Recent content by Morrigan

  1. Morrigan

    How much meat am I losing if I cull a cockerel at 14 weeks?

    I personally butcher any heritage type cockerels between 13 and 16 weeks old. It depends a bit on how you plan on cooking them, but that to me is the sweet spot. They are not yet creating total havoc in the flock (fighting, chasing hens), yet they are big enough to be worth the butcher, plus...
  2. Morrigan

    The end is always so hard.

    Morrigan is now at peace. We looked in on her around 8 last night and her head was still up, she was alert and she looked comfortable. This morning she was in the same spot but her head was down and she was no longer with us. It looked like a peaceful end. I’m very sad, but also very...
  3. Morrigan

    The end is always so hard.

    She definitely will be remembered and will always have a special place in my heart.
  4. Morrigan

    The end is always so hard.

    Herobrine sounds like an amazing hen.
  5. Morrigan

    The end is always so hard.

    This was her last December, as a still pretty vibrant 11 1/2 year old.
  6. Morrigan

    The end is always so hard.

    Thank you, your words are helpful. This chicken really touched my life.
  7. Morrigan

    The end is always so hard.

    This isn't a post looking for advice on a cure, but more sharing my thoughts (and grief) upon reaching that point where you know there is nothing more you can realistically do. I put it here because so many who have searched for, or offered, help and cures on this forum, eventually reach this...
  8. Morrigan

    1 year old hen passed suddenly

    In my 12 years of chicken keeping it's happened to me twice. First time, I found a 1 year orpington dead under the roost. We had a big storm that night, and my best guess was that this was a factor but I don't know. All other chickens were fine. Several years later it happened again to...
  9. Morrigan

    Has anyone tried one of these handheld pluckers?

    Seems a bit gimmicky to me. I hand-pluck though, and am just used to doing it that way.
  10. Morrigan

    Jumbo Coturnix quail for Meat?

    This is very interesting. I take it that this is a video of your set-up. It looks like you basically lined a hutch/cage with cardboard boxes. What type of dirt is in the boxes, and what is the poop cleaning process like? We used to keep rabbits, and still have the old hutches. I keep...
  11. Morrigan

    Coq au vin? Tips for cooking year old roosters

    That is the truth.
  12. Morrigan

    Can I give Cornish X treats like I do with my pet chickens?

    I've always given my CX spare produce/weeds/table scraps/fodder. I scatter them about the yard to encourage them to get up and move. It's always been a relatively small amount of their total diet (less than 20% at most). I've never had any issues.
  13. Morrigan

    Coq au vin? Tips for cooking year old roosters

    We've pieced-out, seasoned and then pressure cooked older roosters for about 40 minutes, then cut up the meat and used it to make gumbo. We save the bones and put in a slow cooker with carrots, onions and celery to make broth. It's really flavorful. We also canned rooster meat using a...
  14. Morrigan

    new research debunks trad views on nutrition

    Some chickens are just more adventurous than others I think. Last spring, as I turned over my planting beds, I carefully collected all the cut worm larvae in a bucket. I had a good 50 in there there. As I scattered them in the chicken yard, most of the chickens were slowly checking them...
  15. Morrigan

    How long does it take to pluck a rooster by hand?

    It get's faster with practice. Right now, it takes my DH and i about an hour to process 3 chickens -- that's the total time from setting up, to axing, to putting them in bags to rest in the fridge, to cleaning up our work site. The plucking component depends a little bit on whether your...
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