Gypsi
Almost Self-Reliant
Gypsi, I see where your processing went well! Congratulations!It gets easier the more you do it and pretty soon you'll be an old hand at it and nothing much will surprise you. I did note that you were still having some shell problems even though you are offering supplemental calcium. When my hens are that bad, I just put the oyster shell right in their daily layer ration and they manage to eat quite a bit of it. I also try to increase protein and will sometimes crack their older eggs right into their ration and stir it a little...best source of protein I can offer without buying something else, ya know?
If you have a meat grinder, you can rest those birds a few days, debone and put them right into the meat grinder and freeze the burger or use it right away in some recipe. It sure does keep the flavor from cooking out from the long, slow stewing one normally has to do with old birds. Fresh ground is already tenderized and can be just browned in a pan and used in stir fry, burritos, etc.
Bee you are a lifesaver you know. Hope you are doing well. Between pond building dog training bee rescuing and truck /trailer fixing I've been a little busy. But I've got to cull a couple of roosters and came back to see what your tips were. They are still useful!
