymore. Only go when necessary...lol

I hear you! We are about 10 miles from our little town that consists of the post office, a small grocery with floors just as old as the post office, a small restaurant, a small tavern (it is Wisconsin after all) and a once thriving dance hall/tavern that's another leftover from the logging boom days. There's also a K thru 12 school building, the only school for a very large area, that also serves as a small public library, and three churches, that's it. Oh, we do have a bank again! The old independent bank that used to serve the logging business folded years ago. The new one is a branch of the credit union almost everyone belongs to located in the county seat. It's only open a couple days a week but promise more hours if the business is there. Our town isn't growing, it's actually losing population. There's no decent job opportunities here so the young folks are all moving away as fast as they can to the big city lights and fewer folks are wanting to retire in snow country. Even the county seat has a dying downtown and stagnant growth elsewhere.
I truly envy your mountain. I spent lots of time in the Pine Mountains of Kentucky as a teen and always dreamed of living my life there. Way too much "flat" up here in the northern exposure.