Meat roos in their new home.
We also needed to get them into a bigger space. We are just days away from our first butcher day but they were just too stinky and too tightly packed.
But first we needed to shovel out the deep litter in the Turkey House. It took a while to get it loaded out and into the garden...but my tomatoes next year will be about ten feet tall. Then we had to make sure the Turkey House was secure. Zander and Kai gave it a good once over and found no rats.
Last, we had to secure the meat yard. The meat yard borders on the dog yard and since someone grabbed a rouge rooster the other day.....*glares at Kai and Zander* we had to make sure none of the meats would toddle into the danger zone. We used a couple pieces of fence to shore up the security between the meat yard and the dog yard. Easy peasy. We are always moving around fence so it is no big deal.
So we started hauling the creepy meatballs over to their new and luxurious home. One by one. Of course, one of the meats bit me and so we named him "First." And he will be on butcher day.
As we were moving them over we realized that we were grabbing mostly the roos and so we thought it would be a terrific idea to just have the meat roos over there. This way they wouldn't bother the lady meats and they would be in a neat and tidy area together - easy to grab when we went to butcher.
When we were done moving all the meat roos over to the Turkey House we stepped back to congratulate ourselves on a job well done.
And then they started crowing. All of them.
The Turkey House is exactly ten steps away from the bedroom window.
We are idiots.
Sometimes our clever plans do not work out. This was one of them. So far the crowing has not been too bad but we are going to be stepping up our butcher schedule. Fast.
Note to self: in the future move the fattie meat ladies over to the Turkey House.
Happy Monday everyone! Have you made a meat misstep? This one will be remedies soon... but we should have kept the roosters where we couldn't hear them.
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6 comments:
You really need to write a book. Your to-the-point sense of humor is the biggest reason I read your blog haha!
doh! well at least you're motivated to get them processed!
We have 16 roosters where we can't hear them but surprisingly they haven't started crowing. Well one tries occasionally but we moved the pullets out early and they must not have anything to crow about. They hatched in late June so they are coming due soon. These are layer breeds so not meat balls. I can the chopped meat and it comes out to about a pint or so per bird.
Oh my gosh I didn't know they would start crowing at that age.........wow. My meaties are all rooster I think. Thats what I had ordered. They are 7 weeks and 5 days old and I don't think they have crowed that I know of. That is so funny you moved them so close to where you sleep........you crack me up!!!
I harvested 5 of the meat birds this past Saturday because they could hardly walk and I felt like it was their time. I was nervous about doing it. I did end up plucking them and they turned out pretty good. Not as pretty as supermarket birds but not too bad.After they were processed the 5 of them weighed 34 lbs ! I was amazed because they were only 7 weeks and 3 days old. I have never seen anything grow like that before. Some of the others are almost that big but will wait until this weekend. May let a few go longer depending on their legs. Anyway I think I can do this again in the spring. I just feel bad about their legs.
I plan on cooking one this weekend. I am excited to see how these birds taste.
The guardian dogs can't wait for the next heart,liver and gizzard meal. They really enjoyed that over their kibbles.Take care.
Linda
OFG, Have you ever thought of using a chicken tractor, Joel Salatin style, for your creepy meats? It might save you quite a bit of work!
Linda - TERRIFIC WORK!! i hope you were proud of yourself!! and yep they arnet as lovely as the store. but we just skin them and forget about it. i hope you do this in the spring. yay! let me know how your next butcher day goes. did you find that, altho you were nervous at first, it was easier/harder/weirder/more fun than you expected? what did you learn (aside from logistics) about the process or yourself?
hi Shane and wow what a fun pic for your ID! we love a good chicken tractor for sure... but we've had a lot of predator problems. :-( so since we have the out-buildings we just think that is easier for us. however, i've been thinking of ways to gate off the Turkey House yard so the meats can get into the garden now that i've taken everything up. a tractor over there would be easier for sure. THANKS for the comment. yay!
:-)
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