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Barnyard Buddies:  Ok ladies... how many of you eat your chickens?  |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 11 2007 : 03:21:12 AM
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I may take a few to market next year. Our neighbor down the road has done this for us when we had waaay too many roosters. Poor roosters were barely 2 pounds. The neighbor will be moving next Spring though, so hopefully she'll be able to to this before leaving.
I have just a handful of hens who are way too personable. So I'd let them live out their lives.
A culling fine by me as long as the quickening is fast
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LadyCrystal
True Blue Farmgirl
593 Posts
Alicia
Rhode Island
USA
593 Posts |
Posted - Oct 13 2007 : 1:38:46 PM
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My hubby build the whiz bang chicken plucker. We love it.It cost us about 200.00 to biuld and it was well worth the money. We process about 100 chickens at a time. It usually takes us about 2 days.
http://fromcitytocountrygirl.blogspot.com/
follow your dreams |
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Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
Posted - Oct 30 2007 : 10:59:55 PM
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I have a hard time thinking about skinning chickens...I guess partly because as a young girl I had a pet hen that wound up being chosen for dinner one afternoon and I watched as my grandmother prepared her..why I watched I don't know..silly girl that I was. But my task was to always hold the water hose when animals were being butchered .
From cows to rabbits to chickens to even soft shell turtles,and pigs.
I guess also my not so fondness for handling raw chicken also stems from when I was a teen I desperately needed a new job and found one at a deli...my first day my boss dumps bags and bags of raw chicken into a large industrial sink..I'm talking a really big sink and tells me to "get in there and clean em" ...I had never cleaned chicken a day in my life before that day..and there I was up to my elbows in chicken parts at a mere 18 yrs old kid. ..having never done anything like that before in my life, but I did what I had to do..but it certainly turned my stomach against ever wanting to do it again. And I simply buy frozen chicken at the store now and hate handling it to this day..but we eat alot of chicken though.
I guess if I absolutely "had" to pluck and skin a chicken I could..but it's not a thought I'd cherish that's for sure.
yeah yeah..I know..wimpy farmgirl..ha.
~Seize the Day! Live, Love, Laugh~
visit me at:
http://gardengoose.blogspot.com/
and at www.stliving.net
you can also check out my etsy shops at:http://GardenGooseGifts.etsy.com |
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EnchantedWoodsGirl
True Blue Farmgirl
959 Posts
Kathy
New Jersey
USA
959 Posts |
Posted - Oct 31 2007 : 4:39:10 PM
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Can't bring myself to killing anything that has a name hehehe, some of my older hens hardly lay, but they are still my pets. My rooster, Emeril (he is always kickin it up a notch in the henhouse) has been here with me forever. Hehehehe!
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
http://enchantedwoodmusings.blogspot.com/
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La Patite Ferme
True Blue Farmgirl
623 Posts
Jenn
CA
USA
623 Posts |
Posted - Oct 31 2007 : 10:52:51 PM
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We are butchering a small batch on Friday. I don't think meat birds are anything like our regular girls. They are fat blobs that just sit and eat and poop, with no personality like the henhouse girls. I will have no problem eating them.
BTW - my little experiment with raising them in a giant field box has worked out great. I found an automatic feeder that someone had given me and when the chicks were big enough to use it I just poured a bag of feed into it. Worked great - very cool. Now the plan is to raise a bunch in the fall when the sheep are gone, we are home more and have weekends free.
Jenn
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Oct 31 2007 : 11:06:59 PM
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I agree Jenn...the meat birds I have raised are nothing like my little hens. Not even my daughters get attached to them.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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SheilaC
True Blue Farmgirl
1948 Posts
Sheila
Vermont
USA
1948 Posts |
Posted - Nov 01 2007 : 06:10:13 AM
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| I'll completely agree also! The meat ones are just eating growing machines with NO personality! Our hens definitely have personality and we'd have a hard time eating them, but the meat chicks? No problem there! |
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La Patite Ferme
True Blue Farmgirl
623 Posts
Jenn
CA
USA
623 Posts |
Posted - Nov 03 2007 : 7:13:19 PM
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Well, the chicken butchering went great. We had a great little assembly line going and the girls talk didn't slow us down a bit.
This morning I cut and wrapped the birds for the freezer. They looked wonderful. Even sis was impressed. The smaller ones were left whole and the big ones were cut in half, so I will get plenty of meals out of this batch.
Can't wait to do this again - especially since sis told me chickens were $9.00 at the store. Can't believe it.
When I figure out how to post a picture I'll put up my chickens in a box. It worked great.
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La Patite Ferme
True Blue Farmgirl
623 Posts
Jenn
CA
USA
623 Posts |
Posted - Nov 03 2007 : 7:28:19 PM
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We'll see if this works 
My chicken experiment - raised in a field box I got at smart & final.
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paradiseplantation
True Blue Farmgirl
1277 Posts
julie
social springs community
Louisiana
USA
1277 Posts |
Posted - Nov 06 2007 : 07:30:13 AM
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I haven't yet, as I sell the fresh eggs and need as many as I can get. But one of these days, I intend to use my birds for meat as well.
from the hearts of paradise... |
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FarmerSadie
Farmgirl at Heart
5 Posts
Sarah
Amity
Oregon
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - Nov 09 2007 : 3:00:21 PM
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Not me! I'm a vegetarian and couldn't bear the idea. When I do get roosters I have them killed and dressed for my CSA clients. But I can guarantee my hennys will live LONG past their useful lives
Farmer Sadie says, "Eat your veggies!"
www.artfarmoregon.com |
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peggysue
True Blue Farmgirl
267 Posts
Peggy
Tulsa
Oklahoma
267 Posts |
Posted - Nov 10 2007 : 02:15:53 AM
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growing up we always ate ours.. usually after the hens stopped laying, and if we had too many roosters.. we had chicken for a while.
peg |
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small graces
True Blue Farmgirl
108 Posts
Jennifer
Candor
NY
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - Nov 11 2007 : 8:46:52 PM
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We do! The ones that the bear hasn't gotten. Some chickens refuse to go in our coop at night!! We have favorites that we can never let go of! They die a natural death. Some of them my daughter has even had weddings for, but the rooster is a polygimist!!! The ones that we don't ever eat are the fancy breeds, not worth it! We can usually find homes that want a chicken or two for yard deco/pets. Not sure if that would work everywhere!
"Think about this day for a moment, Charlie Brown"... http://fmnfarm.blogspot.com/ |
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Bee Haven Maven
True Blue Farmgirl
1862 Posts
Beverly
Pennsylvania
USA
1862 Posts |
Posted - Nov 12 2007 : 04:32:22 AM
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Oh my, our girls are still good layers.....the fox is the only one who has had a taste of our poor dearies. We made the mistake of naming them, so we probably will not be able to eat them....they will just live out their retirement years with free food!!!!
Visit my workshop at: www.beehavenmaven.blogspot.com
Visit our farm at: www.beehavenacres.blogspot.com
Aprons and other fun things for sale at: www.honeybeez.etsy.com |
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Barnyard Buddies: Ok ladies... how many of you eat your chickens? |
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Ok ladies... how many of you eat your chickens?
