Chicken Garden Project at Backyard Aquaponics

faye

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Well of the chickens that we hatched probably half of them turned out to be roosters. Thanks to a tip from Redbeard, :thumbright:

today was their processing day and for $2-70 each and a 2 hour round trip each way we don't have much room left in the freezer.
They put up more of a fight than any other chicken I've tried to catch and were quite weighty.

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The biggest weighed in at 2.84 kilos and the smallest was over 2kg. That should reduce the feed bill around here, as now we only have to feed the egg layers and bredders. These birs may have been a rhode island red cross. Very please with the result

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BullwinkleII

Nice work.

We harvested some roosters once, but we found ourselves left with pretty much nothing after the feathers were removed.

And really dark meat that wasn't very nice.

They were some old style bantam roosters. Probably the only thing that doesn't taste like chicken in a world where everyone claims everything that isn't steak tastes like chicken

I don't understand why most mature male things taste disgusting. ie adult male animals, but fish taste like fish regardless of their age or gender.

And yeah, I just re-read that sentence - leave it alone

KrisGee

Just read the whole thread from the beginning - am new to this forum - and realised that you Aussies lead the life of Reilly!! :mrgreen:

There is a similar theme in the WoodenBoat forum. Loads of space, sun, and good people!!

All the veg reminds me of when I had a rooftop garden in UK in the seventies. Same thing with all the toms - and wasn't the green tomato chutney a delight (till we ran out!)

faye

Welcome to the forum Krisgee :wave1:

Not sure what the Life of Reilly is, though I am imagining it is good.

BullwinkleII

KrisGee wrote:

Just read the whole thread from the beginning - am new to this forum - and realised that you Aussies lead the life of Reilly!! :mrgreen:

There is a similar theme in the WoodenBoat forum. Loads of space, sun, and good people!!

All the veg reminds me of when I had a rooftop garden in UK in the seventies. Same thing with all the toms - and wasn't the green tomato chutney a delight (till we ran out!)

Hmmm wooden boats...

chillidude

BullwinkleII wrote:

KrisGee wrote:

Just read the whole thread from the beginning - am new to this forum - and realised that you Aussies lead the life of Reilly!! :mrgreen:

There is a similar theme in the WoodenBoat forum. Loads of space, sun, and good people!!

All the veg reminds me of when I had a rooftop garden in UK in the seventies. Same thing with all the toms - and wasn't the green tomato chutney a delight (till we ran out!)

Hmmm wooden boats...

Yeah, I was of two minds whether to allow the post, but there were no links so .....

KrisGee

Sorry, are wooden boats a bad thing. I didn't know so apologies.

BullwinkleII

Actually I was thinking I might have to make a wooden boat as my next thing

BullwinkleII

KrisGee wrote:

Sorry, are wooden boats a bad thing. I didn't know so apologies.

It's just that often first posts are spam from people trying to advertise something

johnfenn

Faye,
In the book "Omnivores Dilemma" is a section on a fella in the US who farms much like you describe here. What he produces off 150 acres is astounding. He also uses chickens as bug controllers, scarifiers and fertilizer factories, but he is on a much larger scale.
Worth a read or look him up at Polyface Farm. He also uses lots of other animals in integrated ways and each contributes more than they take away.

I have no financial connection to him, but I think you guys and he are so smart for figuring out this integrated stuff, that just churns out so much tucker from a small plot of land.

johnfenn

By the way the guy who runs Polyface Farms is a Joel Salatin!

faye

Thanks John, I'll put that one on my book list. I have hear the name Joel Salatin and believe he has a good reputation. I don't read too many books these days, just don't know where the time goes. Here are a couple of pics of the cucurbits that were harvested from the garden and around the chicken pens. More variety than I anticipated and a surprise mega sweet potato, may need to learn more about these to get the right timing and more tubers. Looks like it needed to be picked earlier as it seems to be exploding out of the ground.

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These things are dead easy to grow, produce lots and store really well for at least 6 months when its time to plant again. What a winner. Should go nicely with the roast chicken I think.

BullwinkleII

johnfenn wrote:

Faye,
In the book "Omnivores Dilemma" is a section on a fella in the US who farms much like you describe here. What he produces off 150 acres is astounding. He also uses chickens as bug controllers, scarifiers and fertilizer factories, but he is on a much larger scale.
Worth a read or look him up at Polyface Farm. He also uses lots of other animals in integrated ways and each contributes more than they take away.

I have no financial connection to him, but I think you guys and he are so smart for figuring out this integrated stuff, that just churns out so much tucker from a small plot of land.

+1 for the Omnivores Dilemma.

I do most of reading with talking books these days. That way you can read and drive or wash dishes.

And the advantage, as with the Omnivores Dilemma, is the author is doing the reading.

BullwinkleII

And your local library is full of talking books.

Most of the decent ones will be booked in advance so make sure you book them ahead as well, otherwise all you see is junk on the shelves.

faye

Good tip, thanks for that Bullwinkle.

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