Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[Hershy]

Vehve, puppies are so cute and sweet to begin with, I miss those days. My pup is in the middle of his complete idiot phase... definitely not so cute.
Beautiful photos.

Ben, I just can't imagine cuddling up to an American possum blanket.. they are pretty disgusting looking animals here.

Fancy, you take amazing photos. Thanks for sharing.

My new chicks are doing great, had to put iodine on a couple belly buttons, but it worked. I "attempted" wing sexing yesterday (day 6) and might have 5 Roos and 8 hens, we'll see. I already have 2 Roos, so then we'd have to make decisions too. My polish roo is mellow and sweet, but he's only 15 weeks old. We heard a crow attempt the other day, so hormones are starting a little...

 

[vehve]

Vehve, puppies are so cute and sweet to begin with, I miss those days. My pup is in the middle of his complete idiot phase... definitely not so cute.
Beautiful photos.

Ben, I just can't imagine cuddling up to an American possum blanket.. they are pretty disgusting looking animals here.

Fancy, you take amazing photos. Thanks for sharing.

My new chicks are doing great, had to put iodine on a couple belly buttons, but it worked. I "attempted" wing sexing yesterday (day 6) and might have 5 Roos and 8 hens, we'll see. I already have 2 Roos, so then we'd have to make decisions too. My polish roo is mellow and sweet, but he's only 15 weeks old. We heard a crow attempt the other day, so hormones are starting a little...

He'll grow out of it in a decade or so...

Our roos started crowing at 9 weeks.

 

[apteryx]

The softest thing to ever touch my face was a Possum blanket in Queenstown...makes me smile just thinking about that furry little cuddle!

I recall there was a whole line of "merino mink" products that were incredibly soft and warm. It is a mix of superfine merino wool and possum fur. There are scarves, gloves, hats, blankets. It is one way to make the most of a destructive pest.

 

[Wrightsx4]

The thought of cuddling up to possum fur - ick. I can't get the image of our possums out of my mind.

 

[henless]

So...this is pathetic...we go camping for a week each July. I used to have a neighbor who'd let the hens in and out each day in exchange for using our pool while we're away. Now that we have roosters she won't because they're "scary". Although all our roosters are super friendly - bad ones are in the freezer. So we now camp close enough that I make two trips each day home to let them in and out. Luckily we live close to Lake Michigan so there's a beautiful park just a few miles away.

We use to do the same thing for our horses. We would camp at a state park about 6 miles from our house. I would come home every evening to feed the horses and I'd take a shower while I was there.

The thought of cuddling up to possum fur - ick. I can't get the image of our possums out of my mind.

Ours look nothing like the cute fuzzy one posted.


Oh, we finally started getting eggs from our chickens. I got 1 yesterday, and so far today I've gotten 2!!!

 

[Wrightsx4]

the three hens that I didn't let raise chicks, have started laying eggs again. I'm really glad because I had a hard time filling orders lately. I'm sure I'll be back to having 12 dozen in the refrigerator again soon though

 

[vehve]

I had a talk with the neighbor, and apparently Taneli took a bite out of her leg yesterday as well, so he's made the decision easy. Tomorrow morning he's off to freezer camp. Karin wants to do Topi at the same time, sort of an economies of scale argument. So apparently we're keeping Eemeli, the only purebreed. Hopefully he'll mature into a nice looking Speckled Sussex roo.

Then some questions about the deed itself, so if you feel this isn't for you, go ahead and skip the rest of this post.

I'm going to be in charge of the decapitation, and Karin gets to take care of plucking and gutting. We'll have to put together some sort of kill cone, and apparently dipping in boiling water is supposed to make plucking easier. I've only ever plucked a goose once, and after that decided that I'm lazy and usually skin any birds we get, so if someone has any good suggestions about how we should do this, I'm open to ideas. We thought we would do it in the morning when they haven't eaten yet. Or would it be better to starve them for longer and do it in the evening? We sort of would like to keep everything normal until it's time to do the deed. Any pointers on technique, any way to hold the bird when cutting the neck that you've found to be good? I'm going to use a pair of big garden shears for the actual decapitation, somehow I'm thinking it's easier than using an axe.

Then for after we've processed, should I let the meat breathe, or would it be better to vacuum pack immediately? I'll keep it in the fridge for a couple of days anyway before preparing or freezing it. With wild birds it usually takes a lot longer before you can refrigerate, so aging is sort of taken care of already. Any thoughts on cooking time for a 15 week bird?

Thinking about this makes me feel sort of sad, but at the same time I'm happy knowing that he's had a good life up until when he's sent off. This will be a learning process for sure.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I'm going to use a pair of big garden shears for the actual decapitation

Be very careful with this, please check to see whether your shears are screwed together tightly. In my garden shears, there is a small gap between the 2 blades and that small space can cause the death not to be clean. It causes bone twisting instead of a clean cut. It's something you can't un-feel in my experience :-( The best I have found is an extremely sharp fishing knife.

this lady uses a very sharp knife and has an interesting technique. she puts a lot of effort into comforting and relaxing the hen before culling. she hand-plucks.

this video uses a kill cone, more of a mass approach to processing. uses automated plucker

Quote:
The older the bird the longer it should be rested after butchering. My older males I rest in ice salt water or applejuice for 4-5 days before cooking. My 10-12 week olds I rest and ice bath for 2 days. If i am doing cornish hens at 6 week or younger I rest for 12 hours. each age group has its own muscle development and needs to be butchered or soaked or rested it own special way.

Cooking 12-24 weeks you need to low slow roast with moisture for longer time. 160 degrees for a few hours ..I like to soak the chicken in milk over night before baking. (information from byc user DMRippy)

another helpful link: http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

 

[vehve]

Be very careful with this, please check to see whether your shears are screwed together tightly. In my garden shears, there is a small gap between the 2 blades and that small space can cause the death not to be clean. It causes bone twisting instead of a clean cut. It's something you can't un-feel in my experience :-( The best I have found is an extremely sharp fishing knife.

this lady uses a very sharp knife and has an interesting technique. she puts a lot of effort into comforting and relaxing the hen before culling. she hand-plucks.

this video uses a kill cone, more of a mass approach to processing. uses automated plucker

The older the bird the longer it should be rested after butchering. My older males I rest in ice salt water or applejuice for 4-5 days before cooking. My 10-12 week olds I rest and ice bath for 2 days. If i am doing cornish hens at 6 week or younger I rest for 12 hours. each age group has its own muscle development and needs to be butchered or soaked or rested it own special way.

Cooking 12-24 weeks you need to low slow roast with moisture for longer time. 160 degrees for a few hours ..I like to soak the chicken in milk over night before baking. (information from byc user DMRippy)

another helpful link: http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf

I've got a brand new pair of these: http://www.fiskars.fi/Piha-ja-puuta...s-SmartFit-Pensassakset-teleskooppivarsi-HS86
They should get the job done, and offer enough momentum. All the axes I've got are a bit dull, and I don't know where I've put my stone. Plus, I don't have a good chopping block. I once killed a goose with a bad knife, and that was a bad experience, mainly for me because I quickly snapped it's neck after I discovered the knife was no good. I've since learned that you need a proper knife, but I think the shears will be better suited, I want a quick and clean decapitation. With a knife I'm worried it leaves more room for hesitation since I know the bird.

That's 160 in Celsius I'm assuming? I was sort of thinking doing it in a pot with maybe some thyme, garlic, carrots and applecider.

I'll check the videos in the morning, now it's time for bed.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I've got a brand new pair of these: http://www.fiskars.fi/Piha-ja-puuta...s-SmartFit-Pensassakset-teleskooppivarsi-HS86
They should get the job done, and offer enough momentum. All the axes I've got are a bit dull, and I don't know where I've put my stone. Plus, I don't have a good chopping block. I once killed a goose with a bad knife, and that was a bad experience, mainly for me because I quickly snapped it's neck after I discovered the knife was no good. I've since learned that you need a proper knife, but I think the shears will be better suited, I want a quick and clean decapitation. With a knife I'm worried it leaves more room for hesitation since I know the bird.

That's 160 in Celsius I'm assuming? I was sort of thinking doing it in a pot with maybe some thyme, garlic, carrots and applecider.

I'll check the videos in the morning, now it's time for bed.

Those do look like nice shears, just eyeball the gap in between the two blades. if there's space there, you're going to have a bad time..

Sorry, 160 degrees in Fahrenheit. Silly American here ;-) I think that would be about 70C?