Another Game Hen Project

cowgirl

somebody shut me the fark up.

Batch Image
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
32,522
Reaction score
6...
Points
113
Location
Oklahoma
Sorry, picture heavy!
I've raised these in the past, with great luck, so decided to do another batch this year.
I feed the game hens a special diet to flavor the meat while "on the hoof". It worked pretty well last time so I went with the same feed. A blend of garlic, ginger, scallion, corn for fat and garden veggies. They also ate grasshoppers and any bugs they could catch.

Anyway...
I started with day old Cornish Rocks..

CFefG2D.jpg


Built a pvc/chickenwire pen to move them around the farm...

UuqIlkK.jpg


The special corn, garlic, ginger, scallion feed..

7DFq9nm.jpg


WKaF2mx.jpg


HZmyRdt.jpg


V6LnVZY.jpg


8fgce7a.jpg


I process the birds at 1 1/2 to 2 lbs.

5sTBsyl.jpg


Used my home made chicken plucker...

Pl6kh0b.jpg


set up the scald water...

PmNSaCY.jpg


TtG2T8a.jpg


A minute or two in the plucker...

hYfkLRs.jpg


UqntLzG.jpg


cleaned and ready to chill...

8qCKOkO.jpg


chilled overnight and bagged for the freezer...

yMdwN8p.jpg


wJVfHcm.jpg


I took a couple with me while camping...

xB3Su3n.jpg


made a wild rice, water chestnut blend...

hCeNrPF.jpg


added chicken stock and set the flavored game hens on top...

0ORu0BL.jpg


dTjg4LP.jpg


shoveled a few hot coals on top and settled down with a beer...

udwNqVZ.jpg


7ypZhZv.jpg


In about an hour, the birds were ready...

IK745lb.jpg


CjE8iol.jpg


The flavored birds, rice and garden tomatoes...

F6uAw2I.jpg


I really like these....

5qVAb5b.jpg


tvT5euu.jpg


The flavors came through again. I'll be raising more in the future.

Again, sorry for so many pics, but thanks for looking!
 
That was a beautiful story until...ummm until it turned. Do not show this to young children. :pound:

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Nice job. Love the plucker. I started to build one, then I realized, I could sell them for more than I thought they were worth. And I didn't have to butcher them.
 
That was a beautiful story until...ummm until it turned. Do not show this to young children. :pound:

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

lol Some people don't want to know where their food comes from. :tsk::laugh:

Nice job. Love the plucker. I started to build one, then I realized, I could sell them for more than I thought they were worth. And I didn't have to butcher them.
Thanks Josh! The plucker has been handy. I can process a bird in under 2 minutes. Saves so much time!
The homegrown birds are nice to have year round. :grin:
 
Wow. That's awesome, Jeanie.

I was about to ask some dumb question about how the feed tweaked the flavors (I've always been curious about this when dealing with egg-laying chickens, too)... but it looks like the flavors really carried through!

You should flash freeze those, as some of us would love to get our grubby mitts on a couple (just for comparison's sake).

Enjoy! Thanks for sharing your process!
 
That is wonderful Jen and I bet those birds are gonna be killer!!!!!!!! I would imagine to get a better piece of chicken .... You would have to be a rooster.....:)..... Well done as usual!!!!!!
 
That is good stuff neighbor.

You can't buy quality like that at the store.
 
As always Jeanie, you have a simple way of writing a story that really works.

I'm not sorry for the chickenzes. They get a better life with you than they would anywhere else.

Cheers!
 
Back
Top