Wednesday, September 3, 2014

PPPP Report Week 10

Earlier sunsets plus cloud cover makes for bad photos.
It's that time again.  Welcome back for your regularly schedule Wednesday Promised Pastured Poultry Progress Report. Not watching the clock and a bit of a rain delay lead to chores (and photography) later in the afternoon than usual. The flash can only do so much to compensate for that, so I apologize that these pictures will not be as clear and bright as you're used to now.

We're into crunch time now.  Only 14 days left before the broiler boys are "ready".  Since we'll probably graduate them in stages (50 is a lot to do in one day with only 2 sets of hands) some will be running around a bit longer and end up a bit bigger but I doubt it will be a lengthy reprieve.  (continued)

Between now and then we'll be gearing up for a round of processing.  Checking that the freezer space is ready, perhaps freeing up some extra room just in case, collecting the processing knives, aprons, tools, and miscellany so it's all on hand and ready to go, tasks like that.  Last year we were processing birds late.  It was cold (icy) and uncomfortable.  I want 100% of that work done and over with before the weather turns, all the better if it is done before the leaves turn too.


Having the layers and the turkeys together has been a wise decision so far.  The turkeys are so much larger they ignore the girls and the girls wouldn't dare pick a fight with a turkey 4 times their size.

This means the hoop coop is fairly peaceful of late.  I have hung the feeder from the ridgepole which has cut down on spillage and waste during feeding compared to when it was left at ground level and will likely do the same with a watering solution if I can figure out where all the "extra" 5 gallon buckets have gotten off to.

Blondy here is definitely a rooster, but his color is very different from the other broilers.  Right now he's the only rooster from the broilers  to be bunking in the hoop coop. There are 2 other broilers which are definitely hens in there with him so they won't be harassed in with the other broilers. Because of his color, and what seems like a decent disposition we may keep him around.  Perhaps we'll be experimenting with some second generation home-style broilers next spring.  Time will tell.  In the meantime, his color mix is fun to look at.

You'll remember back in week 7 it seemed like the broilers were winning the size race?  You can clearly see now who the bigger boys are.  Two weeks left for the broilers leaves only 6 weeks left for the turkeys.  They still have a lot of raw mass to put on between now and then but their frames are big enough to hang it all on now and that's what they'll be focusing on. Socking away those calories and nutrient in muscle and meat.  

After keeping several of last year's turkeys much longer than ideal I'm sure that all of this year's turkeys will be heading into the freezer on time. More to get done before the leaves turn, a deadline with no shortage of other jobs to do too.  I suppose that's enough chatting for one day. I better get back to work.

Thanks for stopping by.

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