Chickens, Ducks, Turkeys

Chickens

Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!  We eat eggs everyday!

No really, we do.  And we always have.  Hence why we needed to get some chickens:)

We got our oldest as chicks straight from the incubator.  We wanted to know their living environment and what they were eating from the day they were born.

When you do this though, you really can't be sure if you have a rooster or a hen.  We started with 16 baby chicks and ended up with a 50/50 split.  We needed a game plan on what to do with the roosters.

After much research and talking with fellow chicken owners, we decided to process (butcher) the roosters.

We don't take processing lightly.  When you take another life to feed yourself it is extremely emotional and very draining (well for me anyway).  However, we chose to live a lifestyle of knowing where our food comes from so...we did it.

Every part of the chicken is used (well okay, except the feathers...I could probably make pillows one day with them or something but I am no seamstress).  We eat the meat and organs, boil the head/feet/bones for stock, and give our dog any extra that we have.  The whole process takes time but everything is DELICIOUS!  There is something extremely satisfying in knowing that the chickens we eat are healthy, organic, free-range birds that we raised since birth.

Now we have 23 chickens.  8 are laying eggs and the rest are either roosters or still too young to lay.

We have Americaunas, Easter eggers, Svart Hona, Marans, and a mixed breed.

For those of you thinking about getting some backyard chickens....DO IT!!!!  They are worth every ounce of feeding, cleaning, and managing!  Trust me...they are probably the easiest farm animal to raise with great benefit to your overall health.

Just sayin'.

Ducks

Howard the duck…yeah! Oh god that song…I’ll have it in my head the rest of the day.

We don’t have any Howards but we do have 2 peking and 2 runner ducks we are raising for eggs.

They are really cool BUT uggg soooo freakin’ messy!  This might be our only time raising ducks.  Their poop is foul smelling, they eat and drink constantly and spill it all over the place, plus they have these claws that will scratch right through your shirt.

As of now, I would not recommend getting ducks.

With that said, you might have noticed that we don’t name any of our animals except the goats.  This is because they are not pets.  We don’t want pets.  We have a dog.  What we want are animals that we can give a healthy and happy life to and in return they produce food for us.  That’s it.

I mean, really what if we named one of the ducks…let’s say…Gertrude….and all day long we call her Gertrude and have conversations about how Gertrude did this and Gertrude did that.  Then one day we find out Gertrude is not actually a female but a male.  This causes a problem.  Because we want the ducks for eggs but males will not produce eggs.  Then the next step would be to butcher Gertrude.  We would eat her (I mean him)…and say what???  “Hmm Gertrude tastes good.”

No!  I can’t do that.  There is somewhat of an attachment/pet feeling when you name the animals.  Sooo, we have chosen not to for our own sanity.

Turkeys

Thanksgiving. That’s it.

That’s the main reason we are raising turkeys.

My dream (I have many so bear with me) is to one day have Thanksgiving dinner where everything on the table is from our farm. The turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, broccoli and cheese casserole, pumpkin pie, bread, EVERYTHING was raised or grew here at the farm.  I get excited because really…we are not far off.

Just like the chickens and ducks, we purchased our turkeys as baby poults so we know exactly the kind of food and environment they are growing up in.  The thing is…the energy that is put into the turkeys will eventually be put into our bodies and we want GOOD energy!  Wouldn’t you?

Chickens

Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!  We eat eggs everyday!

No really, we do.  And we always have.  Hence why we needed to get some chickens:)

We got our oldest as chicks straight from the incubator.  We wanted to know their living environment and what they were eating from the day they were born.

When you do this though, you really can't be sure if you have a rooster or a hen.  We started with 16 baby chicks and ended up with a 50/50 split.  We needed a game plan on what to do with the roosters.

After much research and talking with fellow chicken owners, we decided to process (butcher) the roosters.

We don't take processing lightly.  When you take another life to feed yourself it is extremely emotional and very draining (well for me anyway).  However, we chose to live a lifestyle of knowing where our food comes from so...we did it.

Every part of the chicken is used (well okay, except the feathers...I could probably make pillows one day with them or something but I am no seamstress).  We eat the meat and organs, boil the head/feet/bones for stock, and give our dog any extra that we have.  The whole process takes time but everything is DELICIOUS!  There is something extremely satisfying in knowing that the chickens we eat are healthy, organic, free-range birds that we raised since birth.

Now we have 23 chickens.  8 are laying eggs and the rest are either roosters or still too young to lay.

We have Americaunas, Easter eggers, Svart Hona, Marans, and a mixed breed.

For those of you thinking about getting some backyard chickens....DO IT!!!!  They are worth every ounce of feeding, cleaning, and managing!  Trust me...they are probably the easiest farm animal to raise with great benefit to your overall health.

Just sayin'.

Ducks

 

Howard the duck...yeah! Oh god that song...I'll have it in my head the rest of the day.

We don't have any Howards but we do have 2 peking and 2 runner ducks we are raising for eggs.

They are really cool BUT uggg soooo freakin' messy!  This might be our only time raising ducks.  Their poop is foul smelling, they eat and drink constantly and spill it all over the place, plus they have these claws that will scratch right through your shirt.

As of now, I would not recommend getting ducks.

With that said, you might have noticed that we don't name any of our animals except the goats.  This is because they are not pets.  We don't want pets.  We have a dog.  What we want are animals that we can give a healthy and happy life to and in return they produce food for us.  That's it.

I mean, really what if we named one of the ducks...let's say...Gertrude....and all day long we call her Gertrude and have conversations about how Gertrude did this and Gertrude did that.  Then one day we find out Gertrude is not actually a female but a male.  This causes a problem.  Because we want the ducks for eggs but males will not produce eggs.  Then the next step would be to butcher Gertrude.  We would eat her (I mean him)...and say what???  "Hmm Gertrude tastes good."

No!  I can't do that.  There is somewhat of an attachment/pet feeling when you name the animals.  Sooo, we have chosen not to for our own sanity.

Turkeys

Thanksgiving. That's it.

That's the main reason we are raising turkeys.

My dream (I have many so bear with me) is to one day have Thanksgiving dinner where everything on the table is from our farm. The turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, broccoli and cheese casserole, pumpkin pie, bread, EVERYTHING was raised or grew here at the farm.  I get excited because really...we are not far off.

Just like the chickens and ducks, we purchased our turkeys as baby poults so we know exactly the kind of food and environment they are growing up in.  The thing is...the energy that is put into the turkeys will eventually be put into our bodies and we want GOOD energy!  Wouldn't you?