butchering first time on my own

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DavidBarkey Canada
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butchering first time on my own

Post by DavidBarkey »

Yesterday ,Jake(our grandson) and I culled and butchered 3 of our excess roosters we hatched this year. This was his first time , and my second time but first on my own . We done ok . Got some work to do getting better set up before the next few . We hatched 14 chicks for the first this year and 7 roosters , 5 good layer hens and 2 pets (small) hens . One rooster crowed 3 weeks before all the rest . We will keep him , very dominant , he has a good temperament and is good hens .
We learned a lot this past year raising chickens and ducks for the first time . No loss to predation but lost 2 to illness .
Last fall we got 2 Bantam mommas and 6 chicks and one big white Colombian Rock rooster (Harold) . 5 of the chicks became little Banty roosters and 1 little wee hen (pip-skeek) hen who has become a pet . Harold died this spring of what I beleave was a heart attack and the 5 roosters have been culled and are in the freezer thanks to farmer client of my who helped process them when they were doing a batch of meat birds . I learned a lot that day working with them . The 2 mommas went broody this spring and used them to hatch the 14 chicks . It has been a wild ride this past year for us on our 2 Green Acres .

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Gordy United States of America
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Re: butchering first time on my own

Post by Gordy »

The problem I had here is they all become pets to the wife, AND she is a city slicker thinking "Real meat comes on a styrofoam tray warped in selifane" :headbash:

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Re: butchering first time on my own

Post by Eugen »

Dave, that's awesome! It's been a dream of mine to have a small piece of land for a garden and a few animals, you're basically living my dream! :D It's nice to see people living a little more off the land. Do you find that taking care of the animals now takes a lot of your time? I grew up in Romania where in the rural area there are very few people that don't raise a few chickens and a pig, and don't have a vegetable garden. My family didn't have that as we were living in the city but have fond memories of going to my grandmother's village. Lots of memories how they'd slaughter a chicken: head cut off with a knife or axe, let it bleed, then dip it in a big pot of boiling water and pluck all the feathers. It didn't traumatize me as a child seeing this, it was perceived as normal. The pig slaughter was different, lots of squealing until all the blood runs out. That was a bit harder to witness as a child, yet we were taught that this is life, and it is how it is. At the time the governing was communism so there were no big private farms, so each family had around a couple of acres of land and a house.

I'm cheering for you doing this :cheers:

And if you get a bigger operation and start selling surplus eggs and stuff, I would happily become a customer. Our family really believes in supporting the local farmers directly, as opposed to big stores and such. :smash:
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Re: butchering first time on my own

Post by DavidBarkey »

Eugen , We do sell our excess eggs , helps off set cost of feed . Plus who can eat 6 dozen eggs a weeks , there is only 3 of us . Any time you want some , message me .

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Re: butchering first time on my own

Post by DavidBarkey »

Gordy wrote: Mon Aug 09, 2021 9:38 am The problem I had here is they all become pets to the wife, AND she is a city slicker thinking "Real meat comes on a styrofoam tray warped in selifane" :headbash:

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Gordy
Ya hear ya Gordy . My 13 year old grandson was rearlly good about it , especially because he helped raise them . This year he has become very active with the chickens and the ducks care . He was upset when we lost our Harold (rooster) . The wife , well helps care for them but does not do the dirty deed . She is the Canning Queen around here . My 4 adult boys would not have anything to do with it .

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Re: butchering first time on my own

Post by Gordy »

" She is the Canning Queen around here ."

You found a good one. I came home from work one night to find super on the stove, I saw green beans and thought "Good she got out and picked the beans". Then I looked on the counter and saw the open can :cuss: :headbash: Forget about canning :no: Like I said city slicker :124:

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