Chickens on the homestead

milkmansdaughter said:

@crealbilly Thanks! We will sooooooo be making our own plucker next time!
and @Chic Rustler, we're new to this too. This is the first time we've had chickens (since I was a little kid) and we're learning as we go.

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It works really well... My son came over when my wife and I were running the plucker. He watched and when we stopped he said dad that's some jacked up hillbilly sh_t right there. Then he had to run the plucker and was amazed. Just buy yourself some thick welding gloves or it will beat your hand to death.

Hinotori said:

It's the birds he's seen at shows he fell in love with. 15 pound big boys.

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You need a White Rock rooster! Heavy and big, sweet as honey. I've not had one that was anything but docile. So big that they don't even struggle much when you handle them as they are just too heavy to get too rowdy.

Their feathering is so very fine that they feel like silk when you touch them and I never saw a white breed stay so clean all year round.

And...the meaty bird they produce! White Rock meat is so very densely packed on their frame that it has a fine texture, with double muscling in the breasts. Incredibly different than other breeds when brought to table...I didn't believe it until I had butchered some myself and found them to be a better texture and flavor(due to the fat they carry within the muscling).

Excellent laying genes as well, so they are the epitome of the term "dual purpose". Thrifty on feed if raised on free range as a chick, excellent foragers, excellent mothers(even the fathers, as it turns out, are excellent at mothering), docile and calm birds.

WR cockerel...





Cockerel taking a bath prior to a show...never bothered to fight the whole process, stood in front of a blow dryer for an hour with his eyes closed in pleasure. Took that long and STILL didn't get him dry!


So gentle even my ol' Mama can heft them around...but so heavy that she barely can.

Oh, @Beekissed , now I want one too...
@crealbilly we're so ready that were wondering if any of ours can be culled, just to try out the plucker. Sick, i tell ya, SICK! LOL

We do however have friends with 5 roosters they want to get rid of. .. We're thinking of have a guys' plucking party (sounds awful doesn't it? A guys' plucking party?? ) (his wife doesn't want him killing the chickens so they end up here.. )

I've talked with hubby about making a plucker. He just tells me to spend the $25 that the county extension office charges to rent the whole poultry processing setup for a weekend. That includes killing cones and the barrel plucker.

I just dread trying to get silkie feathers off of everything. When I have normal feathered birds it would be great.

Beekissed said:

Cockerel taking a bath prior to a show...never bothered to fight the whole process, stood in front of a blow dryer for an hour with his eyes closed in pleasure. Took that long and STILL didn't get him dry!
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He looks mad

I would be mad if anyone put a chicken in my sink!

If you all were closer I would let you use my processing equipment. We have a full industrial processing trailer. Don't use it as much as we have in the past, it just sits there most of the time.

Lol. I wash chickens in my sink. I just clean it afterwards.

Oh no way. I've never washed a (live) chicken... Ever. I am so creeped out by chickens, and whenever I touch one I feel like I'm covered in salmonella until I wash my hands thoroughly.

I have chicken issues... If it wasn't for my husband I'd be a straight up goat farmer lol!

NH Homesteader said:

Oh no way. I've never washed a (live) chicken... Ever. I am so creeped out by chickens, and whenever I touch one I feel like I'm covered in salmonella until I wash my hands thoroughly.

I have chicken issues... If it wasn't for my husband I'd be a straight up goat farmer lol!

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Trust me, that was the first time and last time I ever washed a chicken. Not really worried about the germ issue but there's really no good excuse to wash a chicken, I have found. Not even for a show.

As for the germs....backyard chickens shouldn't have many germs you don't encounter each time you go out in the public anyway, so no worries about salmonella.

Silkies do best if washed a week before show then kept caged. They are too good at getting dirty