The Wyandotte Thread

[chicken curious]

No chicken is "too small to eat," it's just a question of whether you feel he is too small to be worth the effort of cleaning. At 2.5lbs, he would be a bit smaller than a cornish game hen when dressed, but probably bigger than quail which is eaten all the time. You could even butterfly him and grill him whole, probably what I would do with a bird that size. Or, like you said, you could make stock.

good points! I could always grill him whole and eat the meat and then make stock with the bones (and feet).

as he'll be my first to ever kill and process, I was thinking about going the "easy" route and just skin him, but I do love chicken skin...hmmmm. What method of killing and processing would you recommend for a newbie? (as this is not wyandotte-specific, should I start a whole new thread?)

 

[WyandotteTX]

Just wanted to pop in and say I love the thread....i'm on about page 375 and have learned that there is so much more than "owning a couple BLR chickens" Thanks for all the info and I'm looking forward to learning more about this breed. I do have to say the BLRs in my flock are definitely the most friendly and enjoyable to watch....and they are only 4 weeks old at that!

WyandotteTX.....where are you located? If I remember it correctly you said up around the Austin area. I'm in Louisiana but head that way to visit my kids every other month or so.

You are correct. I live in the Austin area. I was close to your neck of the woods a few weeks ago, I went to Beaumont, so not too far away.
My birds are little bit farther north on our farm a couple of hours away.
John

 

[Novaleigh]

Best (and most humane) way is to buy some quality branch clippers. The kind with a small curve to the snips (it must be a curved blade, a straight blade will not work properly, risking the neck of "sliding out" resulting in slitting the neck, but not cutting it...very painful and not lethal for the poor bird). Put him face down into a killing cone (road cone works just as good if you don't have a killing cone, snip off the lip of the road cones tip) and snip off his head in one single strong pinch of the clippers. It is instant, there is NO chance he would feel it. Put a pan under him so that the blood will funnel into and not make a mess. I strongly recommend not slitting the artery on the side of the neck. People do it, and it is not humane. The poor creature bleeds out alive and feels the whole thing, AWFUL! I put some pictures of the tools I described. Hope this helps!

good points! I could always grill him whole and eat the meat and then make stock with the bones (and feet).

as he'll be my first to ever kill and process, I was thinking about going the "easy" route and just skin him, but I do love chicken skin...hmmmm. What method of killing and processing would you recommend for a newbie? (as this is not wyandotte-specific, should I start a whole new thread?)

 

[Bleenie]

Hey everyone, just wanted to share a picture of one of my little girls. She's 3 months old now and lovely to look at! I haven't seen a Splash before that was so 'splashy'

 

[chicken curious]

Best (and most humane) way is to buy some quality branch clippers. The kind with a small curve to the snips (it must be a curved blade, a straight blade will not work properly, risking the neck of "sliding out" resulting in slitting the neck, but not cutting it...very painful and not lethal for the poor bird). Put him face down into a killing cone (road cone works just as good if you don't have a killing cone, snip off the lip of the road cones tip) and snip off his head in one single strong pinch of the clippers. It is instant, there is NO chance he would feel it. Put a pan under him so that the blood will funnel into and not make a mess. I strongly recommend not slitting the artery on the side of the neck. People do it, and it is not humane. The poor creature bleeds out alive and feels the whole thing, AWFUL! I put some pictures of the tools I described. Hope this helps!

Thank you, Novaleigh!!

 

[BackyardCoop]

Hey everyone, just wanted to share a picture of one of my little girls. She's 3 months old now and lovely to look at! I haven't seen a Splash before that was so 'splashy'

Gorgeous!

 

[Bleenie]

Thank you BackyardCoop! Here's a pic of one of my Buff's with my niece today(well the 4th). The pullet is "Princess", she was sick a while back and i nearly culled her but she started getting better... She's always been very 'needy' as far as being held and following me around but I noticed she started the gasping again today so she's getting medicine again and hopefully it'll knock out whatever it is. she's a runt but i'm still keeping my fingers crossed.


Kam loves her because she doesn't fuss or kick when she picks her up... and they have the same color "hair"

And this is my favorite little(BIG actually) Buff pullet from this year, her color is so perfect(to me anyway). she's gorgeous

 

[DMRippy]

Thank you BackyardCoop! Here's a pic of one of my Buff's with my niece today(well the 4th). The pullet is "Princess", she was sick a while back and i nearly culled her but she started getting better... She's always been very 'needy' as far as being held and following me around but I noticed she started the gasping again today so she's getting medicine again and hopefully it'll knock out whatever it is. she's a runt but i'm still keeping my fingers crossed.


Kam loves her because she doesn't fuss or kick when she picks her up... and they have the same color "hair"

And this is my favorite little(BIG actually) Buff pullet from this year, her color is so perfect(to me anyway). she's gorgeous

Cute!

I hope you get her better. I had to cull one of my birds.... she just would not get over what ever it was. Never was sick, really and no other birds with her got sick. I figured after 6 months of trying to pull her out of it, enough was enough.

 

[Gargoyle]

my little ones do like each other.

 

[jettgirl24]

I just discovered this thread after posting another one about this guy but I thought I'd share a pic of my big blue Wyandotte roo here too He's about 9 lbs and he's a wonderful boy with the girls. I'm thinking about taking him to the fair this year but not sure how he stacks up against the standard. Regardless I really like him, he has a great temperament and he's a joy to have on the farm (unlike some of my other jerky roos!). His name is Major Tom after the David Bowie song and because my boyfriend thinks he kinda looks like a Turkey