One lazy chicken in the bunch

[cliffrod]

Wife just pulled the eggs..  Apparently one of them is taking short cuts-

[guzzisteve]

No, it just shrank when frozen. Call and see if they have other birds roosting in their hen house.

[slopokes]

I think you have a hummingbird in residence...

[Rough Edge racing]

 My wife the chicken lady says perhaps small egg is a hen that is just starting to lay or maybe ending the laying period.. We get green eggs from an Ameraucana breed...The other looks like a RI Red?

[cliffrod]

My wife the chicken lady says perhaps small egg is a hen that is just starting to lay or maybe ending the laying period.. We get green eggs from an Ameraucana breed...The other looks like a RI Red?

I think the species is Carolinalazyass...   

We've got barnyard Heinz 57 black australorps laying brown eggs and similar Easter Eggers laying green eggs. Think there's 6-7 chickens total right now, down from the normal 15-ish.   All are btdt old, with a he man Americana(?) rooster that's about 15 yrs old.  We've had him for 7 yrs and he was supposedly at least 8 yrs old when we got him.  All have been taking the winter off and just starting to lay.  At this point, I think each egg still costs about as much as a 50lb bag of scratch...  But the funny chickens make my wife happy.  Nuff said.

We just laughed at getting one little egg and hoped someone else would chuckle.

We used to have a pair of Button Quail (perfect in the Button house) here in the living room back when our daughter was very young. Really cute and enjoyable.  We would get tiny eggs from her to fry tiny eggs for our little cutie.  But that hen was a really mean bi--- and eventuall pecked him to death.  We would like to get another pair or few, but haven't yet.

[Rough Edge racing]

 We have Rhode Island reds, sex links, brown leghorns and the easter egg chicken

[cliffrod]

I'm not as schooled on chickens as my wife is. These are basically pets with benefits. 

 Gramp had chickens on the farm in VT until I was about 5 around 1972 when the doctors "invented" high cholesterol.  He said if he couldn't have a dozen+ scrambled eggs for breakfast every day anymore, there was no need to have chickens anymore...  He ate Eggbeaters (yuck) for the rest of my childhood.  Ma was from the city (at least compared to where we lived) and hated dressing fresh chickens for supper anyways. 

on the farm, there was a large Fairbanks platform scale in my grandmother's back kitchen.  Touch it, much less play on it and it was a guaranteed immediate trip to the woodshed for a spanking.  Nobody messed with that scale and got away with it.  We didn't understand because it was never used for anything. 

After I was grown up, I asked why they had it.  Gram told me that back in the 40's, they sold a lot of eggs along with the milk (Jerseys).  They shipped eggs under contract by train to Boston.  But by their records, the paycheck never matched the amount of eggs sent.  Not a big difference but it was consistent $$ shortage.  He got very upset and bought the scale to weigh the eggs on the farm himself before shipment instead of weighing them at the train station.  He learned the rr or company weren't cheating, improperly weighing, breaking or losing eggs.  The discrepancy was caused by losses from evaporation during shipment between South Royalton, VT and Boston, MA.  Never imagined it would be so significant.  After that, the scale went unused until I got it as we cleaned out the farmhouse.  Now it sits here unused....

[Guzzi Gal]

Too cute!  We have five ladies, (a Polish, an Easteregger, a Russian Orloff, and Blue Laced Red and a Silver Laced Wyandotte) but only four are laying.  The fifth survived a coyote attack about a month ago and is still missing a four inch slab of flesh on her side.  She's a trooper and we'll be happy to never get another egg out of her for as long as she's willing to live.

We used to have an Ameraucana named Lola.  She stoped laying a few months after she started so from then on she was known as FreeLola, AKA Freeloader.

[rschrum]

Time for chicken and noodles.

[Kiwi_Roy]

It does say 2 1/2 on the package

[cliffrod]

It certainly does.  I missed that.  Now I feel like I've got egg all over my face...

just like the known fact that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, I've had conversations with city people who thought chickens laid eggs directly into the cartons..

[s1120]

Thats funny. I have 7 girls myself. Well old ladys really.. they are all 7 years old. Stopped laying last year, but for some reason started relaying last month. Still.. just pets, and its been fun having them.

[cliffrod]

Unless housed & confined within in a consistent artificial environment, hens cycle between regular laying and dormancy with daily light levels as seasons change.  Hens are born with a set potential for laying a certain number of eggs before going truly barren, just like a woman goes through X number of monthly cycles before menopause.  When young, a hen will lay about 6 eggs per 7 days.   Old chickens lay fewer eggs.  In commercial settings, older hens laying below a certain performance are culled.

A chicken lays an egg with no need for a rooster.  The only thing a rooster does is fertilize an egg that's already there.  There's a larger lesson to be learned there...

[Chuck in Indiana]

We had chickens on the farm. 1000 of those nasty barstids.  I was the slave laborer that took care of them, along with milking the cows and being the main manure man. Fortunately, grandmother was the chicken assassin and cleaner for mother's restaurant/party house. I'd catch the chickens and bring them to her. There was a big funnel on the side of the smokehouse. Chicken goes in head first, whack with a corn knife, and tossed in the back yard where the'd run around a bit. I guess that "running around like a chicken with it's head off" isn't just a phrase. 

[cliffrod]

We've got one of those funnels, nailed up out back.  A few years ago, a couple of good friends were going into the mission field.  She said she suddenly realized that when they went to the market over there and got a chicken for dinner, they would be get a chicken and not a package of pieces.  So they asked me if I could show them how to kill & dress a bird and then fabricate it.  We did several.  Most barnyard chickens are not much fun to cook, especially the old ones that have turned into bony inner tubes.

chicken farms stink.  Thankfully there's not any within smelling range. 

[LowRyter]

Even stranger is an egg without a shell and just the membrane.  My folks had a couple of hen houses and sold eggs for groceries.  I was cheap labor- but they got the effort they paid for.

[Texas Turnip]

I'm enjoying this post as we had chickens when I was a kid. Most people don't know the difference between a store bought aigh (egg) and a yard egg. The yard egg shell is harder and the yeller is a deep color. I get yard eggs from a local lady and seldom see a double yoke.

Hopefully, my money won't run out and I'll have to go back to butchering chickens. I hated putting them in boiling water and pulling feathers, but we got to see the eggs from a speck of yeller to an egg ready to drop.

Momma could cook a chicken with potatoes, carrots, greens, whatever we could get from the garden and it would feed our family of six for two days. An old story is that a kid thought there was only necks, backs and wings to a chicken until he got to sit at the big folks table

Tex

[Chuck in Indiana]

An old story is that a kid thought there was only necks, backs and wings to a chicken until he got to sit at the big folks table

  That's a fact, Tex..

chicken farms stink.

Oh, buddy.. Open the door to the chicken barn in the Winter, and the ammonia would literally take your breath away.

[Lannis]

  Most barnyard chickens are not much fun to cook, especially the old ones that have turned into bony inner tubes.

chicken farms stink.  Thankfully there's not any within smelling range.

We used to keep our chickens in an old tobacco barn with a couple windows cut in it.   Only about 20 chickens at a time, usually, so it didn't smell bad, really.   Our were Rhode Island Reds - no rooster, the hens would lay an egg every other day so we had 8 to a dozen eggs each day, about right for our family of 5.

When they quit laying, we'd kill, pluck, and dress them.   And somehow, even if they were several years old and quit laying, my mother would manage to fry them and have them come out very nice - I never noticed one of her chickens being tough.    I always thought it was strange that for both my mother and her mother, their "favorite" parts were the neck and the bony back till I figured it out ....

When I listen to people talk about how better off financially people were back then, and how people don't have the things they used to be able to afford, and how hard times are now .... geez, I wish they could have lived then.   Makes me appreciate what I have now.

Lannis

[cliffrod]

After processing tons of top-grade restaurant chicken (especially breasts) as a chef, I may be biased when comparing old farm all purpose chickens to young meat birds....   My point is that people butchering a few chickens in the backyard shouldn't expect nice, plump, tender product like typical supermarket product.  Anything we butcher is usually quite old.  Hang/age them for a while and it helps mitigate the toughness.

It's just like comparing a farm raised turkey or duck to a wild game cousin.   Used to have several members at the club go on an annual "safari" in various states and bring us back all manner of blasted game for a big feast.  Nothing like picking shot for 2-3 days without destroying the meat before cooking an elaborate meal for them.

People blather about how good and simple life used to be.  Not many have any interest in wiping their butt with anything but real toilet paper.  The current state of affairs is proof of that.

After Gramp got rid of his birds, we didn't have chickens.  We milked until I was into college. 24/7/365 work.   We got chickens mostly as a means of education for our daughter.  It was hard for me to imagine growing up without some manner of livestock.  There's no better way to truly learn and comprehend the reality of life, death, reproduction, meat = butchering live animals and more.  It's been a good thing.    Nice to see some old dairy farming friends comment how well she handles herself around their livestock. 

We don't do much meat from our birds.  Keep wanting to add meat rabbits to the backyard program, but haven't gotten that far yet.

[rschrum]

Put those old hens in a pressure cooker and make some home made noodles. Yum.

[LowRyter]

^^  or homemade dumplings. 

[Rough Edge racing]

 The chicken breasts in the markets are huge...Really huge for what, 12-16 week old bird? It's a bit scarey.. We don't eat our hens when they stop laying..Some are 4 years old and lay once a week....But still have about 5 or 6 daily layers...When the old ones die ,my wife will get young hens....

[cliffrod]

Put those old hens in a pressure cooker and make some home made noodles. Yum.

This Barazzoni pressure cooker is the best pressure cooker have ever used, bar none. Lid is oval, so drops through top and lifts straight to seal.  Cook item, remove from heat, release handle and when pressure drops as pot cools, the lid drops.  No steam burns. This design requires No twisting to seal like old ones that stretches the gasket and need regular replacement.  I've got a larger made in India PC that's similar design but it's coated aluminum.  I would rather get a larger version of this all stainless steel Barazzoni but they're not cheap..













If the bird is super tough, I've got an antique pressure cooker with needle & seat valve regulated by an adjustable weight.  It'll supposedly go to 14-15psi(!)....  Bet that will fix your chicken and lots more.    I don't cook with that one.

[pebra]

Mmmmm  now I'm missing a good hen fricassee 

I can't find hens in the shop any more. 

[Lannis]

Put those old hens in a pressure cooker and make some home made noodles. Yum.

What my Mom used to do was to joint the chickens like you always do, dredge them in flour, have about 1/2" of fat in a 12" Griswold iron pan good and hot, then brown the chicken for a few minutes, hot, then turn the heat down, cover the pan (with that old glass top), and let it simmer for ... oh, I guess she knew, I can't remember.  More than an hour.   Then take the chicken, put it in the oven at 350 or so for about 15 minutes to crisp it up, and done.

I MIGHT have been chewing harder than I remember, but I don't think so.

Lannis

[cliffrod]

Pressure cooking works to expedite cooking.  Steam is a very effective conductor of heat.  Under increased pressure, it's even more effective.   No matter,  any cooking in liquid tends to dry meat.  Fats are melted and typically float to the top instead of emulsified into solution. Not ideal for lean meats.   This is why cooking liquids, like with a fricasee (white wine) or coq au vin (red wine) are subsequently modified to better incorporate such rendered fat into the finished serving.

Long and slow drier heat methods- like Lannis describes- do the same thing to tenderize tough meat and are a better way to tenderize lean or very lean meat.  It just takes more time.

My favorite chicken "recipe" is chicken fried in chicken fat.  Use clarified chicken fat (I save mine from fresh stock I make, clarify it and keep it in the fridge). Skin-on chicken pieces are seasoned with only salt.  Pepper and/or aflour dredge is optional but both tend to scorch in the fat and corrupt flavor.  Then slowly fry pieces in a cast iron skillet at low-med to med heat until well browned and skin is like cracklings or potato chip.  Oil should never smoke.  Adjust temp by sound to produce a nice long consistent sizzle from beginning to end, not angry fast or popping & spattering.  Cook completely on stove top or finish in oven until it's fall off the bone tender.  Salt and pepper as desired.  Biscuits are optional, but not really... Drain and save fat for next time. 

Needed edit- at end, cooking pan should have some very nice browned bits (not black & scorched) clinging to the bottom.  This is called fond.  Drain most of the fat.  Leave a little.  Add some flour.  Stir into a paste and cook a little until color changes.  This is called a roux.  Then add some liquid to the pan- water, stock, milk, etc- and simmer.  The fat encapsulates the individual granuales of flour, allowing them to gelatinize separately after liquid is added without clumping if stirred while cooking.  Done properly, the fond wil cook loose from the bottom of the pan (deglaze) to make perfect gravy for your chicken & biscuits.  And your pan will get cleaned in the process.  Very cool.

The caramelization produced by this method is fantastic and unique, very dark honey-golden when done right.  This is really basic but produces the most genuine fried chicken flavor vs all the "secret recipes".  Dry crisped chicken skin with just a little salt and pepper is better than any breading.  You may even start saving your raw chicken skins to start making them into crackers by themselves...

The reason to only salt the chicken is that pepper (vegetable matter, just like flour) can also scorch in the oil.  Salt is mineral, is not oil soluble and wil not scorch at normal cooking temps so will not contaminate oil. 

Salts also have specific hypertonic/hypotonic behavior as they strive to equate in solution.  Salt meat hours before cooking to dry brine the meat.  Salt will be slowly absorbed into the water-filled cells of the meat as the salt equates in solution.  During cooking, salt-laden moisture will evaporate from the meat leaving a barrier layer of salt at the surface of the meat.  This layer of salt must be repeatedly rehydrated and dehydrated by the movement of moisture across it during the evaporation process.  Water loss is slowed and product tends to remain more moist during the cooking process than without such salt barrier present.  This is how salt brining works.  Brining-wet or dry like this- does not "add" moisture to meat.  It simply slows moisture losses due to evaporation, based upon the tendency of salt to equate in solution and the process just described. 

Bummer, now I want fried chicken but pizza just came out of the oven-

[Ncdan]

Too cute!  We have five ladies, (a Polish, an Easteregger, a Russian Orloff, and Blue Laced Red and a Silver Laced Wyandotte) but only four are laying.  The fifth survived a coyote attack about a month ago and is still missing a four inch slab of flesh on her side.  She's a trooper and we'll be happy to never get another egg out of her for as long as she's willing to live.

We used to have an Ameraucana named Lola.  She stoped laying a few months after she started so from then on she was known as FreeLola, AKA Freeloader.

We have the 4 legged beast all around our house and can’t even let our dog out at night without Wife or myself furnishing armed protection. Here’s one my renter killed while deer hunting behind my house last winter. Take a look at the fang length and tell me they aren’t killing machines.

[LowRyter]

When Granpa had the chickens, he'd get a new brood every year.  He'd the sell the eggs at a German market and then butcher the old brood.  The family could go through them pretty quickly and I won't share the details like Granpa using a butcher knife.

Then my Dad took the business.  He moved Granpa's chicken house to our place and built another house.  We sold to the same grocers for several years.   Dad kept the chickens for a couple of seasons and sold them the Campbell's Soup. 

We used to joke that 400 chickens must have been 5 years production of soup.   

[larrys]

Chicken stories, oh boy!
We had chickens and pigs when my daughter was growing up, a big vegetable garden, too. Not having a lot of money was a consideration for making the choice to grow/raise our own food. I would keep the biddies for two years, butcher and eat them, then get a new batch of chicks. Mrs. larrys has great recipes for chicken stew. Nothing like picking up the cardboard box of two dozen cheeping chicks at the Post Office and raising them up. I always bought the mix and match batch straight runs from the poultry supplier. Would get a few white ones, some red ones, black ones, and a bunch of exotic breeds. Being a straight run, about half would be roosters. At six months old I would butcher all but one of the roosters and eat them. I put a light on a timer in the coop during the fall/winter to fake the hens out that the days were longer and they would continue to lay. A couple of times one hen would get broody and we'd let her sit a clutch and and we'd get home grown chicks. Yup, had the funnel nailed on the side of the coop, too...
Oh, don't ever get Guinea hens, loud, annoying birds. Tasted great, though...
Be well,
Larry