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Barnyard Buddies:  question about chickens and meat  |
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eskimobirdlady
True Blue Farmgirl
700 Posts
connie
fairbanks
ak
USA
700 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 14 2009 : 09:01:11 AM
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we just butchered our steer and the chickens have gotten to the meat scraps (they run loose)and i was wondering if their eggs are still good? i have never fed chickens any feed with "meat by products". what do you ladies think? peace connie in alaska
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1badmamawolf
True Blue Farmgirl
2199 Posts
Teresa
"Bent Fence Farms"
Ca
USA
2199 Posts |
Posted - Oct 14 2009 : 09:13:53 AM
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the eggs will be fine, I do not "feed" my hens meat either, BUT, they manage to get it on their own also, from butchering, mice, lizards and the dogs food bowls, lol.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Oct 14 2009 : 2:45:57 PM
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Chickens are carnivores. They eat meat. I feed mine a little in scraps now and then. And they eat mice, frogs, baby birds, cat and dog food. Yours should be fine.
Ya'll butchered the steer yourselves? I am always interested in home butchering. How much meat did you get? I am just going to take mine in to the butcher next Tuesda, the 20th. I figure I'll get more cuts and more meat that way. Plus he'll be able to age the carcass for up to 2 weeks. Which I really wanted to do since he's grass-fed only. I had a guy who wanted to try butchering mine but he said he would not be able to get the good cuts like steaks and that's what I'd like to have, not just burger. So I will let him do my bucks in Jan. I'll want more burger from them anyway.
Kris
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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eskimobirdlady
True Blue Farmgirl
700 Posts
connie
fairbanks
ak
USA
700 Posts |
Posted - Oct 14 2009 : 9:56:56 PM
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thanks ladies. i thought that was the case but just wanted mroe opinions.
kris, we butchered ourselves and luckily the weather was perfect to age it for 10-12 days. we just hung it in a huge plywood box. nighttime temps being in the 20s and daytime the 40s aged it perfectly! i am not sure how much meat we got but i do knoww that we now will have to get another freezer to be albe to buthcer chickens! he was HUGE!! much bigger than the paddle moose or the caribou we got last year DOING IT YOURSELF IS A HUGE JOB ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE NOT SET UP FOR IT! i would prefer to send it out but they charge so much here because of all the moose they process it is just out of the question. it takes us several days with the help of a few friends. we can get all the cuts (got a dvd telling us how *grin*) but mostly do roast and the better cuts of steak like t-bone. sirloin and porterhouse. of course with this steer its all "sir loin" *grin* peace connie in alaska |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - Oct 15 2009 : 03:28:30 AM
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So long as the meat isn't rancid it's ok
Our chickens get all kinds of goodies
Kind of ironic when the scraps are chicken too
Sumthin' not quite right about that |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Oct 15 2009 : 06:48:50 AM
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I do not give mine any chicken meat scraps. That is not right for sure. But other meat scraps are ok. I went to a workshop on farming once and there was a "professional" chicken guy there that said they actually need a little meat in their diet because they are carnivores. Like an eagle.
Connie, you do have the perfect place and weather to home butcher. Saves lots of money. I will be paying I think he said .42 a pound plus $16. kill fee. But I'm going to ask about that because I want all the cow back except the hide and head. Anyway, I am so excited to get our own beef. I quit eating it years ago and then just recently started getting it from an organic farm not too far from up. All grass-fed. So hubby's happy and me, too. I have 2 1/2 freezers and I need to start moving stuff around to get him in there. Over on the Family Cow forum they have a thread on home butchering with pictures. Very interesting. ANd now I have DSL I can see it all.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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sherrye
True Blue Farmgirl
3775 Posts
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts |
Posted - Oct 15 2009 : 5:25:16 PM
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| i too feed meat to my chickens, i also raise redworms for my laying hens. chickens eat worms and worms love chicken poop/ perfect sustainable circle. i give the worms coffee grounds also. they love it. we bury the worm boxes so we donot need heaters in winter. |
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eskimobirdlady
True Blue Farmgirl
700 Posts
connie
fairbanks
ak
USA
700 Posts |
Posted - Oct 16 2009 : 5:57:52 PM
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sherrye we cannot grow worms here at all without heat, the ground is much to cold even in summer. i think i will pass on the worms *grin*
kris, i know you will be so happy with homegrown beef!! at 42 cents a pound i could eat really good for a danged long time!! yikes! sadly they charge over $1 pound hainging weight! we really desperately need to get a bandsaw as i do like the bones for sosup etc. it kills me to have to throw them away but its just not feasable for us to either hand cut or use saws all for an entire beef. he weighed well over 1000 pounds! what is weird is that he was a herford and tastes better and is more tender thanthe full blooded angus we butchered last year! she has some funky sopts that wwe have been told were from her eating the spruce needles and bark. she must have thought she was part moose since we feed them extremely well! they get about 1 1/2 coffee cans of sweet feed twice a day as wwell as all the hay they want. cant wait to hear how your beef turns out! i wish we had grass to save on hay but i doubt you would find a single balde as their pasture is actually part of our woods which is nothing but black spruce, low bush cranberries, labrador tea and mosses. we have considered trying to plant grasses now that the cows have cleared all the underbrush and most of the trees lol. peace connie |
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Barnyard Buddies: question about chickens and meat |
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question about chickens and meat
