"Surprise" Chicks

I've titled this "Surprise" Chicks, but rarely am I surprised by the chickens these days. I had a few hens broody in the the one coop, in  a place tricky to get to, so I kind of knew they might be sat on some eggs. 

So when I heard a chirp the other morning I knew that our flock would be getting a little bigger. The three hens had fought and sat on each other for a few weeks and managed to hatch out 6 chicks. These are pure bred Indian game as the eggs were white (our hens that aren't Indian Game lay brown eggs), so it will be interesting to see what birds we get from them.

Sunday With The Children

 #### This blog post contains pictures of dead animals. If that offends you then don't click read more and come back another time. ####

I often wonder what the children will remember from their childhood. What will form core memories for them. 

Sunday is a simple day that I enjoy. I love when we go out for the day but I also love it when we stay home and tackle a load of jobs together. 

Chicken Butchery - Indian Game

Obviously this post contains pictures of dead animals so please don't read if that kind of thing upsets you. 

I had planned to process a batch of Indian Game chickens for the freezer this week. I was then disappointed when I found out that the day I had planned to do it the children were going for a sleep over at my mum and dads. 

This is how far things have come with the children, it's so much easier with them that I now plan to do it so they can help. So I made sure we all got up early that morning and got cracking before they had to go!

Butchery Day

 This post contains pictures butchery of poultry, so if you're not someone who wants to read about that then I'd suggest you skip this one.

Theh boys from our Indian Game x Colobian Plymouth Rock crosses we hatched out last year have reached around 24 weeks of age and it was time for them to join freezer club. 

Chicken Lockdown Mini Cull

###This post contains photos of dead animals and meat prep###

With the Avian Flu lock down yesterday we decided at the weekend to thin our flocks a little bit with a few birds that were going off to go to freezer camp. 

The girls have their favourites! No way were these going to the freezer!

We had two cockerels (Legbar and a Maran) from a small hatch we did in the summer, leaving us with two layers and two silkies from that hatch. And three ducks - all drakes - to leave us with what is a breeding trio from two sources so next year any that hatch should be unrelated. 

Meat Bird Crosses - 5 weeks (ish)

 Growth is way slower on my Indian Game x Colombian Plymouth Rock meat birds when compared to Ross Cobbs but they are such different animals.

Also although growth is slower, at 5 weeks they're only half way through their second bag of feed - Cobbs would be on the 5th by now.

And just a picture of on of my Indian Game cockerels - they're just built like units! I love this breed. These pen is pure breeds and I'm hopfull to get some really good birds from them next year. 

What meat crosses would you like to try? 

Meat Crosses Hatch

This year we've been plagued by bad hatch rates, I've kept changing my methods but I think having posted eggs really doesn't help things. 

These chicks are from our own eggs, with a Indian Game cockerel over some Colombian Plymouth Rock hens. 

What a difference in hatch rate!

Eating Bantams...

 In the last post I talk about processing a few of our Indian game hens for meat. One was a bantam and a respectable 1.3kg.

But as they say the proof is in the eating - so on Sunday we had a little roast chicken for tea. 

Processing Purebreed Chickens - Indian Game

The children and I processed three of our chickens the other day. These were the purebreed Indian game cockerels - two full sized birds and one bantam. 

I decided it made sense to do it after some canning so the hot water from the water bath could be used to scald the chicken for plucking. 

A Chicken-ey Sort Of Sunday

The girls and I have been looking at all different sorts of chickens that we'd like to hatch out.

The Meat birds from last year - Ross Cobbs

We've had ex commercial birds for the few years (probably 5 or 6 to be honest!) and they've done brilliantly for a second year of laying for us, so long as you know not to keep them past when they rapidly go unproductive. But it's not given us a self sustaining flock.

Day Old Chicks In October

Each year (or the last few anyway) we grow a small batch of 25-30 chicks to provide chicken meat through the rest of the year.

We chose to do this in the later part of the year for a few reasons. If we get them now and start processing birds in 8- 12 weeks then generally our work load will be lower. Also the much lower temperatures will mean that the birds can "rest" once prepared for a few days making the meat much more tender. We don't have the fridge space to do this in the summer.

Currently we're still buying in day old Ross Cobb chicks and this is something I'd liek to eventually move away from as they're not the easiest breed to work with. We've never had much problem with them going off their legs and things (common problems) but it's not something I want my stock to experience either.

In the future it would be great to have a breeding group of hens with a cockerel so that they could produce a much smaller, regular supply of birds through the year, without having to buy in any chicks. This is something I've talked about for years now and really need to get and do it!

Let me know what you think. Would 25 chickens provide your chicken meat for the year for your family? These birds do get big and one breast will generally provide our family of five with enough meat for a meal.

A Freezer Full Of Chicken

The picture below is the culmination of a lot of time and work! 

All the meat chickens are now safely processed and in the freezer (this is only a third of it).

Christmas Dinner prep

I managed to get a bit of our Christmas dinner sorted on Thursday.

I picked out the biggest meat bird we have and processed him ready for the table.

Meat Chickens

Last year we had great success growing some meat birds for the freezer, so as everything else winds down I thought it would be a great thing to do again. 

This time I got 26 day old chicks delivered out to me on Wednesday of last week. It was far more cost effective than driving to get them and the company delivers lots of poultry so really knows what it's doing.

Chicken Processing Mk2

I got myself more organised on Sunday and butchered 9 more chickens.

I set up a patio table with chopping boards on that could be scrubbed down (this is waste sheet material that can be thrown away afterwards). I sharpened my knife, had a steel to sharpen it as I went and two bowls of hot soapy water to keep everything clean. 

I also had two buckets, one for feathers (that can be composted) and one for feet and guts. I also had some plastic feed sacks on hand, one to sit on (it had rained in the night) and one to have on my lap to stop the wet birds from soaking my trousers. 

A large saucepan of water was also warming on the BBQ. 

The birds for slaughter were pulled out before they'd been fed and kept in a crate away from the others until their time came. 

I started with batched but found it was far better to do one at a time, slaughter, drain, dip in hot water, pluck. 

None of them went very quickly but I learnt that having the water the right temperature makes a huge difference. Unfortunately my thermometer doesn't seem to work so I just had to guess. One bird was dipped too hot so I ended up skinning that one as the skin ripped too easily. 

Once I had all the birds plucked I then wiped down and set up for gutting, never a nice job but it went quite quickly.

I separated the birds up into ones that looked good as whole birds and ones that were better jointed. I kept five birds whole and cut the others into breasts, whole legs and wings. 

I then used my new vacuum packer to bag the birds up and separate the jointed ones into meal sized portions. Three legs or breasts seemed about right for our family. 

I bagged and froze the stripped carcasses as well so I can make a big batch of stock when I get chance. 

I certainly felt more organised this time and it went without a hitch. That said there as some things I'd change: 

• I'd like a chicken plucker, it's not great doing them by hand. 
• I need a bigger saucepan or something to hot dip the birds into, mine is only just big enough and soon needs topping up with more hot water. 
• The bench I butchered them on was too low, my back was hurting as I was bending the whole time, I proper work bench would be ideal. 
• An outside sink would help an amazing amount, something I might have to consider installing! 

So some hard work, but the freezer has certainly been stocked up! 

I've still got six birds left and I'll leave these a while longer to see how big they get, it would be great to have some big ones to save having to buy a turkey for Christmas. 

What do you think? Is there anything you'd do differently to how I set it up this time?

Three Home Butchered Chickens

We had an absolutely mad weekend where we didn't seem to stop! 

We went out on Friday night with friends (this is almost becoming a habit), the girls had multiple ballet performances on Saturday and Sunday, we had a bonfire party to attend and I need to get some work done in the extension as my plasterer is coming this week.

Another job I managed to squeeze in was to butcher three chickens. I had hoped to do more but it started to rain and I was set up outside.

It was only when doing a few birds I realised how I need to be set up much better with a logical work flow. As it was I ended u p walking around a lot because I slaughtered them in a different place to where I plucked and butchered them.

I think I might create a dedicated little area for doing this job. Somewhere that's easy to hose down and keep clean but also has places to hang chickens as they drain, separate chopping boards for different jobs and a much larger boiler for hot plucking them. A cover as well encase it rains might be handy!

I did try the wet plucking method and it was a revelation! The feather came off so much easier and it cuts the job in half, I'm still tempted to make a chicken plucker though, either a wizzbang type one or one that goes on a drill - thanks everyone for the links last time! Just a shame the fingers are so expensive to build one myself. 

I also vacuum packed the birds using a vacuum packer I brought myself last week. Not the easiest thing to use on your own and it took a few attempts to get he seals right but I think I might have been cutting the bags a little small and making it harder for myself. A bit of practice will help as well I'm sure! I'll do a post on this gadget soon!

Anyway, two good sized birds for the freezer (2.1kg and 1.9kg) and one for tea last night. Made an incredible roast and it'll make another nice tea tonight, with the carcass for stock.

I think this will become a regular way that I provide meat for our family, I just need to get more efficient/skilled and have an area dedicated to it.

Does anyone have a good set up for processing at home?

Or do you follow anyone that does? 

I'd be interested in seeing some more set ups before I design my own. Thanks!

Meat Birds At 10 Weeks Old

Really hard to get a good picture of these birds but you can see the growth they've had in just ten weeks! 

I think I'll be processing a good amount of these at the weekend as they seem to have reached a good size now.

I think for now I'll just be dry plucking by hand as I have very little equipment to help me, unless anyone else has any advice? 

I have been looking at the pluckers you can add to the end of a drill and using a hot water bath before hand. And by hot water bath I mean camping stove and a saucepan...

Depending on how processing goes I can see no reason why I won't be doing more birds like this next year!

First Meat Bird Butchered - Children Helped

Chicken and chips for tea last night.

I've had one chicken start to walk a little funny and I was worried it was "going off its legs" a problem with these meat breeds that can get too big too fast. 

So I decided that we'd cull that one early, Save the bird any discomfort and I'd got nothing out of the freezer for tea. I was planning on butchering some this week anyway to see what they weighed out at anyway. 

My eldest daughter was very keen to help. I've always been careful around the butchery and slaughter of animals around them. I don't want to put them off or scare them, but I also don't want to shelter them from it either. She was keen to understand the whole process and wanted to be involved, they've helped me feed them and move them so I think it's great they want to know the whole process. 

I let her carry the axe and open and shut the pen for me. 

I told her she didn't have to watch me do the killing but she was adamant that she wanted to see. Nothing morbid from her, just sheer curiosity. 

She then helped me pluck it. I took it up to the house to gut as I wanted a clean chopping board. My other daughter was interested to see this bit as well. They were fascinated as I pull out the different parts and told them what each one did. Neither were disgusted or even thought to be, to them this was a natural part of the cycle, something they'd only heard of before but his time they got to see it. 

This is something that would happen all round the world and children would be involved with the process as well. 

Only in the western world do we think it's odd to have children involved in something like this. I hope my children stay interested and want to be involved for a long time to come. 

The bird weighed 1.2kg dressed out, ideal for our dinner. There are bigger birds in the pen but I might wait a few more weeks until I butcher anymore so we get bigger birds from them to go in the freezer, good to get at least a couple of meals from each one if we can. 

What do you think? 

Is four and five to young to be involved with this aspect of keeping animals?

Meat Chicks At Four Weeks

The meat chicks have left the brooder (the heat has been off for a few days now) and they're in a their pasture pen.

The boy giving up his play pen...

The children helped me set the pen up and open and shut the gates as I moved the birds one by one. 

I have 19 left out of the 20 as one died in the first few days of having them. I've also got one that is much smaller than the others and not as active so I wouldn't sell it life insurance just yet.

The chicks took to it straight away, they were eating the grass and just moving around within minutes. 

This is the third pen of this type that I've built and I really like using them and I love the idea (and practice of) moving chickens onto fresh grass everyday. No need to muck out, manure spread evenly on the field to improve my pasture and the birds get fresh grass and bugs everyday reducing the need for worming.

They are helping really...

I spread some straw at the back of the pen for the first few nights and I have no intention of moving it for a few days, just to let them settle in and get used to a colder environment. 

Watching

When I went out to check tonight they'd all huddled together but outside! I moved them all to the straw area and they soon settled down again, using each other for warmth to start with. I've added a couple of perches and during the day there are already a few that like to hang out there. 

The growth of these birds has been eye opening! They've gained weight like mad, but there is a real difference between them all some are much bigger than others. 

Who else has used pasture pens (chicken tractors) to help fatten meat birds? 

Any tips?

Day Old Chicks - Meat Birds

I'd been thinking about rearing some meat birds for a while. I decided to do it when batch of eggs I'd tried to get a hen to hatch out failed earlier in the summer, we always hatch some chicks out every year as I think it's great for the kids so I was really disappointed. 

So I decided to buy some day old meat chicks and rear them in a brooder, this is far more work than just raising them with a broody chicken, as she takes care of all their heating needs, but I haven't got any broody hens so it was my only option - short of sitting on them myself. 

To do it I was going to need a pen and also a means of keeping the chicks warm. 

Heating plate

Doing some research online I came to the conclusion that heat lamps were quite energy hungry and an "electric hen" or heating plate might be the way to go. Here they get heat from above with the plate as they would with a mother hen and it's only 42 watts rather than a big heat lamp. Also the risk of fire is much lower (I used to hate when we had heat lamps in the sheep shed when I was growing up on the farm - all the straw and hay around them made it so dangerous).

Chicken coop not in use

I then set to work on finding a pen to house them in. I have a few coops not being used at the moment as my laying hens are in their pastured chicken tractors. I decided to move the better of the two coops up to my yard with the tractor and then make a few alterations to it. 

I adapted the pen, I made up a mesh screen and a mesh door above. This meant that I can leave it open in the day and the kids can see the chicks without them escaping. 

I also made a mesh screen for the nest box and hid the extension reel in there. 

No shortage of wood shavings for bedding around here at the moment - advantage of being a carpenter. I shall make an extension for the pen as the chicks grow and they'll go outside at five weeks old into a pasture pen. 

Day old chicks 

The kids were so excited when I turned up with them on Wednesday night! lots of jumping around! 

The chicks took to the heat plate straight away and know to go there to get warm, having the mesh door open gives them plenty of air flow and light as well as hopefully hardening them up a little faster. 

First drink! 

The kids are loving them and got to check on them many times in a day! But they also know that these birds are to eat and both have expressed an interested in helping me prepare them when the time comes, I won't force them but if they want to help then I'll let them, maybe with plucking to start with. 

So now I've just got to keep them alive, healthy and well fed for the next 10 - 12 weeks. 

It's another small step in the self sufficiency learning journey that we're taking here.