[roll-bar Bob]

Yes they do!! it is unbelievable how fast they grow look at what one week will get you
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Got a chance to play "glue and stick" this weekend, I still need to add the mesh to the sides and it will be all ready to be there home for there last 4 weeks before they head off to freezer camp.


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A little over 9' x 9' as my roofing was leftovers from other projects




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[roll-bar Bob]

This Saturday is Butcher Day, if anyone wants to swing by and help out, I am all about teaching anyone that wants to learn, especially if you want to teach your kids "where food comes from" we will be starting around 7 and should be wrapping up around noon.




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[greygoose]

This Saturday is Butcher Day, if anyone wants to swing by and help out, I am all about teaching anyone that wants to learn, especially if you want to teach your kids "where food comes from" we will be starting around 7 and should be wrapping up around noon.




RBB

I'll honk when I drive past on my way to St. Clair for the boat races.

 

[roll-bar Bob]

So for butcher day we had 3 adults and 3 kids show up to help, I think everyone learned a thing or two, which was my main goal of inviting anyone that wanted to come out and learn. As for the birds we had 35 to butcher with a total weight of 227 Lbs with a average of 6.5 Lbs each. My Dad got to teach my daughter how to butcher her first bird, I think she did 4 or 5 of then buy the end of the day. Our first bird through the butcher station went right to the smoker for an afternoon snack. All of the volunteers got to take a bird home and hopefully a memory or two of that Saturday.

I know I suck at getting photos but I was running around in circles trying to keep the production line moving. We had a great group of workers and plenty of laughs all morning.

 

[roll-bar Bob]

these guys have 2 more weeks before freezer camp they are starting to get BIG

If any wants one let me know, I can send details


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[roll-bar Bob]

So Saturday was butcher day 8 birds totaling 148 Lbs of meet went to freezer camp, between Friends and Family we sold 7 of them keeping the 23# guy for our family. After some modifications to my plucker we tried a couple on the spinning wheel of death but it was almost impossible to hold on to that critter, so after the third one we just plucked them buy hand. With the 3 of us grabbing and pulling we could hand pluck it in about 3 to 5 minutes.

They sold for $6 /# for a total of $780 with a couple customers rounding up or not wanting there change. For the first 8 weeks these guys ate the chickens food but for the last 8 weeks. The little Man has been feeding them Turkey feed, with an initial cost of $80 for 10 birds and $200 in feed for the last 8 weeks, he turned a $500 profit off this batch of birds and supplied our table with a free 23# bird for Thanksgiving.

 

[roll-bar Bob]

The last two birds were picked up yesterday, finally all done until next year.


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[roll-bar Bob]

Birds are ordered this year the kids are taking over the Turkey operation, they have ordered 20 and will be selling them in about 17 weeks if anyone is looking for a grass fed, chemical free, hand plucked bird get in touch with me. I think they have a couple that are not spoken for. With bird & feed prices where they are at this year, they will be hitting the market at 7 dollars a Lb.

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[greygoose]

Hmmmm..... I might need a bird.... I'll let you know.

 

[roll-bar Bob]

Hmmmm..... I might need a bird.... I'll let you know.

Let me know, If so you could even come out to the farm and help with the butchering of your bird, if you want.

 

[roll-bar Bob]

And just like that Monday, I took the day off work to butcher our birds 36 of them survived out of the 40 we ordered. The kid's Turkeys still have 4 more weeks to go before butcher time, but for now we added 220 lbs of chicken to our chicken freezer.

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[SHARPMACHINE]

Your posts are soo much better than the political ones..........🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔

 

[roll-bar Bob]

Your posts are soo much better than the political ones..........🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔

This go around I have been taking a new approach I have took the time to meet all the local candidates, and am ignoring the national shit that we have absolutely no control over, don't get me wrong I will still vote nationally but the local stuff has a bigger impact on my farm life.

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[roll-bar Bob]

This year my kids are running the Turkey business they have ordered 20 birds and have been feeding then twice a day along with moving them every day on new grass. Shea set up an excel spread sheet to track there expenses, and overhead. If anyone is looking for a Farm Fresh Turkey for this years table get in touch with me they have around 7 that are not spoken for. Butcher date is set for November 9th.

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[shawn]

Hey I might be interested? Where's the farm?

 

[roll-bar Bob]

Well it was a Long day but we had a ton of fun with butcher day the kids hired a couple friends to help pluck. We started about 9 am and buy 9 pm we were all done with cleanup. The kids started with 20 birds 16 weeks ago and 16 of them made it to butcher day, which is a better survival percentage than I have had in the past. None of then topped 20 Lbs which I found strange despite, keeping there feeders full all the time and yet they used less feed per bird throughout there time with us. I wonder if it is????, because there were 9 more of them in the same coop as last time, maybe they needed more space than what they had or some thing. The kids are planning on reinvesting some of there profits into building another yard coop for next year to split then into two pens. Either way, some great memories were made this weekend.

Tom Tom went to freezer camp this year as he started eating chicken eggs out of the coop, he was to big to get in the blanching pot so I skinned him and cut out his breast and legs/thighs there was 15 Lbs of breast meat and 14 Lbs of Legs/thighs.

In total over 300 Lbs of Turkey were grown in my front yard this year. That will feed lots of friends, fresh chemical free meat this Thanksgiving. Overall super proud of the kids and thank full for all our friends and family for buying turkeys and supporting this adventure.




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[roll-bar Bob]

Thanksgiving is always a special time around our house. This year we had the opportunity to use the bonus room for the first time.

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[greygoose]

Turkey looks great!

I brine mine and smoke it every year!

 

[roll-bar Bob]

So during the winter season Colt talked Shea into giving him her half of the " Egg operation " as she was sick of feeding and watering those birds Because and I quote " There is no money in messing with eggs ". All I can say is WOW!!!! I don't think she thought that one through very well. These little ladies are pumping out around a dozen and a half a day and the Little Man has been making bank with the new egg prices this year. He has been selling for about a buck under the store prices and he has a full customer list in his Excel spread sheet.

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[shawn]

We never used to sell our eggs, it was something just for us and we would give away all we couldn't eat (sometimes a lot).

But the last few months we've had neighbors gladly giving us money for eggs. I I think we are down to about 22 hens, and half of those are about 3-4 years old and not laying anymore so we are only getting 8-10 per day. Probably next spring we will 'clear house" of the oldies and start with a fresh batch.