You are going to make a fine meal!

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Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,776
1,510
51
Wiltshire
Those are big birds...Do they taste good?

If I was rearng my own birds I would keep ducks, much nicer than chicken.
 

greencloud

Forager
Oct 10, 2015
117
30
Newcastle
You should try to get the KFC breed for maximum efficiency. 7 breasts, 16 wings and 6 legs per bird. Tricky to find the depleted uranium they rear them on though!

Joking aside, I would love to keep a few birds for fresh eggs here in suburbia, but there are so many foxes (and chavs) around here, the cost of keeping them safe & secure would keep me in xl free range for decades!
 
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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
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Mercia
Those are big birds...Do they taste good?

If I was rearng my own birds I would keep ducks, much nicer than chicken.

Time will tell, not slotted any yet (couple of months till killing weight - they could get bigger yet).

They are supposed to be a fine table bird with white skin and white flesh.

I would like ducks as well, and pigs and.....well you get the idea. Only have so much land sadly.
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
They are very bonny looking birds. You can tell they're well looked after.
Shame all birds aren't so well looked after, all in the name of cheap meat. Chicken was a rare treat for us growing up.
What you think, better roasted or boiled?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Probably keep one for the solstice then joint the rest Colin. The cockerel with the black tail will stay as flock leader until we raise a clutch of (bought) fertilised eggs. We will keep the best cockerel from them to replace him and kill the rest. That will give us a stud cockerel and our laying hens from separate blood lines.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
You can boil a fat young bird too though. It cooks it well, gives a fresh stock, and keeps it plump for roasting off in the oven as well.
It's how capons were often cooked around here.

M
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
That's true, very true …..though I thought there was some kind of chemical caponizing still done ?

Capons were preferred roasting birds just because of their size and 'plumpness' as well as the taste.
When I was little I didn't know that they weren't a different breed :eek:

M
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
You can boil a fat young bird too though. It cooks it well, gives a fresh stock, and keeps it plump for roasting off in the oven as well.
It's how capons were often cooked around here.

M

Very much the way of making a rare treat go even further.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 

greencloud

Forager
Oct 10, 2015
117
30
Newcastle
I try to make one go 3 main meals but the wife isn't as thrifty so generally calls time after two.

Roast on Sunday
Curry on Monday
(If persuasive charm works) Soup / broth on Wednesday
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
If you pressure cook everything left, once you've taken off the meat for curry; the bones, the cheugh bits, the skin, etc., really pressure it down, and strain it before it gets cold, then you'll end up with the most nutritious thick and jellified stock. It'll freeze well and it'll enrich every gravy or soup or pie you make using it too.
It'll also set around flakes of the meat and make a ramekin shaped meat loaf type thing. We call the meat version potted hough, but potted chicken is good on salads, good on sandwiches, good with crackers and the like too.

If folks like meat, the carcase is too good to just throw away.
Duck can be done like this too, so can pheasant once you've taken off the breast meat. Just strip the birds out of their jackets and pressure cook them until the rest of the meat will fall off the bones (what's left of them once the pressure cooker has digested them anyway).

HWMBLT doesn't like gravy, or soup, (and he is Scottish, I did check :) ) and the rest of us don't eat meat, so I always feel so guilty with the waste. I make potted meat for him with some of it, but mostly it goes to feed the foxes :eek:

Much under-rated tool is a good pressure cooker :)

M
 

Harvestman

Bushcrafter through and through
May 11, 2007
8,656
26
55
Pontypool, Wales, Uk
Good chicken is a real treat. I hardly ever have it, but when I do I buy a locally raised bird and roast it. The bird costs about £15 but is much larger than a commercial bird, and makes several wonderful meals.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
You should try to get the KFC breed for maximum efficiency. 7 breasts, 16 wings and 6 legs per bird. Tricky to find the depleted uranium they rear them on though!.....

It's actually worse than that. Most commercially available chicken or turkey available here is so far from natural that they have to be artificially inseminated. The breast are too large for them to come together naturally.

They are very bonny looking birds. You can tell they're well looked after.....What you think, better roasted or boiled?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

That big surely deserves roasting or smoking. Of course a disjointed one is always best pan fried; BBQed is a close second.

......It's how capons were often cooked around here.

M

But of course caponing is highly illegal now!

Seriously? Why? How is it different from castrating cattle?

That's true, very true …..though I thought there was some kind of chemical caponizing still done ?

Capons were preferred roasting birds just because of their size and 'plumpness' as well as the taste.......

They still are here; well, capons or large hens.

.......HWMBLT doesn't like gravy, or soup, (and he is Scottish, I did check :) ).....

Sacrilege!!! Does he like Chicken & Dumplings? Chicken Pot Pie?
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
.....If I was rearng my own birds I would keep ducks, much nicer than chicken.

.......I would like ducks as well, and pigs and.....well you get the idea. Only have so much land sadly.

And only so much time. So many things I'd like to do (farming related) but there's no way to do it all in one lifetime. Chickens are a good compromise.

Have you considered rabbits? Quail? Turkey?
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Take a look at the prices of fly tying supplies for fishing.
Hackle capes in top condition are worth good money.
Might as well make as much profit from each bird as possible.
With your success, the concept might suggest raising a few birds for the feathers, alone.
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
If doing soup for a group using my biggest pot it's handy to have a hough and a couple of chickens boiling away in the bottom of it. Flavours the soup and flavours the bird and like Toddy says keeps it moist if you decide to roast it off.
Santaman I'm still intrigued by the idea of frying whole birds like you do with turkey at Thanksgiving. Do you use anything to keep the cavity open or does the oil just work itself in there for even cooking. (I'm that odd Scots bloke that rarely fries things.)
I'm going to have to dig out a YouTube video of it, is it nicer than roasting?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Well as of today we know that Pioneer (the black tailed rooster) is sexually mature. He also has a very surprised sister!

Well, it is Lincolnshire after all!
 

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