Will I never learn?
Last week I ordered our next lot of meat chicks for tomorrow. 100 I told the lovely Simon! So I sent him an email this morning, just checking that all is okay for tomorrow, and he replied saying you can have them today if you like, I've got enough!
So off we go, with enough money to buy our chicks. When we got there, Simon's stock manager said is 100 enough? we've got a few more spare if you want them?
How many? we asked him Another 90 he replied! No, No, we don't want THAT many!
So an hour later, there we were in the big brooder shed, unloading the 190 new chicks!!! We kept digging in our pockets until we had enough to satisfy him! lol
Am I a glutton for punishment or what??? Well, I can't stand the thought of them being culled, when they could grow into nice meaty chickens! So here I am again, checking on them every hour or so. Brian did have to cull one though. I don't know if it was already like it, or got damaged in the box, but she was laying in the box and her head was twisted upwards. What I call a stargazer. Even when I took her out of the box. All she did was look up and over her shoulder. I've had one or two chicks like this, and they don't have a good life, so they are better off being culled. Poor little thing.
Well I plucked the last of the meat chickens with the plucking machine last week! The manufacturers kindly gave us a guard to help me learn how to pluck. I think it holds the chicken a bit too far away from the plates that pluck the feathers, but I didn't do too badly! It certainly made the plucking quicker, although once we take the guard off and get the tension on the plates right, it will be even quicker!
They reckon you can pluck a chicken in 3.5 minutes and a turkey in 8 minutes! Doubt if I'll ever do that though! But I'm grateful for anything that prevents me spending the 2 whole weeks before Christmas plucking chickens and turkeys!!! And surely I'll get quicker with practice won't I? 
There is also a gantry so I can hang the turkeys up while I'm plucking them as they are a bit too heavy for me to hold.
This is it!
http://www.binghampluckers.com/video.html
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Comments on Will I never learn?
Me and my wife moved into our new house end of novemeber and have finally gotten round to sorting our new raised beds out. I have plans now for chickens but, my wife has reservations! 1. the area is prowled by cats, 2. will they tear up our lawn which is already a bit worse for wear and 3. what do you do if you want to go on holiday!
can you help? hope so – you seem light years ahead of me!
Hello GrannieAnnie
The cockerels my neighbour killed today, he plucked partly and then skinned so no more plucking needed. I thought of it having seen rabbits skinned and the cockerels looked remarkably like rabbits when skinned.
I am on a strict diet at the moment and can't have fat, so the easiest thing was to skin them complete with feathers and I pressure cooked them with loads of veggies and herbs so they didn't dry out – scrumptious!
Hi Matthew, sorry I didn't get your message before! Its only just come up on my emails!
Goodness knows where its been!
To answer your questions, 1. Cats don't normally bother chickens. You can sometimes get a persistent cat, but mostly once they've had a peck or 2, they give the chooks a wide berth!
2. Yes, they will decimate your lawn, especially if its not very big, and 3. what's a holiday?? lol
I haven't had one of those properly since 1994! Some people rely on family or friends or neighbours to take care of their chickens while they are away. If you've only got a few chickens, it doesn't take long to look after them, but will need a vist at least twice a day, in the morning to open them up and feed and water them, ideally a mid day visit to collect eggs then another to put them to bed at night, although eggs could be collected at that time to save on a visit.
Hope this helps. Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier!