tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884610467022224157.post8129495347682008549..comments2023-08-28T04:49:47.536-07:00Comments on Milkweed & Teasel: Souped-up chickens for chicken soupJennifer Monterohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10003650742439806128noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884610467022224157.post-73589867963359031412011-10-14T11:19:26.623-07:002011-10-14T11:19:26.623-07:00Count me among the meat-bird geeks. I can't h...Count me among the meat-bird geeks. I can't help but do the math, and the math tells me you get 7 kilos of feed for 1 pound. That comes to (at today's exchange rate) almost exactly a ten cents per pound. We're paying over twice that for feed (about $12. for a 50-lb bag). <br /><br />We've done ducks (never again!) and turkeys (super-easy) for meat, and it's not an inexpensive proposition. A turkey will eat at least 85 pounds of feed (about $20), and the poult itself costs $13. Then there's the cost of fencing and housing, but that's not much. What runs up the price is the raccoons that eat the turkey feed. We're figuring about $45. per bird, all in, and they should kill out at 12-20 pounds.<br /><br />Maybe we'll try the meat chickens next year.<br /><br />Unrelatedly, if you put Ewe 0008's tag in upside down, does she become Ewe 8000?Tamar@StarvingofftheLandhttp://www.starvingofftheland.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884610467022224157.post-50667894179829374632011-10-14T00:11:11.328-07:002011-10-14T00:11:11.328-07:00Jen at M&T says:
Kate - Have enjoyed reading ...Jen at M&T says:<br /><br />Kate - Have enjoyed reading your findings on chicken keeping. The researcher in me loves quantifying and calculating.<br /><br />We have hybrid layers, the sex-links, and they're brilliant scavengers and egg layers. It's meat hybrids, the white blobs, that don't fill the role of scratching and cconverting scraps. <br /><br />Oddly, each batch of meat hybrids we've had have their own personality. This batch has been much more active, and even move around and scratch a bit. The last batch were so lazy I had to carry each one to roost when it got dark. Every night.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884610467022224157.post-59096820755054707722011-10-13T17:50:53.931-07:002011-10-13T17:50:53.931-07:00"There is no such thing as cheap meat."
..."There is no such thing as cheap meat."<br /><br />Funny, I was thinking just this very thing today. Actually I said that meat is too cheap, meaning the supermarket price is artificially and misleadingly low. Because we now keep hens and have raised a few meat birds, I really do see each and every bit of the birds as too valuable to waste. When we cook something that has just chicken stock or schmaltz in it, I feel like we're eating meat. It's all part of the animal, all good.<br /><br />I'm curious though about your comment on hybrids not being good on a mixed farm. Do you mean Cornish crosses and the like? Those big, inactive meat blobs that seem to do nothing but shit where they (occasionally) stand after 6-7 weeks of age? Or are you referring to something else? We have sex link hens, which I guess could be considered hybrids. They till for us and are reasonably active. They're so lightweight that they're not as strong as some of the dual-purpose breeds, but they contribute some work nonetheless.Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18017959421018964001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884610467022224157.post-39384778801781091142011-10-13T17:07:53.800-07:002011-10-13T17:07:53.800-07:00oooh - I'd forgotten you were studying butcher...oooh - I'd forgotten you were studying butchery. So in love with butchery, myself. Will email you the link.meganhttp://notevenawren.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884610467022224157.post-75881729697389804322011-10-13T14:50:02.893-07:002011-10-13T14:50:02.893-07:00Jen from M&T says:
Maria - We don't buy ...Jen from M&T says: <br /><br />Maria - We don't buy any supermarket meat, though we do buy half a pig from Peggy my butchery teacher. We even manage to trade venison and partridge for fish from seafaring friends. We eat too much meat because it's so available.<br /><br />Megan - I'm so thrilled that you got involved with the pig butchery and we encouraged it, even in a small way. You are welcome here anytime we are slaughtering or butchering, which, let's be real, is about once a week. Congrats and please email me the flickr link!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884610467022224157.post-59812165424453325782011-10-13T14:38:45.621-07:002011-10-13T14:38:45.621-07:00I totally get your humor, and would have at least ...I totally get your humor, and would have at least smirked at that one. <br /><br />I participated in my first pig slaughter and butchering this past weekend. Loved it. Well - the thrashing bit after the kill, not so much, but if you have something to eviscerate, I am on it. I have you to thank for this, at least in part. Photos of beautiful innards and butchery are on my flickr page - email me if you want the link. Not like you don't have enough innards going around.meganhttp://notevenawren.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884610467022224157.post-92218568362416341712011-10-13T13:25:18.215-07:002011-10-13T13:25:18.215-07:00For an ignoramus like me that was very informative...For an ignoramus like me that was very informative - i'm wowed at the difference in weight-at-killing between the two breeds. I'm also thinking that between your chickens and all the venison etc... you hunt, I'm guessing you don't buy meat from the supermarket much, or never?Mariahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01656390046187780127noreply@blogger.com