TanksHill...Roll on!!

[framing fowl]

Great job! Love the photo of the kids. Life lessons they'll never forget!

I don't know if vacuum sealing is less expensive than double ziplocking but I love my vacuum sealer. I got a used one off of ebay for really cheap. It's probably not any faster than ziplocking either but I guess gadgets are just fun.

Can't wait to hear how the first one tastes!

 

[Farmfresh]

A cut up bird takes less freezer space as well.

When we package the Necks and Backs for example I place 4 to 6 backs all
stacked neatly together and then fill the hollow space in the ribs of the last one with the necks. I love my chicken stock bags like that. It makes it so easy to roast them and then make a great stock.

Another suggestion that I almost forgot is to tell you about the "thumbs"... at least that is what I call them. That is the little extra joint on the tip of the wing. If you pay attention there is a little sharp bone that sticks out of that joint. Almost a claw?? I have had a freezer bag punctured on several occasions by that little bone after the bags are knocked around in the freezer for a while. Now days I always snip off the thumbs before bagging, since there is no great loss of meat by doing that, and the problem is solved!

 

[justusnak]

Great work on those birds!!! LOVE the family shot. Kids always surprise me when it comes to D day. Just when you think they might wimp out, they are in there up to their elbows, digging in and helping. I agree with FF on the "wing thumbs" I have lost a few to freezer burn before I figured that one out. LOL Scissors knock em off quickly.

 

[TanksHill]

Thanks for all of the great info.

I must admit those birds were a bit on the small side. Ran about 3.5 to 4 pounds each.

But I did find a solution. Most of us like the dark meat. So I cut up two birds. 4 quarters, 4 wings and 2 breast in the bag. The other two breast went in to an different bag. Then I kept repeating the process. I bagged the six largest birds whole. I ended up with I think 8 dinner bags, 6 whole birds, 4 bags of breast and two bags of chicken tenders.

Somewhere I lost count because I know I had 22 birds but I only wrote down 19 weights.

All in all I think everything went well.

I will either find a dual purpose bird next time or try to add the meats to the free ranging orchard group.

They cost way to much to feed.

I am also going to save some money and have dh build a plucker for the future. I took a ton of time to cut up because most of the birds had harry armpits.

I had a ton of clean up to do.

I need to get back to focusing on the garden, and bring my lawn back to life. Those birds did a number on it.

Well off I go.

Have a great day.

g

 

[BarredBuff]

Tanks, with my little bunch of meaties I found a way to cut costs was buy the highest protein feed TSC had (24%) and raise them on that. They dont eat as much and they get bigger quicker. Mine were big at 4 weeks old. Plus they were more tender. So I will be raising Cornish X again next year..........

 

[TanksHill]

How many did you have in how large of a space? Did they free range?

Not sure why mine turned out so small. Maybe I just didn't feed them enough early on.

g

 

[BarredBuff]

How many did you have in how large of a space? Did they free range?

Not sure why mine turned out so small. Maybe I just didn't feed them enough early on.

g

I had 6 in a 24 sq ft section of my coop. They free ranged for two weeks after I got home but meaties dont really free range they set under shrubs and look at ya. I will definitely do them next year. But I have a bunch of DP roos to knock in the head here in a couple of monthes and depending on how they turn out I will decide.....

 

[Farmfresh]

Don't kick yourself Tanks it has a LOT to do with the genetic strain of birds that you are buying. Try them from another hatchery next time. I am a hard core Welps hatchery fan as far as the Cornish x Rocks are concerned. Even the chicks are huge!

Those dual purpose birds will eat even more feed and take much longer to get to weight than even a pitiful Cornish X Rock.

That said, I now have 25 of those dually birds to raise for meat. I bought these 25 Sex-Link males at the small animal auction the other night for $1.50 each at 3 weeks old. I am going to be keeping tight records on feed costs and weights so I can let you know what I find.

 

[TanksHill]

Thanks.

I had a brilliant idea yesterday as looked out into my field and saw all the birds wandering.

Turkeys.

They are the perfect solution. My hens are such good mommas and they just keep hatching. Maybe I need to process turkeys for the family?

A young bird would be more than large enough with leftovers to boot.

And I already have 5 in the field.


Ok so lets see.

Monday May 23, wow where did the month go.

The next two weeks are full of end of the year field trips. DS has 3. I think the school feels bad about not having the kids go to 5th grade camp this year so they are trucking them all over the place. DS said if they go to Knott's berry farm they are not allowed to go on the rides. HUH?? What the point of going? That's an hour and a half drive on a school bus for what? I need to talk with his teacher.

I think school gets out for us the first week of June. What are we going to do all summer?

I went over the Azure Standard web site last night. I can't believe the grain prices. If I ordered whole grains and cracked them myself I could feed them to my chickens. Their cheaper than chicken feed here. Crazy.

dh was asking what the company was and I explained to him the whole drop point thing. He seemed fine with it.

He was speaking to his dad on the phone yesterday about the meats. I guess his dad asked how it went. dh said fine and told him how long it took and how much meat we ended up with. His dad was surprised. I am pretty sure his whole family thinks were nuts.

Not much else going on. I need to go to the grocery today and catch up on laundry.

Weather is a bit gloomy but compared to Joplin I wont complain. My cousin called me yesterday right after the tornado hit. She was in church around 4 and the pastor stopped the service and sent everyone home. They go to church just east of Springfield but home is in the foothills. She said on the way home thy could see the black skies behind them. But a couple hours later it was clear blue skies and no weather.

Very sad for the people there.

Well time to get my kids moving.

Have great day.

g

 

[Farmfresh]

No need to crack them. Adult poultry do perfectly well on whole grains as long as they have sufficient granite grit available.

Turkeys are wonderful for family meals. We usually part ours up into more managable sizes like a half breast or 1 leg, 1 thigh, and 1 wing, in a meal pack.