Notes from the wilderness!!!

[MoparMom]

I got a great video for you to watch about raising chickens.  Now take a look at these two good looking guys while they bring you up to date on the latest way to raise these chicks.  Michael & I watched this and think it has a helluva lot of merit.  If its country....its got my vote.  Love ya.

 

[Me78569]

I happen to be a chicken master,

 

And by master I mean I feed them and they lay eggs for me.    We got 5 girls in our garden.  i will have to snap some pictures.   by far the easiest animals to care for, and when something does happen we just cut it's head off and more on.

[Hawkez]

I love it.  We've been doing this for a while.  Chickens, Turkeys, Geese and Ducks.  We do it a little bit different, but it all cooks the same.  In fact today, we just picked up 25 meat birds, they'll be ready in 8 weeks for the freezer.  My boys also have a small flock of egg layers, they sell the eggs for their spending money.  The also sold 15 turkeys between thanksgiving and Christmas of last year.  They are all processed on our hill billy set up in the back yard.  Here are some pictures of our operation

[Me78569]

I am loving that post.  I need one of those bird holders for the end of life process.

[Killer223]

i just dunk them in a bucket of water n drown them. then into the hot water to defeather them..

cool set up ya got there though.

[Me78569]

I don't biol / defeather, I just skin them, well I guess pull the skin off like they are a rabbit.  Works pretty good.

[Hawkez]

I bought a "Plucker" last year that will make a chicken naked in about 30 seconds.  You can see half of it in the third pictures on the right.  I made some shackles that will hold the birds hanging from the swingset.  It is much easier than hunching over a table and it frees up both hands.  The Killing Cones are pretty slick.  I made mine.  I have some really big cones for big turkeys.  The one above is too small for that turkey and a person has to make sure the bird doesn't flop out.  The whit cone is just a 5 gallon bucket that I made into a cone.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Hawkez

[Me78569]

Yea I thought it looked like a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom missing and a slit in the side.

 

Your images give me a slight hope for the next generation.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Me78569

[Mopar1973Man]

1 hour ago, Hawkez said:

I bought a "Plucker" last year that will make a chicken naked in about 30 seconds.  You can see half of it in the third pictures on the right.

 

 

[Hawkez]

Here is a picture of out Turkey Killing Cones.  It will hold a 40lb turkey with no problem.

as for hope for the next generation....my kid kind of worries me.  Sometimes I thinks he like killing them too much.

[The_Hammer]

We used to have chickens but everything kept killing them even though they were in a pen and locked up every night. I may try again and just blow up anything that messes with them. 

Edited March 3, 2016 by The_Hammer

[Hawkez]

3 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

 

I was getting stuff together to build my own but I came across a used one for an awesome price.  They work great and save a ton of time.

[Mopar1973Man]

Just now, The_Hammer said:

We used to have chickens but everything kept killing them even though they were in a pen and locked up every night. I may try again and just blow up anything that messed with them. 

Like my neighbor to the north of me has chickens... Not as many as they once did. I watch a fox pack off several chickens in just a couple of days. My neighbors are not very bright leaving the chicken roaming the yard while they are gone. I do live in the wilderness so things like fox, racoons, skunks, hawks, etc will find a free meal if you don't protect them.

[MoparMom]

I love the replies to the video.  Seeing the families all together preparing the food makes me want to cry & thank God at the same time.  What beautiful people we have here!  And raising their own food source and all the hard work that goes with it is commendable .  Love you.....

[Me78569]

11 minutes ago, Hawkez said:

Here is a picture of out Turkey Killing Cones.  It will hold a 40lb turkey with no problem.

as for hope for the next generation....my kid kind of worries me.  Sometimes I thinks he like killing them too much.

 

 

I understand liking to kill them, provided he helps take care of them ahhahahaha.  Something about  ending the life of an animal that tries to peck and barb you.........."AHHH YEAAAA come here rooster, today you gonna die!!!!"

1 minute ago, MoparMom said:

I love the replies to the video.  Seeing the families all together preparing the food makes me want to cry & thank God at the same time.  What beautiful people we have here!  And raising their own food source and all the hard work that goes with it is commendable .  Love you.....

The green house is going up shortly.  Pretty excited for that.

 

The garlic is already starting to come up, which is exciting and we have all of out seeds on the counter right now planning our next move.  A load of dirt tomorrow for the garden and we are off to the races.

[Hawkez]

My family is far from self sufficient, but we put up a lot of food each year.  It isn't uncommon to have complete meals that came from the back yard.  Last night for dinner we had breakfast ham slices, hash browns and scrambled eggs.  Everything grown by us.  My kids think that is pretty cool.  I'm not sure it is cheaper, but there is something to say for being able to feed yourself.

[Wild and Free]

I grew up doing that every summer as a kid, was surrounded by birds and processing them was a community action thing, everyone helped everyone else process them all in a weeks time, hundreds and hundreds of them and as a kid I was always the pin feather picker that sucked big time, there was no skinning them even now as that's the best part of the bird hold the moisture and flavor in and nutritious.

Wife and I tried keeping laying chickens a few years ago but our female red heeler developed a taste for fresh chicken and killed about a dozen of them in a weeks time and then a skunk got 2 or 3 and that ended that adventure and the last few remaining ones went to the mother in laws farm.

We still raise our own beef but do not process them ourselves, we have a local meat processor slaughter, cut and package to our specs, we just deliver the critter to them the day of and wait for the call to pick it up about 2 weeks later.

We do process all of our own wild game like deer and pheasants ect.

[Me78569]

Well it depends is it cheaper than going to the store and buy bottom of the barrel quality stuff?  Not even close.... Is it cheaper than going to the store and buy blah blah organic blah blah stuff from whole foods? could be, plus you don't have to go to whole foods....

 

The nicely thing about having chickens for me is, they keep laying even if I am too lazy to go to the store, I always have eggs as a backup meal.  

 

 

I am very much looking forward to having a few cows.  I have every intention of butchering myself, just because I want to.  who knows how long that will last, but I like the idea now.    My grandpa did this and I have good memories of that.  The smell of the walk in freezer or the processing room makes me smile.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Me78569

[Me78569]

[CSM]

I take it you dont rent.