# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Livestock and Animal Husbandry >  WOOHOO!(maybe) Xmas Dinner!(maybe)

## Winnie

One of the girls has been a bit out of sorts this week, not her usual perky self at all. Well now I know why... she's gone broody! Soooo remember those cute fluffy chicks last year? I believe I can see more on the horizon! :Smile:

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## crashdive123

Shhhhhhh. Don't tell mama. :Innocent:

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## Winnie

Darn! She changed her mind!

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## crashdive123

> Darn! She changed her mind!


The story told by many a young lad while growing up. :Innocent:

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## Rick

Sadly, I never told that story. They all stuck by the "last man on earth" decision. I sure hope I live that long. I'd like to see if they were being honest.

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## Winnie

The one who went broody last year has done it again! I've just ordered some fertile eggs. Christmas dinner will be here the day after tomorrow!!

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## nell67

Winnie,maybe you can come over and help me,I opened my big mouth to a customer,and ended up agreeing to help him butcher 62 chickens,I managed to get through 20 of them yesterday.He was NOT prepared at all when I got there,and his wife is no help,she cannot eat one that they have raised and won't help.

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## Camp10

> Winnie,maybe you can come over and help me,I opened my big mouth to a customer,and ended up agreeing to help him butcher 62 chickens,I managed to get through 20 of them yesterday.He was NOT prepared at all when I got there,and his wife is no help,she cannot eat one that they have raised and won't help.


Sooo, by "agreeing to help" you mean you've agreed to butcher all 62 alone?  Nell, I'm looking for some _help_ around deer season.. :Innocent:

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## Rick

And I'm looking for help mowing the yard the rest of the summer. I'm a lot closer than Camp!

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## Camp10

> And I'm looking for help mowing the yard the rest of the summer. I'm a lot closer than Camp!


That's okay...lawn work should be all done by deer season so Nell can help both of us!

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## Rick

I just love it when a plan comes together!!

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## Winnie

> Winnie,maybe you can come over and help me,I opened my big mouth to a customer,and ended up agreeing to help him butcher 62 chickens,I managed to get through 20 of them yesterday.He was NOT prepared at all when I got there,and his wife is no help,she cannot eat one that they have raised and won't help.


Nell, you know I would if I could. Why do people raise things if they're not prepared to see the job through to the end??

I've ordered a pure breed this time(light sussex) The boys grow big enough for the table and the girls are good layers. Jennifer has finally retired!

And as for you lot..... Words fail me!

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## nell67

RIck and Camp.LOL you know I would if I could,I don't have enough time to do half the things I do,and then I managed to volunteer for this !AND pick more blueberries AND tend my garden AND help load firewood,AND help load logs,not to mention the everyday cooking and cleaning........

Winnie,I knew you would if you could,you are a sweet person like that!

His intention was not to clean all of them,he thought that he could sell them for $5 or $6 each after feeding them for 6-8 weeks (cornish cross breed) BUT people won't pay that much for one they have to take home and clean themselves,when they can walk into a grocery and pay the same money for one that has already been cleaned!

So me big mouth got me schedule stretched even thinner! Tomorrow,I hit the butcher block again,my daughter MAY go with me.depends on if she actually sleeps tonight!

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## nell67

Update on the chickens,I have managed to get through all but 12 of those chickens,the guy has ADHD or something,he just cannot stay home long enough for me to get through them,should have been done with them Sunday.

Oh did I mention these darn things weigh about 10 lbs dressed?? He let them go wayyyy too long before butchering.

On the other hand,I picked up around 40 from the neighbor who raises Tyson chickens,theses birds were too small for them to take,my next day off will  be working on putting them in my freezer,breast only though,too small for whole chicken.

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## crashdive123

I'll bet that "working" for your food makes it all that much better tasting.

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## nell67

Yup,you appreciate it more if you have to work for it.

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## crashdive123

Are you going to the jamboree this year?  If so, is chicken on the menu?

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## nell67

> Are you going to the jamboree this year?  If so, is chicken on the menu?


I WISH,but I just got bumped up to asst. manager at work,as one a.m. quit Saturday,and the other was in a  head on (really not head on,the idiot ran his SUV up on and over her little car).

She won't be back for at least three months,with head lacerations and a broken left femur ,and a hole in her left bicep that the beLIEve the guys bumper went into as he went over her car. Girl is LUCKY to be alive.

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## crashdive123

Congrats on the promotion.  Bummer on missing the fun.

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## Rick

Well congratulations. When I said you'd stop at nothing to get ahead I didn't mean stop signs!!

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## nell67

Thanks guys,LOL Rick,wasn't me,but rather my friend Amanda from work,she and I were scheduled to open,she lives in the county east of the county we work in,and I the county to the west,we were both about halfway to work when I got her call.

THe guy who ran over her car admitted to shooting meth 2 days prior,and smoking pot that morning.No DL's,NO Insurance,driving a vehicle with no tags,used hypo's all over his truck,and the ground around it from where his ruck rolled after going up over her's,and they let him WALK out of the er,because his drug screen was not back by the time the officer finished his report,I wish there was more I could do to get guys like him behind bars.

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## Rick

Only in America. Land of the free. Home of the escaped.

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## nell67

Yea,I would have thought his admission to smoking pot (DUI),plus all the used hypo's (paraphernalia) would have been a sure trip to jail,but what do I know!

GGGRRRRRRR

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## Winnie

10lbs?!?! You're not joking that's way over! Must have been like trying to pluck an old tyre! Oh and great score on the chickens for your freezer!
Congrats on the preomotion!

The nursery is all set up, eggs are due to hatch anytime now.

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## oldtrap59

So Winnie. How's Christmas dinner doing? Either I missed some thing or you haven't posted on the thread about how things are going. End of July seems to be the last word on how the hatch was doing. Cockrels should be either ready or in the freezer. Just wondering.

Oldtrap

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## Winnie

Oops! Sorry!Well of the 6 eggs I set under my hen, 5 hatched and there were 3 hens and two Roosters. The hens will stay in the flock to replace the two girls I lost. One of the Cockerals was eaten last week. See here.
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ad.php?t=14280 
As they are an old fashioned dual purpose breed they have taken longer to mature than the meat hybrids I had last year. The one I butchered last week weighed 31/2lbs oven ready. Even though these are slower growing, their flavour is better and the food input hasn't been as high. The other Rooster is Christmas dinner on the hoof so to speak.

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## shiftyer1

I just found this thread and didn't look at the date of the op.  LOL  I was really wondering how u were going to get xmas dinner hatched and raised in 10 days!

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## Winnie

> I just found this thread and didn't look at the date of the op.  LOL  I was really wondering how u were going to get xmas dinner hatched and raised in 10 days!


If I could do that, I'd be a millionaire! :Laugh: 

Oh, I put the results in another thread.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...hlight=grannie

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