Well, I'm on the way....

[Morgaine]

Wow small world, the proccessor in Hempstead is right in my area, Mellman road is like two minutes from us and I see those people in walmart all the time and I had no idea that they even sold chickens and eggs! Thanks for sharing the info, I may stop by there and buy some chickens and eggs. And I love shopping at Readfeilds Meats whenever we go to Bryan.

 

[BirdBrain]

Nancy,
Have you butchered any of your birds yet? We had three volunteers today. I was coming down with something and couldn't do more than 3. At 5 weeks, our males are around 5 pounds dressed.

What is going on with the coryza?

 

[greentree]

Let me know when you are doing more, I'll come down for a lesson!! Seriously!

I started all the birds on Erythromycin Monday, when I got the package. The withdrawl on the meat birds is only one day, so I put them on it. Originally, I was not going to do them. So much for organic....

They all look healthy, eating, drinking, etc, but sneezing, with rattley breath. The hens are only sneezing, with a little clear nasal discharge (you can only tell this because pieces of hay stick to their noses).

My birds average 4 lbs right now, at 5 weeks today. I guess they are a little slow!!

Nancy

 

[BirdBrain]

I would love to have you down for a visit, but although I live in Spring, I am growing these off in Victoria and that would be a long drive for you. My DH said his garage was not available this year and thst I had to take them to my folks ranch. I wonder if it was something about the smell...

 

[blue90292]

i was talking to one of my best friend about this thread and found out he went to klein also and graduated in 77 or 78, i can't remember which. he asked me what ya'lls last names were and i was like, i don't know. lol man, it's a small world.

 

[greentree]

That's too funny, Michele!! What's his name? Course, it was a pretty big class, 620, and I was not the social butterfly that I am now

You know, BirdBrain, in exchange for processing lessons, you could raise the birds here....I am MUCH closer.

Greentree Chicken Stables....Got to go paint my sign!!

Nancy

 

[blue90292]

birdbrain, do you skin yours or pluck yours??

 

[BirdBrain]

Nancy,
I'll be right over.

I had another 16 volunteers today. I ended up skinning these in the interest of time and freezer space. Once they were skinned I put them in a cooler with water and ice to chill. After lunch I came back out and began to cut them in peices. The main peices of each bird I put into a foodsaver vacuum bag and they made a nice compact package. The backs and necks and wings (I didn't bother to skin those...just plucked them) went into the pressure cooker to be cooked and deboned. Momma is going to make Chicken tetrazinni with what she picks off the bones. I guess the broth will go into soup or something. Nancy, do you have chickens laying eggs right now? I might be persuaded to come by on my way home and give dispatching lessons if you had some eggs to trade.

Check your PMs. I'll send you my phone number.

Blue, I really think that a bird with more feathers is easier to pluck. These birds have so many silly pin feathers that it gets old really fast. Since I am not selling any of these, I can go ahead and skin them (how we prefer to use most of the chicken anyway) and save LOTS of time.

 

[greentree]

BirdBrain,
You bet!!! I'll trade !! I am getting about 6 eggs a day from my backyard hens, since my barn chickens are all being treated.... as soon as treatment is over, those pullets should kick in, and eggs should be flyin'!!

I have had 2 broilers in 2 days flip... They have both been smaller pullets. I weighed the one this morning, only 1.2 lbs. She must have had a lot of feathers! She was nice and fat, just considerably smaller than the others.

Got to go trim some Cochin butts, so their eggs will be fertile....

Nancy

 

[BirdBrain]

Nancy,
It is 11:02 Saturday Morning. I am leaving my folks house really soon. I would be happy to swing by in about 2.5-3 hours on my way home. I sent you my phone number (cell #) in your personal Messages. Look in the blue bar at the top of this screen and you will see "messages". Click on that and it will take you to where you can check your personal messages.

My route will take me up through shulenburg and LaGrange and then I will drive north east to get to Brenham. If I don't hear from you by the time I get to Brenham, I will go on to Spring. Hoping to hear from you...

I'll send you another PM and see if you have link to your e-mail....