Update On My Speckled Sussex

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Well, they are 12 weeks old now.  It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s been 12 weeks since I brought them home.  They have grown by leaps & bounds, & they are doing very well.  We did have a fox discover them, but, thankfully, it only managed to pick off one pullet before we discovered it & sealed up the area where it had managed to get it.

In about 6 more weeks, I’ll begin integrating them in with the rest of the coop.  In about 8 more weeks, I’ll start getting eggs from these beauties! I can’t wait!

Speckled Sussex Chicks Are Now 3 Weeks Old!

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It’s hard to believe that we’ve had these little ones for 3 weeks now!

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They’ve hit what we have dubbed the “ugly duckling” stage.

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My son, Michael, holding one of the chicks (looks to be a little pullet)

 

They still have a lot of the baby down, but are also getting in a lot of their beautiful feathers.  But, it’s such a mix that they are not very pretty at this stage.  But, the beauty is coming!

This post is linked to:

Heritage Homesteaders

Update to My Canning Raw, Bone-In Chicken

Canning Chicken - after being pressure canned

Canning Chicken – after being pressure canned

As I promised, this post is going to update you on my thoughts on canning chicken raw.

Here’s a pic of the jars after they had cooled & been washed off.

Well, as it happened, I canned this on a Thursday and then had the perfect opportunity to give it a try when I found out that  a dear, sweet friend of mine came back from her camping trip sick.  Her sweet little girl came down with a stomach bug on the way home, & then she came down with it.  So, I fixed a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup.  I had all the ingredients in my pantry, including some store-bought egg noodles, so it was super easy & quick to throw together.  I made enough for both her family and mine for supper that night.

Canned chicken after removing from jar.

Canned chicken after removing from jar.

Here’s what the chicken looked like after I pulled it out of the jar.  Remember my telling you that these roosters were a little over a year old?  Most birds at this age are starting to get chewy & tough.  When I pulled these four chicken breasts out of the jar, they literally fell off the bone!  It was so tender & juicy, you would’ve thought that these were very young, tender birds if I hadn’t told you any different.

Chicken noodle soup made with home canned chicken.

Chicken noodle soup made with home canned chicken.

In fact, look what happened when I put it in the soup pot.  It literally fell apart.  It looks like a put shredded chicken in the pot when, in fact, I just cut it into bite-sized chunks before placing it in the pot.

My verdict:

The taste was great!  It was very moist & tender.  I will definitely be doing this again in the near future.  In fact, I have a few bags of frozen chicken that were some of our older birds.  These will now be canned up first chance I get.  It definitely makes it quicker & easier to throw a meal together this way.

This post is linked to:

Heritage Homesteaders Blog Hop #4

Homestead Blog Hop #151

Farm Blog Hop

Clever Chick Blog Hop

Oak Hill Homestead

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