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Learned something new today that helps stock the freezer

Learned something new today that helps stock the freezer

Old 11-02-2010, 10:57 AM
  #81  
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My dad was a country guy and my mom a city girl. We lived on 6 acres as a small girl and had a barn, fruit trees, a garden and raised a few animals. My dad had a regular job though. My mom canned fruits and veggies and every summer we had homemade root beer. I remember getting baby chicks for Easter, only to have to slaughter them later for food. It made me not squeemsh (sp) about bugs and things. I'm the designated animal parts picker upper that the cats bring in. I'm a suburbanite now.
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Old 11-02-2010, 11:44 AM
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[quote=Rachelcb80

I used to feel that way until I saw first hand how food animals are raised and treated (we live near a bunch of chicken houses, 25,000 birds in one house crammed together, you can't breath because of the ammonia level). I feel like I'm doing my part to not support an industry that I'm strongly opposed to. That's also why I encourage DH to hunt and bring food to the table that way as well. Every little bit helps.[/quote]

Living "in town" I am not able to do this, but I applaud you. I know it must've been a really difficult job. But how great to be self-sufficient and, as you said, to give the chickens a humane life while they are here!
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Old 11-02-2010, 05:07 PM
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Oh that must feel so good. I enjoyed the pictures. Thanks
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Old 11-03-2010, 06:44 AM
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Originally Posted by Lostn51
Rachel the Buff Rooster is gorgeous! I can see where he and I could be buddies until he copped an attitude. Then he would have a formal introduction to my SW .40! :P

Too bad you cant freeze eggs, because 54 a week is one hell of an omelet! I bet the kids are like "Not eggs again......" :lol: kinda like a guy that grows a lot of corn. Its like how many ways can we fix all of this corn. Cornbread, Corn Whiskey, Corn Chowder, Corn Whiskey, Fried Corn, Corn Whiskey, Corn on the cob...........

Okay since we are going back to the good old days I need to go plant some corn now and pull out the still.:mrgreen:

Billy
One CAN freeze eggs! Just google it, and you'll find some cool ways to do it!
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Old 11-03-2010, 06:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Candace
Originally Posted by Rachelcb80
Originally Posted by Candace
I have Lucky(because my dog bit her as a chick and she lived) and Alice. Alice, I wouldn't have such a hard time culling. She's a brat. But, we pick them up to pet and play with. With meat birds on acreage, I'd be like you and not get close. Do you also collect their eggs? I'm assuming you only let a certain amount incubate or stay with the mothers? What breed of bird do you raise?
I do collect their eggs. I have 8 Rhode Island Red hens that are my egg producers. They are great layers and don't hardly ever go broody (start setting a clutch of eggs and therefore quit laying). My rooster is a Buff Orpington. I wish now I would have got Buff Orpington hens as well, but I can always get some down the road. The chicks I just "harvested" were a cross between the two breeds. They were really nice, big bodied birds. I left my original 8 Rhode Island hens for now. I'm going to raise another batch out of them, then it'll be their turn to go. They're 2 years old now. Haven't decided if I'll replace them with their offspring, or if I'll go ahead and get some Orpington hens at that point.

Broody and Broonella are annoying and I almost added them to the freezer batch yesterday, but something told me just to leave them. They are constanly broody and will fight you like crazy when you're trying to get the eggs. They're loud too. But they have character and don't take much feed to keep. :)
My R.R. Alice likes to charge me when I walk around and will sometimes peck at my legs. So, I have to show her who's boss. She could go into the soup pot and I wouldn't cry. They're less than a year old but produce an egg every day! You're right they're not broody at all. I've got a Chickens for Dummies Book that highlights all the breeds. We picked R.R. because of the amount of eggs they produce. There are other breeds that grow bigger, quicker that are best for meat. I've never seen the B.O. here that you're talking about. I think we may add one or two more to the flock but we have a tad under 1/2 acre so we can't go crazy. I wish we weren't attached because when they get to be 10 years old and not producing, we're going to miss the eggs for sure!
We've raised a lot of chickens, both for egg and meat. Those Cornish Cross are incredible for meat. We raised ours to dress out at around 8-9 pounds. That's a meal - and a half! It was wonderful to be able to donate 18 dozen chicken and duck eggs every week to our church's pantry. But feed gets awfully expensive.
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Old 11-03-2010, 06:54 AM
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Originally Posted by quiltnchik
Originally Posted by JS
If I raised any kind of animal I could not eventually kill it or eat it. Guess I would not make a good farmer.
I'm one of the biggest animal lovers you could ever hope to meet, but I do understand the reason behind raising ones own food. I don't make pets of my "food;" I feed and water them, and they have a good life while here, but then they go in my freezer. Rabbit meat is just plain yummy (all white meat)!
Trish, what breeds are those? We have started raising New Zealand Whites for meat, but haven't had any babies yet. I'm anxious to try the meat.
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Old 11-03-2010, 06:58 AM
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Originally Posted by greaterexp
Originally Posted by Candace
Originally Posted by Rachelcb80
Originally Posted by Candace
I have Lucky(because my dog bit her as a chick and she lived) and Alice. Alice, I wouldn't have such a hard time culling. She's a brat. But, we pick them up to pet and play with. With meat birds on acreage, I'd be like you and not get close. Do you also collect their eggs? I'm assuming you only let a certain amount incubate or stay with the mothers? What breed of bird do you raise?
I do collect their eggs. I have 8 Rhode Island Red hens that are my egg producers. They are great layers and don't hardly ever go broody (start setting a clutch of eggs and therefore quit laying). My rooster is a Buff Orpington. I wish now I would have got Buff Orpington hens as well, but I can always get some down the road. The chicks I just "harvested" were a cross between the two breeds. They were really nice, big bodied birds. I left my original 8 Rhode Island hens for now. I'm going to raise another batch out of them, then it'll be their turn to go. They're 2 years old now. Haven't decided if I'll replace them with their offspring, or if I'll go ahead and get some Orpington hens at that point.

Broody and Broonella are annoying and I almost added them to the freezer batch yesterday, but something told me just to leave them. They are constanly broody and will fight you like crazy when you're trying to get the eggs. They're loud too. But they have character and don't take much feed to keep. :)
My R.R. Alice likes to charge me when I walk around and will sometimes peck at my legs. So, I have to show her who's boss. She could go into the soup pot and I wouldn't cry. They're less than a year old but produce an egg every day! You're right they're not broody at all. I've got a Chickens for Dummies Book that highlights all the breeds. We picked R.R. because of the amount of eggs they produce. There are other breeds that grow bigger, quicker that are best for meat. I've never seen the B.O. here that you're talking about. I think we may add one or two more to the flock but we have a tad under 1/2 acre so we can't go crazy. I wish we weren't attached because when they get to be 10 years old and not producing, we're going to miss the eggs for sure!
We've raised a lot of chickens, both for egg and meat. Those Cornish Cross are incredible for meat. We raised ours to dress out at around 8-9 pounds. That's a meal - and a half! It was wonderful to be able to donate 18 dozen chicken and duck eggs every week to our church's pantry. But feed gets awfully expensive.
We don't have to feed our 2 girls that much since ours are free range. And we have an orchard so there is plenty of dropped fruit and bugs to satisfy them. Though they seem to favor my best landscape plants too:
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Old 11-03-2010, 07:02 AM
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Awsom! rasing your own chickens, drug free. Good job!
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Old 11-03-2010, 07:49 AM
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Originally Posted by greaterexp
Trish, what breeds are those? We have started raising New Zealand Whites for meat, but haven't had any babies yet. I'm anxious to try the meat.
They're NZ - some blues, some gray and some wild-color. The mother is a blue, and I have one of her daughters from the first litter that will be bred this weekend. Just make sure you process by 12 weeks for the best meat; otherwise they start getting tough and are harder to dress out. There's a Meat Rabbits group on Yahoo that you might be interested in :)
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Old 11-03-2010, 11:28 AM
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[quote=Candace]

We don't have to feed our 2 girls that much since ours are free range. And we have an orchard so there is plenty of dropped fruit and bugs to satisfy them. Though they seem to favor my best landscape plants too:
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