Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[momgille]

I need a farmette, for all my dreams, and retired hubby!
Heading to the Rural Arts Road Trip tomorrow

, looking forward to sunshine and some turning leaves...

 

[Kildare49]

All are looking good. T-Rex is active...crowing and doing his dance.

She was the best of the light brahmas I had gotten at the end of summer.
My 2 oe's have started laying. Will see how long they last. They fly the run all the time.
The fox have done well this year. Most of the neighbors have been cleaned out.
It has been awhile since the dog has scented a fox. I believe the neighbors have declared war on the predators.

 

[irishrovr]

Anyone going to the Neillsville Swap tomorrow? I'll be there with the hubs and John (and Riley in the truck) - look for me if you're there! They won't have any chickens but it looks like they'll have a LOT of other animals, farm market and flea market type stuff.

 

[Cindlady]

Hi All!

Been a long hard day and feel like nothing got done. I still have a couple of things to do before I can hit the hay.

Night All!

 

[Huntress78]

Nice weights on the last birds Jim. Congrats. Wish mine were all done. I need to get set up and start on them. If I remember from the last batch there is a sweet spot for food consumption vs. dressed weight and I don't really want to go over this time....the less feed paid for the better as I'm already over budget. Last time the 'Cornish Hens' butchered at 4.5 weeks were the most expensive at $2.19/lb.

 

[jvls1942]

Nice weights on the last birds Jim. Congrats. Wish mine were all done. I need to get set up and start on them. If I remember from the last batch there is a sweet spot for food consumption vs. dressed weight and I don't really want to go over this time....the less feed paid for the better as I'm already over budget. Last time the 'Cornish Hens' butchered at 4.5 weeks were the most expensive at $2.19/lb.

good morning,

yes, there is that sweet spot,, IDK exactly where it occurs, but I know I went over it.
I am sure it is somewhere around where the wife says, we gotta butcher soon, this feed bill is getting too high..`

I wasn't too worried about the feed bill.. since I was paying $18.oo/100 pounds instead of $38.oo/100 pounds..

when I talked to the guy at Sunnyside, he said it should take 2000 pounds for 100 chickens at 8 weeks..

I saved all my feed sacks, so I could tally up what I fed to the end ..

right up to the end, we did not have any die from heart failure, nor did we have any that were bow-legged or couldn't walk..
we lost a few (13) at 2 days old, but that was my fault.. I didn't realize they had bred the brains out of them,, they piled on, even though it wasn't cold.. I immediately moved them under my ho-made brooder hood and they were fine from then on..

anyhow, I am going to do it again, next year.. see if I can get 100/100 to butchering age..

how many are you going to butcher ? you can come pick up the plucker and borrow it if you want..

.........jiminwisc.........

 

[jvls1942]

youngest DD came out today and figured out a way for me to send pictures..


here are a couple of the plucker..

..
the notch on the bottom of the blue tub is the hole where the feathers are discharged..
we call it the feather chute..
Not e the wooden red oak frame,, not a nail or any other metal fasteners .. all dadoes and dowels .. there are about 5 board feet of lumber in this frame..

.......jiminwisc.......

 

[mophead]

An afternoon of grinding toil bagging leaves and I think I have a fourth of what I need for bedding for the winter. Not bad for an afternoon's work but now I is tired and hongries.

Purdy plucker, Jim.

 

[irishrovr]

Gorgeous day today! Lots of bunnies and birds (other than chickens) at the Neillsville Swap. Came home with a couple of fluffy tails (Dutch), cages and a run of cages with hutches attached. Also yummy Amish bread and some nice garlic to complete a row in the garden for spring. I've never planted garlic in the fall before - I've never planted garlic ever for that matter. Should be up in the spring when things warm up.

 

[jvls1942]

An afternoon of grinding toil bagging leaves and I think I have a fourth of what I need for bedding for the winter. Not bad for an afternoon's work but now I is tired and hongries.

Purdy plucker, Jim.

thanks.. It is the first blue one I made..
I am going to put it on Craig's List now that our chickens are done..
I have plenty of time to build another one before we need one again..

I took two of the small wheels off of an old wheel chair that had no large wheels one it..
Had to do some grinding to get the swivel parts off.. I will mount these wheels onto the plucker to make it easier to move around..

one or two years, I picked up already bagged leaves from the curbs in Wausau, in one load I had 45 bags in my truck.. better than sending them to the land fill, and besides, look at all the free garbage bags you end up with..
only once did a guy come out to me and requested 10 cents per bag.. I told him no thanks and left the bags there,, even after he took back his request..

........jiminwisc......