We are one buckling and three roosters lighter

Today was a slaughter day. Time to prepare the various unproductive males for their "next stage"...

Slaughtering is never pleasant, but a necessary evil if we are going to breed animals. The facts come down to we cannot support an ever growing population, maybe humans should take note.

I had been planning to keep the buckling, Alarm, through breeding season to breed to our one unrelated doe, Heddar. Alarm comes from one of our original does, Sparque, and Heddar comes from the other, Ruffles. But I realized we already have that genetic mix (last years bucklings, same dam and sire bred to this target doe gave us this springs doeling, Able). So there is not a lot of sense breeding Alarm to Heddar. It's further redundant because the other does from this spring all come from that Sparque Sire mix, either first generation or one generation out. Heddar is our only animal not related to Sparque and her suitor from last year. I bred Sparque to same Buck three times waiting for her to give us a doe. In the meantime, I bred one of her bucklings to Heddar and Ruffles last fall. So it's important that we get Heddar bred to a new line in order to get some balance back in our genetic diversity. Breeding Alarm to Heddar does save us $50 in breading fees, but that wasn't enough of a reason.

And now, we don't have to keep the buck separate from the does going into breeding season. That greatly simplifies our paddocks. Pretty soon the kids will be weaned and we won't need any subdivisions. Woo Whoo! Sad for Alarm, good for me.

So, Alarm was just about three months old. He was coming into sexual maturity and he yielded about 30 pounds of meat, bone in. That's pretty interesting because last years bucklings I slaughtered in Late winter and they were also 30 pounds bone in. It was winter, and they were on hay only. This buckling has been nursing and getting Lamb and Kid grain. In addition to the meat, he had significant organ fat and fat under the skin. The boys from last year had very little fat. Again, time of year and ration. But still interesting that going into the fall Alarm had as much meat and more reserve as the boys twice his age and similar genetics (they were all brothers from the same dam and sire). And the boys from last year looked good and performed well (the breeder buckling sired three does by Heddar and Ruffles).

I didn't face any quandaries about the Roosters. We had a clutch hatch earlier this summer and they are well along. The Roosters' days have been numbered since. It was just waiting for an ambitious day. It didn't help that the dominant rooster was attacking the back of my legs on a periodic basis. And they were waking us up at slightest provocation. Killing sucks, but I am not going to miss the roosters.


My PI cleared up by the way, in less than two days without more than a light rash. I am going to claim the prompt washing helped. If anyone cares.

in the whirlwind

The wood is down at the house, split and piled, waiting to stack. At least it's now under cover.

The Rice Paddy has it's stock panel cover to keep it warm into the early fall for a little more growing and maturing. We probably won't eat any rice out of it this year, but we will harvest enough seed to start our One Hundred plants for next year. One hundred plants will fill the rice Paddy and that should give us some eating rice for next falls Harvest Festival dinner.

The mill across the way was doing whatever it is they do to produce the premier bedding shavings. Most of the time we get the rough chips from the de-barker, three inch and longer wood fragments. They are usable, but the shavings I got this weekend are a much more palatable option.

Our hay came in this weekend, also. We have a fair amount left from last year still. Good thing, as we can't get any alfalfa this year. And we weren't sure to get any grass hay either. It's been so wet, there's been no cutting going on until the last two weeks. The square bales are in the barn and we are trying out some dry unwrapped round bale this fall. The round bales are new to us and it took a couple of tries. The first two I got were plastic wrapped and too wet for goats. The hay ferments in the wrapped bale and there is too much risk of lysteriosis. The other thing about round bales is we don't have a barn to store them in. They are too big for me to get into the loft like we do the square bales. So we will station them in the back field and put an Arch over them to feed them through the fall. When real winter comes, we'll be bringing the goats closer to the house.

Today was chicken butchering day. We have been saying we wanted to get to it for at least two weeks now. Sometimes the que is that long.

It's been a busy end of summer, making up for lost time while trying get the usual stuff done.

Big Chicken

That's a big chicken. That in fact, is Big Chicken.

This is Big Chicken as a chick. He was a free rare breed chick that Murray McMurray Hatchery throws in with orders. He is probably a Buff Cochin. We didn't take much notice of him because we were concetrating on egg breeds. But he was distinctive from day one with his side stockings.


Big Chicken turned into a great rooster though. He was big, and he was relatively gentle with mild manners. He didn't overly dominate the hens and he didn't fight with other males. And he was good looking
When we were butchering Chickens and Guineas last fall, Big Chicken got a pass because we wanted to keep his genetics in our flock. He looked like he had a good size carcass, he had good disposition. And he was our only rooster anyway. We were going to look around for a rooster from an egg laying breed, but we like having some birds worth the effort of slaughtering. There is a downside, Buff Cochins are known for laying small eggs. We'll probably look around for a egg laying rooster for next year's hatching. But I'd like to selectively breed Big Chicken's progeny to keep a group of larger frame birds. We have stayed away from Cornish Cross in the past for a variety of reasons so I am glad we have found an alternative meat bird.




That's Big Chicken on the left, a Americana in the middle and a rockbarred on the right.


This is a next generation rooster from Big Chicken, a cross with a Buff Orpington probably. He is already showing the size that his father passed him. To keep the Buff Cochin characteristics strong in our flock, we'll have to pay more attention to selective breeding in the future. But Big Chicken will live on in our flock long after the last of the chicken soup is gone.

Pheeeeeew

For the first time since November, we aren't brooding chickens in the house. It's a bit of a relief.

In November, we had an unplanned hatch under an Orpington hen. It was too cold to leave them outside and it began our looong journey. We had been planning to hatch in January anyway, and keeping the November chicks didn't seem much of a stretch. But then the January hatch rate was poor and we decided to hatch again in February. Now, after finally moving the last of the chicks outside, those November chicks feel like much more of a stretch.

The weather has warmed considerably in the last two weeks. The sunnier north half of the yard is free of snow. The South East facing hillside gardens are thawed and the garlic is up. We are that quickening where it all seems to change over night.

And there is mud. Nothing to complain about, mud means moisture and warm temps, growing temps, but there it is, Mud.

We are on our way.

Nobody here but us chickens

That's the result of our latest chicken hatching endeavor. A reprieve for the rooster, since I don't want to slaughter before I am sure I don't need him any more. What hatched looks pretty good, lively and vigorous, but I wanted more than 7. I think it is my own fault though. I let the hatching eggs get too cold while I was storing them to get enough for the incubator. Our trap room, a cool room that gets no direct heat, got down into the thirties. It was that really cold spell in December. I should have kept them in the pantry that is closer to the wood stove in the kitchen, more like 50's. It also didn't help that it took 10 days to get enough eggs for the incubator.

So it looks like on rock barred, at least one Americana and the rest are Buff Orpingtons mixed with our Brahama, maybe Buff Cochin rooster. All the light colored chicks have the side stalkings, showing the rooster's trait. I have not seen it on the dark chick, though. Interestingly, the previous chicks that a hen sat back in November did not get their side stalkings till later. These chicks had pretty downy side stalkings from day one.

I was looking through Murray McMurray's spring catalog and Buff Cochin is what the rooster looks like the most. He was a the extra free rare breed they throw in to keep everybody warm / generate interest in rare breeds. I did note that the Buff Cochin's are listed as poor layers and small eggs to boot. Luckily, it isn't eggs I figure he brings to the table, so to speak... He is looking huge these days. He is twice the size of our laying hens. I would not want him to hear it, but I am looking forward to finding out what he tastes like. He is broad and heavy in the breast. I wonder if he has trouble mounting the hens like they talk about broad breasted turkeys having. Probably not since at least 70% of the eggs showed at least some development when I candled them.

The south end of a north facing goat house

We like stock panel structures. They help us house goats and chickens, dry and protect firewood. They provide a wind break and keep their contents dry. They are easy to erect and economical on a small scale. They are easily adapted for a variety uses. They allow us to provide for our animals needs with flexibility.

Pictured above is Goat House North. It has a goat house in each end with access to seperate paddocks. There is a human section in the middle where we store a week or two's worth of hay, minerals, etc. We can feed the goats from the human side and check on things. The goat house is made from six arched 4 X 16 stock panels sitting on top of some wooden side panels that give us an extra foot of headroom. the wooden sides are attached to posts. the posts help us keep the first two feet of stock panel vertical. For this year we also added pillars at the ends and a 2x4 ridge pole to insure against heavy snow. I have been successful in the past just using bailing twine cords to keep the arch in shape. But now that we have a total of 4 goat stall houses, a green house and a woodshed made from stock panels, I decided I didn't want to have to stress about keeping the roofs clear after snow storms.

We get between 20 and 40 degrees of temperatur difference from inside the goat house to the outside, depending on how sunny it is. That often makes the difference between frozen water bucks and not. It also keeps the animals comfortable on hard winter days and nights.

2009 Incubator

That's our mighty rooster. He looks like a Brahma. He was one of the free ones the hatchery threw in to have enough warm bodies in our shipment of chicks last spring. Just a bit of luck. I am not much for fancy chickens, and when I saw his side stockings and I didn't think he was going to last long with us. But he has turned out to be a gentle rooster who does not harass the hens. He is a big bird, maybe twice the size of the hens with a pronounced large breast. We are hoping we have found a good eating chicken that we don't mind keeping.

This is our beat up old incubator, I think a little giant. We have a similar hovabator also, but the auto egg turner fits in this on. This one also has the fan unit that keeps the air moving around the incubator, helping to cut down temp variation in the incubator.

We bought all of it off eBay. No complaints. And that auto turner makes for much better results. Maybe the constant turning is better, maybe not opening the incubator keeps the humidity / temp more constant. I like it, though.

Today was the final day of egg collection. Not quite enough eggs to fill the racks, but I didn't want my collected eggs to age out. We didn't have the best storage temp, a little on the cold side. I hope it doesn't destroy our hatch. We stored the eggs in our cold room and with the cold temps outside, we got well below the 56' optimum storage temp.

Given that, I think I am going to hold off slaughtering the rooster until we see the results of this hatch.

The Circle of life

I was out there, doing the rounds. Feed the goats. Get them water. Grain the chickens. Look for eggs. Check under the broody hen. Hey, where are those peeps coming from?

For a while now, the broody hen, a buff Orpington, has been sitting a nest in the laying box I set up in the vacant goat house we were using as a chicken roost. We have four goat sheds. Each month (or 4 weeks, really) we move the goats to a new paddock. That gives us three months of separation to knock down the parasites. The chickens follow the goats, roughly. While a goat house aren't being goat or chicken house, they double as a tool shed for garden tools, or some times a play house for our son.

And now, apparently, a place to hatch eggs. A few weeks ago, I found a clutch of eggs under the bushes by the corner of the fence. The eggs had been in the nest too long to eat them, so I removed the wooden eggs that were fooling the Orpington and swapped them with the clutch of eggs. And Viola, 23 days later (or so, I didn't count), peep peep. It does sort of ring with the recent demise of the guineas.

We had been planning to try hatching some chicks over the winter. I was figuring in December so they would be laying by June. We have been keeping a rooster for the express purpose. The rooster is the rare breed male that Murray McMurray hatchery throws in with orders of hens. I think part of it is the excess males inevitable in a breeding program and part of it is it supplies a little extra warmth in the box of chicks in the mail. As a chick, our little male looked like a Orpington with side stockings. But recently, someone told me he looks like he is a Brahma. They are an alternative meat bird, I guess. The rooster has grown up to be a heavy bird, all right. We'll see how he mixes with Orpington, Rock Bards, NH Reds and Americana.

I was out there trying to take pictures, but it turned out the card wasn't in the camera. Enough reason to run screaming back to old chemical cameras and film I guess.

Blue Booby Eggs

These are eggs from our chickens. Those three little ones on the top left are from the pullets we bought as day old chicks this spring. They are a pretty pastel blue, from Araucana pullets. I think we have one of the three laying. We got 25 female chicks (plus a free rare breed male plus a free random male to make sure there were enough to stay warm in the box) from Murray McMurray Hatchery in March. I wasn't expecting to see any eggs from them until September, so these little blue beauties are all Bonus.

In there also are eggs from our 3+ year old Orpingtons, A 2 year old Australorp and the guinea egg in the upper left corner. We are transitioning from our original flock that has dwindled down to the new birds we got this year. We have a bunch of new guineas that we hatched last year. But from the number of eggs we are getting, it seems we have a lot of cocks and maybe only one hen. We might just cull the guineas this fall. I like them for tick control, but they are noisey and proan to mischief. The Wife does not like them getting into her garden.

10 days in the brooder

These are a bunch of shots in the brooder of one particular chick. She has that stripe down his back and it makes it easy to pick her out. It amazes me how fast they change. This is ten days of photos. Ten days......












This is where we started from:

I'll Spare you the grisly details

We did some chicken butchering recently. Since before thanksgiving, we have been talking about slaughtering a few chickens and guineas. The chickens had gotten to the age where they no longer laid eggs. They were some of our first and favorite birds, but we had new guineas we hatched over the spring and summer and we'll getting new chickens for 2008. We need the eggs. This fall we have resorted to buying eggs, which I really hate. Unfortunately, we need to make room for the new birds and that means we need to slaughter the unproductive birds, however much we liked them.

I had been putting off the deed for over a month. Last week we had a predator kill three birds. This is the first time we have lost birds to a wild predator (we did loose some to a domestic dog in 2006). Since we free range our birds and they sleep in a unlocked coop, I always felt blessed that we had no predator losses. Luckily, we lost three unproductive birds and non of our current layers. But it brought the need to slaughter front and center. As bad as it was to kill a chicken we liked, allowing it to potentially die by predation and missing out on the butchered meat was worse.

Slaughtering chickens is not my idea of fun. There are probably a lot of ways to kill a chicken. I have seen chicken killing devices and read about techniques. Not sure I know any I particularly like. I just try to be quick and as painless as possible. I try to keep the bird calm up to the last instant. A quick neck wringing and then slit the throat. A chicken beats it's wings as the last bit of life leaves the body. I don't allow it to run around. I don't do it in front of other animals. Stress at slaughter is supposed to be bad for meat quality.

If slaughter is bad, butchering is worse. I hate plucking chickens. It's not a pleasant business. I have tried scalding the body, but either I didn't get the water temp right or I am just no good at it. I generally end up tearing the skin at least a little. And getting all the feathers seams impossible. After plucking, I removed the digestive tract and organs. The dog gets some of it. The feathers go every which way.

We ate the birds this afternoon as a holiday meal. I wish I could say that all the work that went into them made them taste sweeter. They actually tasted fine. But they were a little on the tough side. Especially the legs. But even the breast was a little chewy. I think next time we'll stew them instead of roasting them.

Although eating the birds was not a glorious end, the chickens and guineas have been a successful experiment. They do a good job of cutting down on the bugs in the yard, particularly ticks. And the fresh eggs are fabulous. We'll just have to look up some recipes for older birds.

Those lazy chickens

These are some of our eggs next to store bought eggs. For the first time in a long time, we have had to buy eggs in the market. With the change of the seasons, length of daylight and age of our birds, they lay less and less. We are down to 1 egg a day recently. Those lazy chickens.

But I wanted to show the difference between our eggs and store bought eggs. The yolks on the left are from our free range chickens. The ones on the right are the store bought. And those were from supposed free range eggs. They are pale and small yolks. The first time we cooked with them, we didn't have any of our own eggs to mix in. The resulting scrambled eggs were so pale they could have been confused with just egg whites. I am sure there are some people who like egg whites. I like mine just fine, but not store bought ones.

Before I had chickens I never gave eggs much thought. I got guineas in order to rid my yard of ticks and other insects. My brother traded me a few egg layers for some guineas just to spice up his flock. But when I started eating the eggs, I noticed a dramatic difference. The yolks are a ruddy orange color and thicker and tastier than SB eggs. And the whites actually taste good, not like the flaccid SB whites. Fresh egg whites actually have body to them and are creamy, unlike the flimsy ones from the store.

After I tasted the difference I did some reading on the difference. It turns out a big part of it is eggs in the store are probably 30 to 60 days old. Between all the processing commercial eggs go through, it is easily a month before they end up in the consumer's fridge. Around here, we generally eat our eggs before they are a few days old. There is also the difference of feed. I do give my birds a commercial feed to supplement, particularly in the winter. But from April through late November / December, they forage in the yard for seeds, grass, insects and worms. All that extra stuff is the source of the color and taste in our yolks.

There are few things better than our own eggs fried up. Well, bacon makes them better, but bacon making is something for another day.