90 replies to this topic

[Hugh B Tool]

Roosters and layers do make for some decent soup/stock though.

[detlef]

Hugh B Tool, on 29 May 2012 - 04:31 PM, said:

Roosters and layers do make for some decent soup/stock though.

And, in the event that we decide to off this one, the stock pot is likely where she'll end up.  That said, we save the carcass from every chicken we roast and freeze them to make stock.  In general, we're rarely lacking for chicken stock around my house, so it would be barely better than getting nothing out of her at all.  Which, may not be worth it if my wife has massive issues with the whole endeavor.

[sundaynfl]

detlef, on 29 May 2012 - 09:05 AM, said:

The thing is, for the most part, they're not going to be really tasty by the time they cease to be good producers.  For starters, there's laying breeds and meat breeds.  Some are decent at both, but we've got laying breeds.  Secondly, for good eating, you'd want to kill them younger than what they're typically going to be once they stop producing.

Nonetheless, I did bridge the subject with my wife this morning about the fact that we may want to "get rid" of that chicken.  We'll see where that discussion goes.

Confucious say "Man should never have to ask his wife's permission to choke chicken."

[detlef]

sundaynfl, on 30 May 2012 - 12:45 PM, said:

Confucious say "Man should never have to ask his wife's permission to choke chicken."

[Hugh B Tool]

detlef, on 29 May 2012 - 04:40 PM, said:

And, in the event that we decide to off this one, the stock pot is likely where she'll end up.  That said, we save the carcass from every chicken we roast and freeze them to make stock.  In general, we're rarely lacking for chicken stock around my house, so it would be barely better than getting nothing out of her at all.  Which, may not be worth it if my wife has massive issues with the whole endeavor.

Oh no doubt about that! Shoot my next investment is a bigger freezer, mainly for stock and demi cubes. Then again my wife wouldn't want to know her pet was part of dinner either.

[SEC=UGA]

My wife has been suggesting that she be allowed to quit her job...

So I floated this:  Fine, you can quit your job, I'll let you do that.  But, in order to supplement our income during these slow times I am going to purchase a herd of goats, two dozen of them.  You will tend to these goats, milk them, make goat cheese for sale, sheer them to make one off fancy pet clothes for rich people and you will learn how to butcher them and we will sell their meat to local Jamaican and Middle Eastern food markets.  She has decided to not quit her job.

[detlef]

OK, PSA for anyone trying to keep chickens and have a garden:  Because our veggie garden is fenced off to protect it from the dogs (basically when they were puppies), that's where we put our pen/coop.  Ended up being a nightmare.  We struggled with all sorts of elaborate methods to keep the chickens from devouring our crops, but every one had a flaw.  Thing is, it's nice to let the chickens out every day.

I finally fixed that this weekend.  our veggie garden is on the left side of a shed we have in our yard, on the right it's just open yard with some trees.  We did build a little run for the chickens that goes behind the shed so they'd have a shady place to escape the heat.  Finally sick of trying to protect the plants, I finally caved and built a fence to the right side of the shed, closing off a back section that the chickens can now access the same way they used to access the small, shady run.  I just installed a little door so we can still close them in their pen at night, protecting them from predators.

Man am I so happy I did that.  our veggies are now safe, and the new spot for the hens is much nicer for them.  It's also more wooded so they're less exposed to flying predators.

At any rate, moral of the story, it would have been way cooler had I just done this to begin with.

[matt770]

When we bought this house, I mentioned to my wife that I'd like to get some chickens, almost joking because I knew what her reaction would be.  Sure enough she was adamantly against it.

Lately we've been trying to buy as much local meat and produce as possible, and we went to the Green Market in Piedmont Park on Saturday.  One of the farmers selling fresh eggs had two hens on display in his booth.  When we got home, my wife shocked me and said she'd be okay with getting some hens.  

Seriously considering it now...gotta look into the local ordinances here.  I think we are allowed to have them.

[muck]

We're still going great guns with (nearly) 30 chickens.  Once they start laying, we're having eggs in some way, shape or form at every meal, I'm sure! HA!

[SEC=UGA]

matt770, on 11 June 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

When we bought this house, I mentioned to my wife that I'd like to get some chickens, almost joking because I knew what her reaction would be.  Sure enough she was adamantly against it.

Lately we've been trying to buy as much local meat and produce as possible, and we went to the Green Market in Piedmont Park on Saturday.  One of the farmers selling fresh eggs had two hens on display in his booth.  When we got home, my wife shocked me and said she'd be okay with getting some hens.  

Seriously considering it now...gotta look into the local ordinances here.  I think we are allowed to have them.

I think you have to have an acre of land or more... maybe it's three, in Cobb County.

ETA:

Quote

Livestock and poultry animals are only permitted on a lot of two acres or larger. All animals will be maintained at least 10 feet from any residential property line.

Edited by SEC=UGA, 11 June 2012 - 02:41 PM.

[SEC=UGA]

muck, on 11 June 2012 - 02:30 PM, said:

We're still going great guns with (nearly) 30 chickens.  Once they start laying, we're having eggs in some way, shape or form at every meal, I'm sure! HA!

Eggs Benedict
Bacon Egg and Cheese Sandwich
Chicken Egg Foo Yung

Repeat every day.

[detlef]

muck, on 11 June 2012 - 02:30 PM, said:

We're still going great guns with (nearly) 30 chickens.  Once they start laying, we're having eggs in some way, shape or form at every meal, I'm sure! HA!

Word to the wise, don't use really fresh eggs for hard boiled, they're bloody impossible to peel.  You want to use eggs at least 5 days to a week old for that.  Most people never have to worry about that because the eggs they're buying are likely close to a week old already, but it does come up if you're harvesting your own.

[matt770]

SEC=UGA, on 11 June 2012 - 02:38 PM, said:

Livestock and poultry animals are only permitted on a lot of two acres or larger. All animals will be maintained at least 10 feet from any residential property line.

Okay, so we just have to annex the guy next door.  Shouldn't be too hard, he's about 90.

[SEC=UGA]

matt770, on 11 June 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:

Okay, so we just have to annex the guy next door.  Shouldn't be too hard, he's about 90.

Careful, he didn't get to 90 by being stupid.

[detlef]

Got 3 eggs yesterday, so Vesper is officially back into production mode.  She certainly turned the corner back from crazy a little over a week ago, so we figured it was only a matter of time.  But it was nice to see and just in the nick of time as the two that were still laying were on the verge on not being able to keep up with what we eat.

Also, the new hens, Cincy and Sammy are doing well and spent their first afternoon with the older girls yesterday after spending the first few in their own cage within the coop.  The older ones will house the kcuff out of the youngins if given the chance but we've read it's not so bad if you give them a few days, separated by a fence to get used to one another.  Seemed to work.  The big ones each took a turn bitch-slapping the young birds but didn't go overboard.  Just enough to tell 'em where they sit.  And they got the message.  We figure another few sessions like that and we'll be ready to just turn them loose together.

[muck]

We got an egg two days ago ... my daughter was GIDDY!  She was actually with the chicken when she laid it.  So, in a few weeks, we should be looking at close to 10-12 dozen a week.

Egg sandwiches, anyone?