Meat birds and rabbit stew

Well we picked up our last batch of purpose bred meat birds this week. We have sourced these from a hatchery, they are apparently the same 'breed' as those used by commercial chicken growers. However I find them a little un-natural, so we have sourced some game birds and are aiming to cross breed our own more free ranging 'table birds'. Other half also went 'hunting' with a friend and came home with

some rather delicious rabbits. Which he made into a tastie rabbit stew. Hopefully this may become a more regular occurence, as they are considered a 'pest' in queensland and would provide a tasty supply of lean meat.

More than one way to Skin a Chook

Well this is not for the faint hearted. However as a small holding owner rearing and killing your stock for food is a fact of life.For us plucking has proven a long process. So my other half suggested we attempt to "skin" our birds. An option that as brought to his attnetion over a blog. So I guess here I am passing thsi knowledge on, should anyone else be consider plucking too much work.

Personally (fore personal preference, diet and health reasons)I skin our chicken to cook, so it seemed a logical suggeston that we eliminate the process of plucking feathers and then removing the skin, to just removing the feathers with the skin.

To do this first you will need to kill and hang (and bleed) your bird- order is your preference. Then(using a sharp knife) cut the skin (and not the meet) just above the knee joint (well below if it is upside down). Then run the kife along the groin. Then just pull the skin away, using the knife to release any connected tissue.

First hatchlings at Maes-y-Delyn

Easter Monday was very exciting for us at Maes-y-Delyn... as we awoke to the tiny chip of feathery feet! As we recently purchased an incubator and had inherted a working rooster we attempted the process of rearing chickens of our own.
We had hopefully placed 30 eggs (having been told 1:5 were good odds). To our surprise 17 successfully hatched (from 20 fertilised eggs)! Unfortunately 3 didn't make it out, but we had 11 yellow and 6 black babies!
WE have kept one of each (yellow and black). We hatched a further 4 (that our Sussex was detern=mined to sit on) and sold the remaining 19. 6 going to a local home. 4 to the family we bought our pup from adn the remainder to a local produce store.


So now we have cleaned and reloaded the incubator with 40 more... guess we'll wait and see.

Ok so we're 1/3 into 2012

So we're over a third the way through the year and yet again I have failed to keep this blog upto date. And what a busy year it has been so far.


The wet season has come (and should I dare breath it) gone. The tanks are full but my veggie patch and the piggies grazing are long lost.
I attempted my first concrete pour (not on my own, but with Matt), but successful laid the foundations for the pigs new bed/shed. High and dry shelter for them to escape the rain... though they have thoroughly enjoyed the mud!


We have also purchased a lovely little Saddleback- Berkshire cross to rear, as ours are only just at breaeding age (with no current signs of action), so pork supplies of our own seem along way off. She has settled in well, and am trying to maintain a distance and unemotional connection to her (though she's making it difficult).

New Year

Well it has been a while since i last posted. And yes as usual I have full intention of posting more frequently this time ;p


Well we have a few more residents at Maes-y-Delyn. We were given 7 muscovy ducklings and a sussex rooster over Christmas.
Unfortunately 3 of the ducklings squeezed out of they're safe little enclosure on the first night and the dog got one. The other 2 were a welcome sight waddling back in, in the morning. Since then, we have had to separate the 'runt' of the flock(? right term) as I believe 'she' is the only girl (as she's that much smaller) and the others are trampling her. She appeared to be having breathing dificulties, although she seems to be getting around alright. I think we will be keeping her on her own for a while longer... til she is big enough to stand her ground that is.
Sometimes she calls out for the others, but they don not even respond (mean boys!)


As for the rooster, he was given to us by friends. As we have a meatbird hen who had started laying and we have never had a rooster; he had also killed another young rooster, so couldn't stay there any longer... at ours he has been hen pecked. Well hen pecked is an understatement! I had to guard him on the second day, as they wouldn't let him eat. They would jump on his back and pull feathers out! So since his first day with us, he hasn't crowed since. They are letting up on him now, and they even let him stand in their hut from the rain. So hopefully he'll be a fully functioning rooster soon enough.

Lazy Sunday's

After moving the tanks on Friday and the full on day thaat was Saturday- 3:45am get up, 4:15 out house, for 5am rego and 6 am start for River 2 Reef Ride. Which went well (over 750 riders). To friends son's first birthday party at 11:30 to workmates anniversary dinner in the evening. So all up rushing round and no time to stop- so Sunday was going to be an easy one!

So Sunday's are generally my 'clean out the animals day'- so day starts with shovelling poop and transferring it to my veggies patch- nothing better for the veggies than fresh manure. Whilst I was doing this I had a shout from Matt 'You have a spade?', he was strimming the fencing- electric fencing must be kept completely clear. (so much for a lazy day- guess there's no such thing)

Anyway 'You have a spade?' was because we had an unwelcome and aggressive visitor; who he had startled with the strimmer, but none the less it was aggressive and could potentially hurt us or hurt/kill any of the animal- pets or livestock!

This was our first proper encounter with a snake, since moving in. I had seen one in the garden in the first few weeks; I'd been playing with Ffion and then she started bouncing around, as if to play- but not to me... as I peered over the edge of the patio, there was a snake. So by the time I'd gotten her in the house and located the spade it had disappeared. Pretty fortunate for us both, I guess. Other than that we've be fortunate enough to only see some on the road…So guess it goes to show that you can not be complacent.

Anyway on a more positive note I took my first real harvest from the veggie patch- I know I’ve picked tom’s, chillies and strawberries here and there and had the Bok Choy’s and the odd lime and orange, but Sunday felt like a plentiful bounty of produce. And hopefully there should be many more to come.

We've officially be in 3 months!

Well on Friday was our 3 month anniversary in the house... and what a journey it has been so far!

Unfortunately that does mean that this coming Friday it has been 3 months since we lost our gorgeous Griff. We actually planted a dwarf lemon tree to mark his resting place last weekend, not that well will ever forget where he rests.

Anyway this weekend was pretty busy, with a few further milestones. Friday saw the moving of the first, and largest of the 3 water tanks. This was necessary as one of the many challenges we have faced todate include finding out that the fencing was all in the wrong place. Meaning our tanks were on the neighbours property!- Lesson learned when purchasing rural blocks (well for that any block), make the contract subject to survey.

But it is, what it is and our neighbour has been very good about the whole thing. So we will get it sorted, just in small steps. So step 1- move the largest, above ground tank- done!

Next step is to pump all the water out of the 2 semi-submerged tanks, then begin exploring the underground piping and work out how to move them and where... but we'll get there one step at a time