Meat chickens

I killed our first Plymouth Rock rooster 16 June 2012. 

He hatched out 15 November 2011 and was so much smaller than the others that I expected him to die in the first few weeks.  He did not get feathers until very late in his life, weeks after the girls got feathers.  His brother is larger but it is raining hard so I plan to do him another day (or sell him as he is pure bred and a stunning looking bird). 

It is difficult killing something I hatched out, fed, watered, and looked after.  He was a beautiful looking animal with a calm temperament, had I entered him he could easily have won medals in poultry shows.  He lived a calm and happy life, and died an honourable quick death, not at all like the terrible and painful life and death of a commercial meat chicken.

At the age of 7 months he weighed 3.71kg live, when he was ready to go in the freezer he weighed 2.50kg.  That is a dressing percentage of just over 67%, not too bad for the first rooster I have processed in such a long long time.

Unfortunately I did not keep records on the food he ate to reach this size.  If I were to guestimate based on the feed that he has been consuming over the past few weeks I would say it cost about $19 to get this far (which works out to about $7.30 per kg of chicken).  The actual cost must be lower than that as he certainly did not eat this much when he was a week old.  Next time I plan to keep stats and keep the young chickens feed completely separate from all other poultry feed so I can work out accurately how much it costs to feed a chicken from hatching to eating size.

Plymouth rock egg stats over a year

I was meticulously recording egg statistics (among other things) for our hens every day.

On average our plymouth rocks laid 221 eggs per hen per year.  That works out to an average of just over 4 eggs per hen per week.

This average over the year includes each hen moulting twice (they do not lay through a moult), some hens going off the lay as they were injured, each hen going broody and not laying an average of 0.3 times each (they were not allowed to hatch so stopped being broody after 2 weeks or so). 

Average number of eggs per hen per month:

April            23

May             21

June             19

July              20

August         16

September   18

October       15

November   17

December   18

January       17

February     18

March         19

These hens were free ranged through the orchard and not provided any extra light or heat.  They foraged for between a third and two thirds of their diet depending on the season.  Feed costs should be very low on acreage as they can forage for most of their feed.

We had one hen who lays a different looking egg, she laid far more than the others, her eggs were not counted so that we have a more accurate average number of eggs for my old strain of plymouth rocks.  I also did not include eggs that were laid while we were away as they were collected by our neighbours and I did not want to impose that they also count eggs as well as feed and water them.

She's turning 1

My sweet beautiful little baby girl is about to turn. It has been an amazing year with her. She has grown up so fast. She is cheeky, oh so cheeky. She is clever, and gentle and beautiful in every way. She still loves her mummy cuddles and her mummy milk. We snuggle all day and all night. I am so blessed to have her.

Fun with Colour

The family photo shoot that rocked

Hugest thanks to Nikki at Virtual Memories Photography. Super happy with the photos and the service you get for your money is exceptional (definitely not a paid ad I really am super happy) Here are some of my favorite pics (you try picking from 155 or 310 if you include b/w photos)

Wordless Wednesday

Banana bread with Mr Thermie

I bought some almond milk as it sounded so delicious, in truth it's the nastiest stuff I've ever drunk. Who in their right mind drinks such a horrid concoction I'd rather starve.

Got me thinking on needing to use this horrible yuck and thought it might go alright in some Banana bread.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup Rolled Oats
• 150ml Milk
• 150ml Almond milk (or 300ml normal milk if you too think almond milk is nasty)
• 3 overripe bananas, mashed
• 240g Self Raising Flour (You Can Use Wholemeal)
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/3 cup Soft Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Mixed spice
• 3 tablespoons Honey
• 1 Egg
• 100g of nuts I used almonds, cashews and macadamias

True Thermomix style (or is it Tracey Style?) chuck in all in the bowl in the order listed then mix on 6 for 30 sec. Use a lower speed if you want chunkier nuts but I have kids so wanted things well blended. Add the oats at the end and mix slowly if you want them whole.

If you don't have a Thermie well you miss out. No not really you may need to soak your oats, mash your banana by hand and chop your own nuts but then you should be right to mix in a bowl. Sweat and love makes a cake taste better right?

Pour into greased and lined loaf tin and bake for 45mins on low to moderate oven try around 180C

NB I forgot the weigh as I went so I will update the recipe with weights next time I make it.