Butcher day today

We did 66 roosters today, from 11 am till 5 pm. Then packaged them up and now time for bed.
We cut them into peices, froze the main body with inards in for the cat's winter meals. The legs, thighs, breasts and wings go into bags and into the freezer for our meals, so everyone gets food this winter.
We processed 3 silkie roosters as well, never did those before. They are the neatest shade of purple. My mom was very shocked to see the color of their skin. But very tiny, not much for meat on those birds, so they will be cat food as well. Told her we could probably make a good $ on them if we found the right market....
Long day, but glad it is done.
I have to sort through my BLRW cockerels and Ameraucana Cockerels now then I should be able to get everyone into their main housing for winter.

WOW I have been told that Silkie's tast very good, good for you I have to learn how to do this to

We did 2 pigs today from 7am - 10 am. Hanging now....mmmm bacon!!

Hidden river- did the silkies with the purple have dark feathers?
Ps. Clementine is so awesome! She is doing great! ( thanks again jayme.) Very happy with her!!!

tlc all silkies should have dark skin and dark meat it they are true purebred silkies

I raised Silkies for butchering about 15 years. I would raise 300 of them. The Chinese people went crazy for them and paid good money for them. Our closet processing plant shutdown so it to much to work to butcher them ourselves so I gave it up. The Chinese people still call me the odd time to see if I still have any. They were very picky about the skin color. The darker purple the meat the better they liked it. They never liked any cross bred birds.

Rico are there any differences in the color of meat from variety to variety? im guessing the newer colors like self blue would have a bit lighter because of the cross to get the self blue in silkies?

Cornel, I found the whites were the ones with the darkest meat color followed by the buffs. You're right that some of the self blues and grays were lighter in meat color. You can tell by the comb color, the darker the comb the darker the body meat. Lots of Silkies get a reddish colored comb with is not what you want in show or meat birds.

would black not have dark? yes before i showed birds i had some silkies with huge red combs, but this line i am working with is quite good. just a bit too lumpy a comb on the old males

Well that is interesting. The contrast between White feathers and dark skin always makes the dark skin look darker then black on black, but the white birds butchered were always slightly darker then the rest.

As long the comb is dark it should be good even if it slightly larger.

Does the bird get lots of sun or are they penned inside?

It's nice that your mom helps you butcher, makes it go much faster when you have help.
I am sure your chores will be much faster with 66 less birds!

Phew, now that was a whole lotta birds that were done. You feed the carcass and innards to the cat raw? Just curious about that, I think that that is probably is a great idea. I will have a fair number of cockerels going for processing too, probably around the end of November, I should cut them up as you did, and save the carcass for the dog, raw is better? Define and elaborate please....have a wonderful and great day, CynthiaM.

I was very fortunate to have my mom come to help, she lives in the city now so is happy to come out occasionally and help now.
I will find my chore load and feed consumption has dropped a lot. We did 4 turkeys and 51 ducks last week as well,(Actually a colony near us did them for us, ) and that will all make a huge difference.

Cynthia, yes raw is best. Chicken bones are very soft when not cooked, they don't splinter like those would that have been cooked, so safer for the animal. The innards (Offal) and meat/bones are a good combination for the animals. When I lived in Calgary years ago and worked at a Holistic vet clinic there the natural raw diet was a huge thing. These are our farm cats we feed this to, so they are also going out and supplementing themselves with whatever else they need, and they also get hard cat food. I find the meat just helps them keep their condition in the cold weather, and keeps their coats nice and smooth.

Thank you for clarifying Hidden, I appreciate that. My dog will have some happy canine meals this winter. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

my silkies are inside at all times because they are white. much easier to keep them clean if they are not digging in the dirt! they have a window in their pen. they probably get the most sunlight of all the birds
comb size dosent matter at all? my showgirl cockerel has a quite large comb and i wasnt going to breed from him again.

Hidden River wrote:I was very fortunate to have my mom come to help, she lives in the city now so is happy to come out occasionally and help now.
I will find my chore load and feed consumption has dropped a lot. We did 4 turkeys and 51 ducks last week as well,(Actually a colony near us did them for us, ) and that will all make a huge difference.

Cynthia, yes raw is best. Chicken bones are very soft when not cooked, they don't splinter like those would that have been cooked, so safer for the animal. The innards (Offal) and meat/bones are a good combination for the animals. When I lived in Calgary years ago and worked at a Holistic vet clinic there the natural raw diet was a huge thing. These are our farm cats we feed this to, so they are also going out and supplementing themselves with whatever else they need, and they also get hard cat food. I find the meat just helps them keep their condition in the cold weather, and keeps their coats nice and smooth.

I also like to freeze some chicken parts for the cats but in the past only kept soft stuff (ie liver, lungs, some extra skin and fat). I've been reluctant to let the young dog have any raw chicken, for fear he might develop a taste and go hunting for some fresh meat in the chicken pen. Don't know if this should be a concern, or just me being over cautious, which tends to happen quite a lot when it comes to the chickens.

KathyS wrote:

Hidden River wrote:I was very fortunate to have my mom come to help, she lives in the city now so is happy to come out occasionally and help now.
I will find my chore load and feed consumption has dropped a lot. We did 4 turkeys and 51 ducks last week as well,(Actually a colony near us did them for us, ) and that will all make a huge difference.

Cynthia, yes raw is best. Chicken bones are very soft when not cooked, they don't splinter like those would that have been cooked, so safer for the animal. The innards (Offal) and meat/bones are a good combination for the animals. When I lived in Calgary years ago and worked at a Holistic vet clinic there the natural raw diet was a huge thing. These are our farm cats we feed this to, so they are also going out and supplementing themselves with whatever else they need, and they also get hard cat food. I find the meat just helps them keep their condition in the cold weather, and keeps their coats nice and smooth.

I also like to freeze some chicken parts for the cats but in the past only kept soft stuff (ie liver, lungs, some extra skin and fat). I've been reluctant to let the young dog have any raw chicken, for fear he might develop a taste and go hunting for some fresh meat in the chicken pen. Don't know if this should be a concern, or just me being over cautious, which tends to happen quite a lot when it comes to the chickens.

I have learned it is not necessarily the taste but the presentation. We have been feeding our farm cats the chicken peices etc for years, never a problem. But this past year I would just toss a dead bird or two with feathers still on to the cats and now the youngsters are having a hard time figuring out not to eat live birds...We have rehomed the problem ones and now only feed plucked chickens to the cats, nothing with feathers on do they get.

There is a natural pride and rightness that comes from harvesting your own home grown critters. You all should be proud.

I’ve been sitting on the fence for awhile about processing my extra roos, but reading this post has inspired me to buck up and do the deed myself. No reason why my family shouldn't benefit from our own birds raised with utmost love and care. Will report back how it goes…