Chickens and all things fowl

[Patriotmuso]

We got six red sex links last year as our first chickens. The white silkie rooster came with them at no cost lol. The kids promptly named him Sir Top em hat. Lost 2 hens to natural causes.

They laid good for a while. In winter I keep a light on a timer to make sure egg production is somewhat sustaining the cost of feed. I did the light bulb inside a cinder block trick to keep the drinker from freezing. Worked good.

The eggs however tasted TERRIBLE. It was literally like eating the buck buck's poo lol. I just culled them a few days ago because the egg production from 3 hens was down to like 1 or none a day. Since we were almost out of food for them and the egg flavor I figured it was time to try my hand at slaughtering our own meat.

I now know where the saying tough old bird came from lol. Even Cooked for 24 hrs as a soup it was... interesting. I went and got 3 hens last night for free from Craigslist. 2 are definitely RIR'S. 1 is a sex link. they are older but supposedly still laying. If nothing else I'll try and incubate some eggs and maybe start a flock, after all the price was definitely fair LOL

[0utlaw]

I've found most of our birds that we don't pressure cook will be tough. We also soak them in ice water with salt for three days or so before we cut them up and package them. How granny could kill that bird on sunday morning and make him taste so good for Sunday supper is a trick I haven't learned yet.

[0utlaw]

RIR are easy to hatch as well as Plymouth Barred Rocks (PBRs) and Americanas. Orpingtons we have had a tough time with we seem to lose a lot during pipping, I don't know if it's because they are so big or if it is particular to the breed but that has been our first hand experience. We haven't had sex links so I couldn't say either way on them, particularly about the bad taste. The four breeds we have done, while looking totally different in the shells, all taste.....like eggs. Our thoughts going into this year is to go to a straight breed in the coop and at the moment we are leaning to RIRs although PBRs are a strong second choice, a good deal one way or the other could easily sway the choice. PBR eggs tend to be bigger but our Reds have been 200 eggs a year for three years in a row now. It's like they now what happens to "slow layers".

[Patriotmuso]

I ooopsed lol. 2 are NOT RIR'S, they look like cinnamon Queens from a little research. Sorry, still learning. I had thought about PBR as well but am looking for high egg production. That's why I'm leaning towards RIR'S.

[0utlaw]

PBRs aren't bad for egg production, they definitely tend to the jumbo size eggs. They make good dual purpose which is a major consideration for us. We run 15 to 20 eggs through the incubator every 9 weeks and raise those chicks for meat.

[Patriotmuso]

Excellent. Yeah dual purpose is a plus. We have a very large family and we are 95% organic/non gmo so it would be nice to know what is in our meat.