Wordless Wednesday

I See Dead Poultry!

Well, yes we butchered our lovely chickens....but I didn't take pictures of the act like I had wanted to. Mainly because we started at 3:30am setting up and we knew we wanted to be done ASAP. AZ gets hot very early and you dont want to be killing in the heat. So since we had a butt load of chickens to do, and it was just us, I couldnt be photographer and participate at the same time. Sorry :( Next time my sister said she would man the camera for us..... Yea we'll see. She may just pass out and film the ground. LOL.

Things were going smooth. The two older boys would go to the coop and each fetch us a bird. I'd grab the legs while Hubby had the head and chopped. We'd let the bird go and do its thing then hang it up side down while we did the next. So on and so forth. We hang them by rope on like a clothes line. Take the rope and just twist it around the feet and the tension holds them. But I'll tell you, by the time number 11 was on that rope it was dam near the ground. These were heavy birds!! I thought 5lbs. but I think I underestimated them. Our arms were tired!!

After we finished Hubby did the feathers while I did the butchering inside. Now, we decided to skin them and just keep the breasts and legs/thighs. Its how we cook. Its also a lot easier. I didn't have to mess with the guts and icky crap this time. Nice. But next time it may be different I may keep the whole bird for roasting.

I took some pictures after we bagged them up and you'll see what I mean! These were huge chickens!! I bagged in fours instead of six since their so big.

They Brought It On Themselves

Our first slaughtering of the new year is here!!  Woot woot!  Very pleased with how soon were able to do this.  We ordered Jumbo X's this time around and boy oh boy did they live up to everything the hatchery said!!  Usually we'd be slaughtering around Fall or Winter time but these big guys are already ready.  I'd say about 5lbs.  Solid.  Easy.

Now about this time I'd be getting nervous and feeling a lil guilty about having to butcher them.... but these guys are kinda mean....  OK they're really bad tempered!!  And they eat our eggs, and each other..  and well you get the picture.  No these are not flock rooster by any means!  My "King Shit", as I like to refer to him, has been with our flock since the get go.  He's in charge of all his ladies.  And does a darn good job of it.  But ever since the new boys came to town he's almost losing his King Shit status.  Not cool.  And Little Shit, his trusty sidekick cock, has been attacked.

I like to keep a cool vibe in the coop.  And for the most part it had been.  But these new roosters came into size and age.  They're trying to bully everyone.  It could be that we went overboard in ordering so many roosters, but cant cage them individually.  And Momma wants her meat!

Tomorrow morning bright and early, (U_U ugh), a slaughtering we will go. Hi ho hi ho.  I'm gonna try and get some good pictures but I'm depending on my camera phone now.  And its been a bit testy with me.  I need to break down and just buy a camera, but until then its what I got.

Friday Follows

McMurray Chickens

Right on time!! This morning I got a phone call from our post office in town that our chicks were here! I sprang up, grabbed coffee, a kid and I was out the door! An hour drive later and they were safe in their new home.

We ordered a mix of different ones this time and am I ever glad we did!!  Seeing all these little guys and gals all so different!!  We spent a good while checking them all out.  We all have different favorites.  Take a looksy!

***CLICK TO ENLARGE***

Washing Machine Turned Chicken Plucker

Anyone who has processed a chicken knows how hard the plucking part is. If you do it by hand that is. I found this neat video of a DIY chicken plucker. Yea another project for Hubby to do for me ☺.

Just to let you know this chicken had been killed and scalded first then placed in.




How nice and quick! I gotta find me an old washing machine!!

~*♥Welcome To My Animals Page!♥*~

Working with animals has been a huge learning experience for me and my family. Its had its ups and down, pros and cons. Ideally this would be the way for the world again, but we've become a little too accustomed to convience. The meats fresher healthier and happier. Yes we kill our animals, yes it was hard first go rounds, but I'll tell you what I've never had better tasting food! It makes such a difference having a clean animal on your plate vs whatever it was from the store. We've all seen those inside documentaries from slaughter houses. I feel bad for those animals. No chance to run and play, be petted and loved. We dont inject anything into our animals bodies, we treat naturally and lovingly as it should be. Right up to the day we... well you know...... Don't worry we're safe around here, if we're in the pig pen petting some and then go to the chicken coop and hold one, we wash our hands first.... To prevent cross contamination..... Don't want to mix pork and chicken. Thats dangerous.... Ok bad joke. Enjoy our videos and pictures and comment me with any questions. If I don't know, I know tons of people who would ♥
 ********I'm always adding new ones so be sure to check back and watch our progress**********

Americana Hens Lay Green and Blue Eggs

I found my first green egg! Its so tiny and cute! Americanas aka the Easter Egg Layer, are called this because of its different color of eggs they lay. From pretty blues to greens. I have 3 Americana hens and one girl started laying yesterday! It was a green you wouldn't believe! So I thought I'd take a picture of it for you! But somethings wrong with my camera. So I guess we'll have to post that later! But yippee! A green egg! Now when I get all that meat back from the pigs we took to be butchered we can have........yea! "Green Eggs and Ham!" Ok that was dorky I agree.

These birds were suppose to be a smaller size than my Orphintons, but I'll tell you they're almost the exact size! Which is good for eating, but these ladies are strictly layers. Thankfully.

We won't be getting chickens for meat purpose for awhile. We have the room for them in the new chicken coop, just not the time to slaughter. We'd end up over run with cocks fighting. Thats no fun for anyone. You really don't want anymore than a couple together. If you plan on having roosters for slaughter you want to slaughter at about 8 months. That way it brings down the hostility. They get very territorial from the get go but as time goes by more and more they try to challenge the alpha.

Eggs "Eggs"plained

*♥New Videos Posted At Bottom♥*




I have a new layer!! See my tiny one in the middle! Any first time layer will have a "Caitie sized" egg for the first couple of lays. I say Caitie sized since they are the perfect size for Little Caitie. About half the normal size.

Also, I've noticed my eggs have gotten lighter in color... I'm not sure if this is because of diet, age or what yet, but I'm searching to find out. Todays grab seems almost white. I have no "white layers".








These were taking about February or so. Big difference in color huh. Same girls laying though. That big one there is a goose egg. It was our first one we got.

Here's some egg facts:

Washing: Only use room tempeture water on a plain dish rag and wipe. Some say not to use water just to brush it off. This is because of the protective layer on the shell. Since the shells are porous, the layer allows the eggs to last much longer and keep out bacteria. But around here our eggs only last a few days. If that. We're almost living "hand to chicken butt" right now. As I call it, because it seems lately I'm always waiting on them to lay to make something. It also depends on how dirty it is.

Boiling: Since fresh eggs hardly have any air in them, they are very hard to peel I've discovered. If I'm going to make deviled eggs or egg salad they usually have to be older than a couple weeks. Otherwise, half the egg stays on the shell.

Nutrionally speaking: There is no difference between the nutrition from a white egg vs. a brown. Nor with fertile or not. What you want is a free range or cage free or organic. Its the diet that determines the better egg. I can't have mine free range anymore since I lost some to the bob cat and local dogs.

"Eggs"-piration Dates: If you wash them, and take off the protective layer, it's only about 4-5 weeks. While unwashed will last 4-5 months.

Whats in an egg:
Jumbo-

• Calories: 96
• Cholesterol: 275 mg
• Total Fat: 6.4 g
• Protein: 8.2 g

Extra Large-

• Calories: 85
• Cholesterol: 245 mg
• Total Fat: 5.7 g
• Protein: 7.3 g

Large-

• Calories: 74
• Cholesterol: 212 mg
• Total Fat: 5 g
• Protein: 6.3 g

Medium-

• Calories: 65
• Cholesterol: 186 mg
• Total Fat: 4.4 g
• Protein: 5.5 g

Small-

• Calories: 54
• Cholesterol: 157 mg
• Total Fat: 3.7 g
• Protein: 4.7 g

Pee Wee-

• Calories: 46
• Cholesterol: 132 mg
• Total Fat: 3.1 g
• Protein: 3.9 g

*"Whats in an egg" facts from about.com*

Chicken This... Chicken That

*Posted Pics Of Some Of My ♥Chickens♥ At The Bottom Of The Page*

Obviously we eat a lot of chicken around here. And with trying to cut down on our spending, plus useless plastic bottles that will just fill up the landfills, I try to do as much from scratch as I can.

That includes my sauces. You can buy a bottle of BBQ sauce for as cheap as a buck, true. But do you know how long that bottle will stay in our landfills? Almost 700 years!! Wow! How many different bottles do you go through a year? We would go through a lot!! So.... Why not make it and save it in a mason jar. Then keep washing that jar.♥

Here is one of my favorite sauces to use with chicken and its simple!


Teriyaki Sauce:


Before hand:
Mash up fresh pineapple save all the juice n bits. Set aside.

1 1/12c soy sauce
2 1/2t freshly minced garlic
1t ginger
1c brown sugar
1/2c sherry

Place this all in a sauce pan on low heat. Stir constantly so sugar won't burn.
Once it's all nice and mixed with sugar dissolved add in the pineapple juice n bits...Stir some more. About 5 min. *Let it cool*. Pour it over chicken in a casserole dish and cover. Let sit in the fridge over night! Yum!


The trick is to buy items you can make a lot of things from. Then, buy in bulk. It can actually save you quite a bit of money in the long run. One sauce I can not for the life of me master is catsup. I use so much of it. In my BBQ sauces, in my "secret" potato skins dip, on the kids tater wedges. I would love to find a recipe for that!! That tasted good I should add. Cause I've found some out there and ahem... not so yummy!

Another Set Back

It took a lot to come to the decision of slaughtering Big Willy with the others. We made an appointment with the Ag Dept here at the University. But found a "guy" who would do it a little cheaper. Haul them for us and get it back to us a little faster. So dumb us agreed.

It wasn't until 2 days before we were to have them picked up that this "guy" decided he wanted to remodel his place. WTF?? We have a month long wait with the UofA, then a month waiting for him and now were have another month waiting back with the UofA.

I'm furious! I can't believe how he can run a business like that? Lessons learned yet again with this. I'm glad to have Big Willy for a little while longer. But, the others I'm ready to say C-YA! One of our bucks is in destruction mode. Hitting anything and everything with his horns. One sow may be preggers. We're shelling out 100+/wkly more on feed for these animals.

Not even the slaughtering part is going smoothly! We were looking forward to having our meat back next week.....Now it's looking like August since the UofA keeps them for 6weeks. So our appointment is now set for middle June and oh boy are we going to be ready!

On a high note our chickens are just so cute! I have an almost naked hen. She's the boss. Here lately for some reason I guess the less feathers you have the more important you are. This hen has absolutely no feathers from her head down her neck and back.. Just the wings and feet. At first I thought they must be picking on her so I watched a little...... Shes runs that coop! That's gotta be the best part is just sitting with my animals and watching how they have their own lives going on. Early spring we brought in some chicks and since their the newbies they have to prove themselves... I'll be taking some video of this is just so fascinating to me!

A Chicken of a Different Color

This spring I found the cutest little chicks. They were vividly colored blue, orange, yellow, green. Like someone dipped them in Kool-Aid. I had never seen such a sight! I asked the man if he turned them these colors, thinking thats a lil inhumane to do to a 2 day old chick just to get them sold. But, happily they came this way! I call myself "The Chickenista" but there is soo much I need to learn before I can earn that title. Apparently these are leghorns that only start out colored then become plain ol' white.. I can't find anything on the web about these fun little chicks, and the guys no longer there. I knew I should of picked some of these up when I had the chance! I'm thinking about posting on Craigs List. Now that place has a lot of goodies! Anything you could ever want or need!

Another note..... My geese eggs have really started to go down in daily count. Total is maybe I get a couple a day. In AZ we really don't have a "Springtime", mid to upper 90's, the hens slow down a bit too. I'm pulling out about 10/day now from them. I really need the newbies to crank em out for me! But I probably won't see any from them til July or August. How am I soppose to fry chicken with out my eggs??

When You Raise Your Food They Show You Love!

This was just such a happy surprise! I was making dinner tonight and I went to flip my chicken over and got a real treat! I know I'm not a chef or a photographer but I just had to show you this. I guess I could of wiped the side of the plate, but I was in a hurry to post this. I know...... my life is empty if I find this my highlight of the day.


I love my chickens and feed them well, and even when their gone they show me love!






I'm saving this piece for Hubby after work tonight!