CCX

[CrealCritter]

We are out of chicken, just 4 drumsticks left. But we have plenty of pork, guess I'd best get to cooking that.

Your dinner looks delicious. Raising CCX sure puts a lot of meat in the freezer in a short time.

I have orders for 38 CCX, not counting what our DD and family want and ours too. At $6 per pound, it more than pays for DD's and ours. I think I'll raise 2 batches of 50 each. Maybe I'll sell a few more. Last spring, we sold a lot and I had to raise another batch for fall and I sold some of that too. Now DD and family are out and so are we. Can't have too much chicken! LOL

I still have 10 hens to go I will have way more than enough chicken to last my wife and I, for a long time to come. Eventhough I do plan on giving some away, still way more than enough.

 

[baymule]

Make that Orange Chicken recipe I posted. It is delicious, we love it!

 

[CrealCritter]

Finished up processing the 10 hens this past weekend (Feb 6 & 7) parted out 6 cut 4 in half because like the roos, they wouldn't fit in large vacuum seal bags whole.

We got some chicken to eat for a while now. I gave my favorite daughter in law 4 hens cut in half for helping. Right Proud of my Favorite Daughter In Law. She never butchered chickens before. She was a little leary but came around real quick.

Lot of work processing all those big fat fatties but well worth it in my mind. They are delicious, plus I know what went in them and they were treated very well, lived a good life for a meat chicken.

I guess the chicks were a good week old when I bought them. I raised the hens for 76 days and the roos 69 days. So I guess the Hens were around 12 weeks old and roos 11 weeks old. Quick way to put meat on the table.

Fermenting 21% meat bird feed and adding 1/2 dry cracked corn about the 6 week to their daily feed schedule. Really did work to lessen the feed cost and put some fat on the birds. The chickens all were healthy and I had zero problems out of them. Just something to think about if you are gonna raise your own CCX for the table.

After about 6 weeks I left the man door cracked open and opened the window all day long, closed it at night. I had a 1300 watt electric milk house heater set at 50 degrees on a shelf and had two heat lamps on at all times.

When I could smell ammonia. I limed the hay real well and added another layer of fresh hay overtop. I think I did this 6 times. 50 lb bag of Barn Lime is cheap, I used 3 bags and hay was free.

I should have a killer garden this year. All the poopy limed hay is all going to be spread out in the garden within a week or two to rot and get tilled into the soil early this spring.

 

[CrealCritter]

Orange Chicken

Ingredients
For the chicken and marinade:

1 pound chicken breast, cut into small pieces
5 tablespoons cornflour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water (add more if the batter is very thick)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
For the sauce:

1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 cup orange juice (add more if you want more sauce)
2 tablespoons distilled vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili flakes
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
5 tablespoons water

Orange Chicken

Ingredients
For the chicken and marinade:

1 pound chicken breast, cut into small pieces
5 tablespoons cornflour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water (add more if the batter is very thick)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
For the sauce:

1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 cup orange juice (add more if you want more sauce)
2 tablespoons distilled vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili flakes
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
5 tablespoons water

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the salt, pepper, cornflour, egg, and water. Stir to combine.
Add oil to the mixture and stir to combine.
Combine the chicken with the mixture. Coat the chicken evenly.
Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 1 hour before frying.
Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
Place coated chicken pieces into the pan gently, using tongs, to avoid splashing oil.
Fry the chicken, flipping each piece every 2 minutes.
Cook until the pieces turn golden brown.
Continue frying the chicken until it's all done. Set aside.

Heat another pan over low heat.
In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water. Stir well. Set aside.
Fry the minced ginger, garlic, and chili flakes for a few minutes.
Add the brown sugar, soy sauce, orange juice, and cornstarch mixture.
Add the vinegar into the pan and stir to combine.
Add the fried chicken into the pan. Coat the chicken with the sauce.
Remove the chicken from the pan.
Place the chicken in serving bowl or plate. Garnish with chopped cilantro and sesame seeds.
Serve immediately with steamed white rice.

I don't mix the chicken in the sauce, we prefer to place the chicken on the rice and dip the sauce over the chicken and rice.

Instead of breast, I use the skinless boneless thigh meat, I use 2 packages of 4 pieces each, cut into smaller pieces. I double the sauce recipe.

I garnish with chopped green onion.

Wife can't stomach the chilli flakes but I'm going to try this most definitely. Thanks Bay

 

[CrealCritter]

And this concludes this tread, start to finish.

That ain't snow

 

[baymule]

You did great! That's some very good meat you raised.

 

[CrealCritter]

You did great! That's some very good meat you raised.

Yep satisfying feeling for sure. My daughter in law is already talking about raising more

 

[Mini Horses]

At least she was there to help slaughter! Most often they only show at point of getting from the freezer. I rarely hear of any who want to be part of the cost of buy and raise experience.

 

[baymule]

Our DD and SIL are splitting the cost of buying, feeding and slaughter cost of Goldie the steer. They want half a hog this year too.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We have a couple of friends who would like to go in with us on raising and butchering meat chickens. One lives in town and has never butchered before, but is willing to learn and help. Hopefully, he will be willing to be our back-up animal care taker so we go on vacation occasionally. It is so hard to leave home when animals need daily care.