What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

2x4x12 today was $13

Yep, fortunately, there is nothing I need to buy at the moment so they can keep their lumber for now. All of my lumber projects have been put on hold, unless I can find enough scrap lumber behind the shed for a small project.

Learning different ways to stretch out boards and make them wider. Have saved scrap lumber for years, and now is the time I'm using it up. So, I guess that is a good thing.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Our local Dollar Tree is now the $1.25 Dollar Tree. Everything marked up to $1.25 in the store.

Ours is too

 

[karenerwin]

So skinning is easier/faster than plucking? Sorry if it's a dumb question. I have no idea.

I'd like to grow chickens for meat, or at least cycle older hens and cockerels out and hatch more for replacements. DH has said he will have no part of that. And he's the one who has had fresh chicken (I never have) and said there is no comparison to store bought.

I skin all of the chickens I butcher. It is a lot faster and easier than plucking them!

 

[NewBoots]

Our local conservation district has a whole processing set-up for rent, with cones, boiler, plucker, stainless-steel table, for something like $20/day, and they will come help set it up and teach us how to do it the first time.

That is amazing! If I had that option I would definitely take advantage of it. A good plucker isn't cheap.

that sounds like a good plan to me! I've still never eaten duck. Ha!

You are missing out. I roasted a duck for thanksgiving last year and it was so freaking delicious. The only thing keeping me from cooking one more often is the insane price. If we had more land I would raise ducks for the freezer.

So skinning is easier/faster than plucking? Sorry if it's a dumb question. I have no idea.

Not dumb at all. I'm like @BReeder! and really like crispy skin but skinning is so much easier than plucking. If I had access to a good machine plucker and scalder I would go with that.

I'd like to grow chickens for meat, or at least cycle older hens and cockerels out and hatch more for replacements.

Cycled out older hens are the best thing for making stocks and/chicken & dumplings, but not as nice for roasting or frying. Age of the bird makes a huge difference.

Skinning is like undressing a bird out of a onesie - peel it right off, feathers and all.

This. The only way nature could have made it easier would be to have them hatch with zippers.

Sorry I don’t check up often anymore. This thread moves so fast it’s hard to keep up!

I hear you, I fall behind a couple days and the thread goes nuts! Good to hear from you again though.

 

[karenerwin]

I checked on my seed/starts today. Some have already gotten leggy in the 1 to 2 days I was waiting for others to pop up before I put the light over them.
Hopefully they will fix themselves now??

 

[TJAnonymous]

Yep. I do all the butchering and “offing”. Hubby can’t handle it.
I don’t enjoy the killing but I do it to raise meat for my freezer. I just know that if I want the meat that I raised myself I also have to do the killing and butchering. Although I have heard that some people send their birds to the butcher. But for me that doesn’t make it affordable.

I do the same thing. We cull all the extra cockerels and they end up in the deep freezer. We do the same with male drakes too.... I really need to learn how to cut & section off the meat though. DH likes boneless chicken thighs and I have yet to figure out how Tyson & the like manage to do that.....

 

[TJAnonymous]

10 for a dollar is am amazing deal, I'd love a deal like that. The cockerels we had from DPs hatching were the very best chicken either of us ever had. I processed them at 12 weeks, not very large but very tender.

YouTube is a great resource, and if you are fine with not having the skin on them, you can process them pretty easily.

I have had a problem with some chickens, even young ones that are 6-8 months old, not being tender. Sometimes they are so tough that we can't eat them at all. If anyone has any tricks of the trade on this....I'm all ears!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Prices on everything are getting obscene.

I've started giving away eggs to a lot of needy families because so many people here can no longer afford their groceries. DH ran into a lady yesterday in the parking lot of the grocery store who was begging for money to refill her kid's insulin prescription and also buy groceries.

 

[WthrLady]

Yep, fortunately, there is nothing I need to buy at the moment so they can keep their lumber for now. All of my lumber projects have been put on hold, unless I can find enough scrap lumber behind the shed for a small project.

Learning different ways to stretch out boards and make them wider. Have saved scrap lumber for years, and now is the time I'm using it up. So, I guess that is a good thing.

I'd be into my stash too, but I specifically needed 12 feet, and I had nothing that long left.

 

[WthrLady]

That is amazing! If I had that option I would definitely take advantage of it. A good plucker isn't cheap.

You are missing out. I roasted a duck for thanksgiving last year and it was so freaking delicious. The only thing keeping me from cooking one more often is the insane price. If we had more land I would raise ducks for the freezer.

Not dumb at all. I'm like @BReeder! and really like crispy skin but skinning is so much easier than plucking. If I had access to a good machine plucker and scalder I would go with that.

Cycled out older hens are the best thing for making stocks and/chicken & dumplings, but not as nice for roasting or frying. Age of the bird makes a huge difference.

This. The only way nature could have made it easier would be to have them hatch with zippers.

I hear you, I fall behind a couple days and the thread goes nuts! Good to hear from you again though.

I've been seeing them on sale on craigslist and marketplace. People buy them with intent to butcher and then either don't or can't.