Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Sclark73]

Thanks everyone for the congrats. And yes that grand baby is a doll and smarter than she knows for sure. And wearing me out pretty fast as she doesn't walk anywhere, she runs.

 

[Kildare49]

I butcher my spare cockerels & broilers.

Broilers are about 6 weeks until butchering. I have 2 cockerels left, and I'll prob. do them next Saturday. Not enough hens to keep any of the boys at this time.

I do not know any processors that will skin them for you. I do know there are some very good videos showing how to skin them on youtube.

 

[Celtic Chick]

@jvls1942
Thank you Jim for clearing that up. Sorry all to sound so ignorant I promise any ignorance is purely unintentional lol I am a newbie but I have done a ton of reading apparently I should have just found you guys first. So then just to reiterate Jim when selling eggs so long as they get refridgerated then it doesn't matter if they are fertile or not?

You are not ignorant. Just a bit misinformed, which is understandable for a newbie. While the internet is wonderful for educating us at the touch of a button, it can also confuse the heck out of us. There is an awful lot of contradicting info out there about darn near everything and chickens are no exception so don't feel too bad if you read something false. Everyone has different experiences in life so what may work for one person in one part of the country may not necessarily be good for someone somewhere else. And the nature of the beast with humans is usually someone who does not know something will ask questions, then may get an inaccurate answer from someone else who does not necessarily know but heard it from somewhere, then it gets passed innocently on and on unknowingly as fact. It is when someone starts documenting these things without doing any prior fact-finding is what really chafes our hides around here.

We don't claim to be all-knowing about every last little thing about chickens, but we do have a pretty experienced bunch of friendly, helpful folk here. Quite a few have 20-30+ years in chicken keeping. Someone should have an answer to most questions to help you out.

To reinforce your fertile egg query, it does not matter if your eggs are fertile or not, as long as they are collected daily, they are safe to sell & eat. IF you have a fertile egg and a hen is allowed to sit continuously on it (being broody) for a few days, the embryo will start to develop. But the eggs need constant warmth for this to happen.

Here is a link to pics of a day by day developing embryo if you are interested.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/04/chicken-embryo-development-graphic.html

 

[Celtic Chick]

@Celtic Chick
Awesome mind if I ask for more information? English or American? doesn't matter just wondering (I love the pics of the buff English orps I heard someone describe them as basketballs with heads I love it! Lol) also what colors do you have? And please don't misunderstand I'm ecstatic that you have orps I love our orps and I've been wanting lavenders since I found out that they existed. I love the laid back and gentle orp temperament and their sweet dispositions. Our friendliest birds other than one of the isa browns we got named Lily that my DH2B joking calls my "other" dog as she follows me around and causes mischief and is very curious. I have a sheltie named Molly too.

Now about the layers do you sell any of your eggs for eating? jw its interesting that you've never had problems. I also read that fertile eggs don't stay good as long is that misinformation too?

I have English bbs orps, and American lavenders, blacks, gold laced, buff and a mixed chocolate orp, as well as Doms & a seabright pair. I sell both eating and hatching eggs. I currently only sell purebred blacks & lavenders. The blacks have the best temperament out of all my birds.

The only eggs that don't last as long, that I am aware of from my personal experience, are ones with cracked/damaged shells. Those I use right away & only for ourselves or our chickens. If you get dirty eggs and wash them, as Cind said, that will remove the protective "bloom" that keeps bacteria from potentially entering the egg, and those should be both refrigerated and used up before unwashed eggs. HTH

 

[bigzio]

This is my passion having backyard chickens and caring for them properly. In regards to having a backyard flock...I've had them since 1973.....I personally like to collect my eggs a couple times a day, and when saving them for hatching, I place them in egg cartons and store on the basement floor with them tipped at a angle of prolly 30 % to 45% and reverse it from right to left daily....and never attempt to hatch eggs saved more than 10 days....while eggs saved longer might hatch....the % of your hatch will drop, the longer you save them...in my opinion.

The gardens really popped as well as the weeds with the rain....sure needed that soaker we got here.

Peace...bigz

 

[bigzio]

I forgot to mention about processing your own birds...while most of us that do our own know this...for those looking for help...no need to dunk the birds in scalding water if you plan to skin them....dispatch the bird and allow to bleed out and simply skin the bird...start at the inside of a thigh and merely pull off all the skin.....takes a little tug in places, but easy to do.

bigz

 

[chickendreams24]

@Celtic Chick
Where are you located? If you're still willing I would love to get some eggs from you mixed or pure makes no nevermind to me. Your birds sound amazing and I would love to have any eggs you would be willing to give me even the sebright eggs as I have mentioned we have one pullet already and especially any lavenders they would match my rose bushes lol.

Also thank you all for being willing to teach us newbies and accept us in spite of all of the right and wrong we may have read.

In all actuality I would be honored and super grateful for any eggs that any of my fellow BYCers would be willing to give me to keep my hopefully two new little black oegb company and become a part of our flock.

 

[Firstchic]

I have English bbs orps, and American lavenders, blacks, gold laced, buff and a mixed chocolate orp, as well as Doms & a seabright pair. I sell both eating and hatching eggs. I currently only sell purebred blacks & lavenders. The blacks have the best temperament out of all my birds.

The only eggs that don't last as long, that I am aware of from my personal experience, are ones with cracked/damaged shells. Those I use right away & only for ourselves or our chickens. If you get dirty eggs and wash them, as Cind said, that will remove the protective "bloom" that keeps bacteria from potentially entering the egg, and those should be both refrigerated and used up before unwashed eggs. HTH

What? Wait, I am not suppose to wash the eggs before I put them in the refrigerator?

 

[Firstchic]

Memo to self for next year: Plant more beets!

I got a few pints of pickled beets done and I made some pickled eggs with the leftover brine. I don't know if I can wait to taste them!

My customers buy a lot of zucchini but not much yellow summer squash. Who has some good recipes?

Anyone out there butcher their own chickens?

Irishrovr, can i get your recipe for pickled beets, and how do you pickle eggs?

 

[Cindlady]

Hi All!

Firstchick....For hatching eggs.... do not wash or refrigerate! In most other Countries eggs are not washed or refrigerated. They just wash them if need be before they use them. That "bloom" that was mentioned is a wonderful thing and really does keep eggs good for a long time. Somewhere along the way in this country people decided they wanted really "clean" eggs, so the bloom got washed off, with the bloom gone they had to be refrigerated. If you put unwashed eggs in the frig, chances are they will get damp, then the bloom gets disrupted and they must stay in the frig as if they were washed. Many of us (not all) just leave them on the counter unwashed until we use them.

I think my birds have lice

Night All!