Category: Animals

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Getting Started with Layer Chickens

We had tons of great questions at the Teach Them Diligently in Pigeon Forge.  Y’all are so excited about homesteading and worshiping Jesus.  We are so encouraged.

Number one question we have received:  How to get started with Layer Chickens:

Here are the supplies I recommend to get started from Premier1Supplies.com:

1) PoultryNet® 12/42/3 Kit, (164′ roll of white/black, double spike netting & 4 support posts) Item Number #201935 is what I first ordered.

2) Ground Rod Item Number #151210

3) Alligator Clips Item Number #335505 – Get the longer ones 48″, might need to order two sets of these.

4) Fence Energizer – I like a small Solar Energizer to start with; the ones at Premier One Supplies are pretty big for Chickens, that said here is the smallest one they have:

Intellishock 30 Item Number #113200

Okay, this is a good stopping point for today.  Next post will look at various housing options for 6 week old plus chickens.

 

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Bye-Bye, Boys (Part II): Grinding

Lamb meat after grinding
On the Tuesday after Christmas, Dad and a friend butchered our two rams, Izzy and Boots.

On the last post, Bye-Bye, Boys, I said, “That pretty much says it all.” It actually doesn’t. On New Year’s Eve, the friend appeared again, this time with a meat grinder in tow. We kept the neck roasts, a leg’o’lamb and a steak, but the rest of the cold-aged meat was passed through the grinder and came out as ground lamb.

Progression of Events:

Dad cuts the fat off a piece of lamb meat to prepare it for grinding
Dad cuts the fat off a piece of meat to prepare it for grinding
Lamb meat before grinding
Then he tossed it in a bowl

Then it was ground.

Lamb meat after grinding
This is the meat after being ground

Then Mom vacuum-sealed it into neat two-pound packages.

Neat two-pound packages of ground lamb
Neat two-pound packages of ground lamb

In all, we got about sixty-two pounds of meat off of our two rams.

That says it all.

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