Tag Archive for ‘light brahma chickens’ at Beside the Stream

Tag Archive for 'light brahma chickens'

My chickens have no breasts

Published on July 26, 2008 in birds. 6 Comments

I called Holly to set a date to process the chickens. It’s not hard at all, she said. Once you see how we do it, you and Bob can do it at home next year. I’m thinking, or not. They have an efficient outdoor set-up with a professional scalding tub, a plucker, and a stainless counter and faucet that drains into a 5-gallon bucket. I took lots of pictures, but had no computer card in my camera… so I don’t have to sort through 100 scenes of butchery, and you don’t have to see any either.

Suffice it to say that in the morning my chickens looked like this,

in the evening they looked like this, and in between wasn’t horrible at all.

Their carcasses looked so angular to me that I bought an all-natural chicken from the store for a side by side comparison.

These chickens both weigh about 3 pounds, but mine is over 11 weeks old and the grocery one is probably 8 weeks max. My chicken has yellow skin from eating bugs and grass, it’s legs are much bigger,

and my birds have no breasts. Literally.

I raised Light Brahma chickens, an heirloom variety, because they were supposed to be the friendliest and calmest. I chose a meat bird based on temperament, and I ended up with 18 leggy, breastless birds.

This is Caravaggio’s <Supper at Emmaus> from 1601

and this is the chicken they’re serving.

Oh my Lord I’ve raised Caravaggio’s chickens.

Buffalo and Light Brahma Chickens:Things that don’t look alike, but are

Published on July 11, 2008 in Appearances. 1 Comment

The buffalo is a grand American beast (this photo is my edit of someone else’s shot).

Of the estimated 350,000 buffalo alive today, 250,000 of them are privately owned and raised for meat. If you want more buffalo grazing the Plains, buy buffalo meat instead of beef.

Which brings to mind my lovely little chickens. These birds are starting their 9th week. I think they’ve been a little slow growing up because they ran around for those weeks, and because it stays cool at night. But the truth is I been waiting for them to get bigger because I think they’re nice animals.

My frig has never been cleaner, because they love dubious leftovers.

They’re handsome birds,

and they are easily entertained. I rearranged the stump and ramp, and they all tested it: they ran up the ramp and jumped off the stump, and then they changed direction and jumped onto the stump to run down the ramp.

I move the hoop house every day or two, so there is never a chicken poop build-up. They’re no trouble at all. And still I have to make the appointment.

So I bought an extra 50 pounds of cracked corn, and have been cooking up great potfuls and spiking it with vegetable oil, making a tender mash that they adore and trying to figure out this social contract.

Their existence depends on our willingness to eat them.

Or, better to eat animals with a happy life.

The chickens have a door

Published on June 9, 2008 in birds. 2 Comments

Bob built a door for the chicken palace, which caused great excitement.

They’re still not fully feathered, but they are the most adorable.

They are heavy bellied and loose feathered, with giant feet. Right now, their first tufts of tailfeathers are appearing.

They have a whole program during the day: they’ll all stream out the door and run to the grass next to the ditch. They eat bugs, scratch the ground and have dirt baths, and then they all go back into the chicken palace for a nap.

All 23, all together, about four or five times a day. Their best trick is the dust bath. When they were penned in the hoop house and moved daily, they used to try to build a dust bath in a day. Now that they’re going outside, they’ve been working on the same dust bath for nearly a week.

This round section fits up to four chickens, and this strip bath

fits five. They carefully layer their feathers with dirt. I think it must itch to grow new feathers, because they are very careful about fluffing dirt over their entire body.

We’re talking chicken bliss, working some dust through his feet feathers.

Life is good.

Beside the Stream