cooking the chicken, and all that

[kimble]

It is that time - to do in a couple cockerels. I keep a semi-wild flock and hatch out eggs to keep up with attrition, so this is part of it.

[Lisasbolt]

Good luck, i couldn´t do it, only have ever killed anything if it is suffering.

[kimble]

I have two young hens whole in the refrigerator that one was killed by a hawk, and one by a falcon. Birds of prey are the biggest takers of my chickens, getting about 6 to 12 a year. I have a wire-haired terrier I got from the shelter just to run off predators, and he is very good at it - charging at an amazing speed off the 400 foot to the hen house when they shriek, with the chihuahua lagging behind.

Because of him the hawks never get to eat the chicken, and more often than not the chicken goes into a quiet cage and recovers - becoming more wiley; the flock is pretty smart as they live in the forest and have lots of things to watch for. Raptors hold the chicken after they hit it, the bird of prey being smaller than the chicken, and after a moment when it catches its breath it bites the chicken in the brain, killing it immediately. The only injury is two puncture marks in the head, sometimes no blood.

So the birds of prey learn to move on as they never get to eat the meat, and get terrified by a furious 15 pound terrier. But eventually another comes and tries his luck, or the same one gives it another go after a bit.

Anyway, two to clean from hawks, and tomorrow the thing I put off, and put off because it is no fun - I have to kill two cockerels. I have decided to kill the two big, mature, ones - lovely birds, beautiful! But I am going to let the two juvenile roosters take over. When you breed your flock you have to turn over the cockerels - it is very easy to get someone to give you one as every casual chicken keeper seems to rather give the cock away than kill it - as I would do with these, but it is the pot for them.

(by the way the dog, Jack, sleeps on my bed and is my shadow mostly - I saw him when out shopping, the dog shelter was showing dogs up for adoption and collecting money and as soon as I saw him I said I want him, and took him home (paid for him, and got a certificate to have the vet fill for immunizations, and carried him off after some paperwork)) - best thing I have done in a long time, 3 years ago. - a dog that is very pretty and ugly at the same time, and so full of happiness every one has to pet him.)

Just in for a break - did not mean to ramble on. Anyone have cockerels to kill? How do you butcher them? Recipes? I do Coq ou vin.

[Lisasbolt]

Sounds like a lovely life, very sad about the chickens, but i guess its nature
Your dog sounds lovely, i have fostered and homed 100´s of dogs and cats, it is a very horrible area i live for the domesticated animal, myself i have kept my numbers down to just 3 dogs, unlike the 7 this time 18 months ago
I am sure someone else will be along soon, i know some of our members rear their own animals for food

[mrose]

I don't know how helpful it'd be for rooster meat (perhaps birds bred for more than meat need treating differently?), but I have Diana Henry "A bird in the hand" which is an entire cookbook of chicken recipes and it is absolutely fantastic.

[Scarlet]

I have two young hens whole in the refrigerator that one was killed by a hawk, and one by a falcon. Birds of prey are the biggest takers of my chickens, getting about 6 to 12 a year.

Anyway, two to clean from hawks, and tomorrow the thing I put off, and put off because it is no fun - I have to kill two cockerels. I have decided to kill the two big, mature, ones.

Really? Im surprised, ive kept chickens myself for well over 10 years and have never once had any trouble with falcons - and we see plenty! The chickens generally know when something is circling and will take cover and i can honestly say i've never witnessed an attack or attempt...

I keep sussex for meat, i wouldnt eat a "mature" bird. Ours usually get dispatched around 24/28 weeks.

[KevinM67]

Clicked on this thread by mistake...I think I'm going to throw up

[veggiechicken]

My name's not Veggie chicken without reason - so, I have no recipes for chicken
I do keep some hens for eggs but never had a problem with birds of prey fortunately, although there are plenty around here.

[Lisasbolt]

My name's not Veggie chicken without reason - so, I have no recipes for chicken
I do keep some hens for eggs but never had a problem with birds of prey fortunately, although there are plenty around here.

Oh i thought the veggie was for growing veggies, dumb me, really though, you are a pesky chicken like me really hope i am not insulting you

The only problem i have with other birds is stealing my ladies food, damn things, i think i feed the local birds more than my own same with the cats grrrr

[kimble]

Really? Im surprised, ive kept chickens myself for well over 10 years and have never once had any trouble with falcons - and we see plenty! The chickens generally know when something is circling and will take cover and i can honestly say i've never witnessed an attack or attempt...

I think migrating Peregrine have gotten a few over the years - I did see one get a red Jungle fowl 10 years ago, which was right by me and I chased the bird off the chicken with a broom. But this from Wiki - I hope this does not violate the cut and paste rules but it is amazing!

The peregrine falcon feeds almost exclusively on medium-sized birds such as pigeons and doves, waterfowl, songbirds, and waders.[19] Worldwide, it is estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 bird species (up to roughly a fifth of the world's bird species) are predated somewhere by these falcons. In North America, prey has varied in size from 3 g (0.11 oz) hummingbirds (Selasphorus and Archilochus ssp.) to a 3.1 kg (6.8 lb) sandhill crane (killed in Alaska by a peregrine in a stoop), although most prey taken by peregrines weigh from 20 g (0.71 oz) (i.e. small passerines) to 1,100 g (2.4 lb) (i.e. ducks and gulls).[53][54] The peregrine falcon takes the most diverse range of bird species of any raptor in North America, with more than 300 species having fallen victim to the falcon, including nearly 100 shorebirds.[55] Smaller hawks and owls are regularly predated, mainly smaller falcons such as the American kestrel, merlin and sharp-shinned hawks.[56][57] In urban areas, the main component of the peregrine's diet is the rock or feral pigeon, which comprise 80% or more of the dietary intake for peregrines in some cities. Other common city birds are also taken regularly, including mourning doves, common wood pigeons, common swifts, northern flickers, common starlings, American robins, common blackbirds, and corvids (such as magpies or carrion, house, and American crows).[58] Other than bats taken at night,[58] the peregrine rarely hunts mammals, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_falcon

[kimble]

Clicked on this thread by mistake...I think I'm going to throw up

Do you find this thread offensive? I kill a number of things a year in my gardens but that is just life and nature - circle of life and all. I am an outdoor person - I see this is a fruit and veg site but then I also say some wildlife threads, and chickens - is all talk of killing things OTT?

I had to leave one site because a thread I was doing on ethics and nature that someone took offense to - because they called such things 'Religion' and found anything deviating from pure mechanical secularism offensive.

I know how sex and strong language are now OK on even BBC, but talking of what would have once been thought of as just part of life; like ultimate matters; is now thought of as risque.

Unfortunately I am into philosophy and therefore prone to being controversial. Oh, well, life; can't live with it, can't live without it. Sorry if I offended.

[Nicos]

My OH 'did' our young cockerel yesterday.
Never nice...we have to freeze the meat for few weeks before we can face eating it!
And not one morsel is wastedmuch tastier than shop bought meat....but tougher and gamier so better cooked moist.
We have lots of buzzards but so far none have gone for even the chicks.
Even the sparrowhawks only go just for the sparrows nicking the chook food...so far.

As far as offence and controversy go though kimble.
...just thought I'd mention it might be a good idea to check out our t&c of membership;this is very much a non confrontational family forum.

[veggiechicken]

As far as offence and controversy go though kimble.
...just thought I'd mention it might be a good idea to check out our t&c of membership;this is very much a non confrontational family forum.

Here's a link to the T&Cs of membership http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...-cs_28310.html
Please read them.

[kimble]

Here's a link to the T&Cs of membership http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...-cs_28310.html
Please read them.

I assume you telling me to read the t&c means you feel I have violated them - sorry. If I get this reaction to simple posts I will move on if told my style is inappropriate. I will take this as a warning, not sure what for - so sorry for offending. I am one of the more extreme outdoors people, living many years in the bush, in the Far North, and also every part of North America, and several countries, originally from London where my parents still live - I live in a extremely fecund and wildlife filled habitat on the Gulf of Mexico. I keep about 7 gardens on my property, 4 dogs, 20+ semi wild chickens, even a bit of aquaculture.

I will be cooking my big loaf of pogie bread today, I try to make one every 4 days. I net a local oily sardine called pogies from my bayou, but correctly called menhaden. I get odd things like flour or pancake mixes from a couple who use the food bank, and lots of dried beans - stuff they do not use, and make a big loaf that is about 3 pounds of pogies, whole - then anything like old salad dressing or jam, a pound of some flour, leavening, water, some cracked corn, maybe cornmeal, mix it up and bake it for two hours. The smell is just like anchovies - pretty strong, I tend to use a convection toaster oven on the porch.

The chickens get 1/3 a loaf most days. Being bayou chickens they are crazy about fish, as my dogs are, we all eat fish all the time. I think it is good for loading the eggs with omega 3 fatty acid. When the pogies are small they just get scattered on the ground and gobbled - and always chasing the one with the fish. They can tear a good sized fish apart, but these winter ones are 4 - 6 inches long with hard bones and heads - but cooked in the loaf it gets all eaten - needle sharp bones and all. Chickens are little dinosaurs and eat surprising things. I once had a banti fighting cock who is in the blood lines of most of my birds now that would kill and eat mice.

The birds mostly roam in the woods and go to the road verge and graze on grass, and always get up to trouble like coming to my house and eating pot plants, or getting into the garden and decimating it - but I like them, I like to be with live things, plants and animals. I am very tolerant of the wild things, and let them eat lots of my stuff. Otters plunder my crab traps and shrimp tank, raccoons eat my chickens - as do great horned owls I have right by, if they roost in trees, also bobcats and fox - the same one you have in England. Everything hits my berries - I have 120 foot of trellised blackberries, young grapes, and strawberries, figs, raspberries

A poster said he raises meat chickens but does not eat the old ones - I have come to the same kind of feeling that I prefer bought chicken which is so tender, cheap, and nicely flavored to any I raised. The coq au vin can be excellent though - long cooking in a bottle of strong red wine. The old roosters are stringy and no matter how long you pressure cook them they still have stringy meat - but the worst part is the strong hormone gamy flavor old boars of any kind have. Plain dishes are not so good with them - they need the hours of cooking in wine with the pearl onions and bacon for the last hour.

It is just getting light, the weather wonderful and I am not looking forward to the task. The 4 dogs are piled all over the bed with me, it is very nice watching the light in the window. Flickr has stopped working - I wanted to try posting a picture, it has taken 10 minutes to load a page, so I just picked one for an experiment, jack dog




I waited a long wile now - flickr must be having some problem - but here is me in an old picture walking from the chicken house to my house with a orphington cockerel I dispatched - again, I hatch all my chickens so get half males, to be butchered and made into dinner - although you must let them rest in the refrigerator a couple days before cooking. Notice how my white Lab is dancing with happiness. The dogs like the chickens, but they are dogs and when I kill one they just leap about with joy and want to help. Like I said before, life - it is very real when we grow things. I read half the children cannot name robins, chaffinch, tits now days. They are becoming utterly removed from the soil and creatures.



see how this works

[vixylix]

sounds like you have an admirable lifestyle kimble! welcome to the forum!