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Chat thread 1331: Just talkin’ chickens. This is better.

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I have a question about chickens.

For the past 4-5 years, when I get chicken breasts from the grocery store, I have noticed a much greater incidence of the meat being striated- like having these faint white lines running along the grain of the meat when raw. When I cook them, their consistency is almost like rubber or styrofoam. It's kind of stiff and an off-putting texture. It seems to be present moreso with conventional than organic but present in both.

Am I the only one noticing the change in chickens and what's up with that?
 
tsywake said:
She's got 26 acres of shortleaf pines. We're in Davie County, so Frasiers don't grow very well due to the heat and soil.We purchased the killing cones and a plucker, which should help dramatically. It's a costly up front investment, but should recoup its costs over time. This will be our first batch of meat birds, so we'll see if my opinion changes after the processing.
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I just always assume Christmas trees because that’s what everyone grows here, although there’s only a 3-4 county area where it’s productive. As far as the chickens go, I’m also kind of a softie when it comes to slaughtering them, so that may be a big part of the reason we don’t eat our own. They kind of become pets. Stupid, annoying pets, but still pets. We’ve got close to 22 acres of cabbage this year, and another 10 or so of strawberries, and we are gonna try watermelons for the first time on my fil’s river bottom land, so that will probably be an adventure.
 
In my opinion if he was abusing the PM's during his time out he should have just had that privilege removed and remained in the wasteland.
 
DeacInVermont said:
I have a question about chickens.

For the past 4-5 years, when I get chicken breasts from the grocery store, I have noticed a much greater incidence of the meat being striated- like having these faint white lines running along the grain of the meat when raw. When I cook them, their consistency is almost like rubber or styrofoam. It's kind of stiff and an off-putting texture. It seems to be present moreso with conventional than organic but present in both.

Am I the only one noticing the change in chickens and what's up with that?
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I've noticed it too. Not sure of the cause, but it may have to do with the feed commercial chickens are fed. Tyson, Purdue, etc provide the feed to chicken houses so that they have a consistent end product. Those feeds are guaranteed to have certain percentages of nutrients, but the origin of the nutrients varies based upon whatever is cheapest at the moment. For protein, many industrial chicken feed includes ground up dead chickens. It's gross, but a way for those companies to save $$. Organic is the rage nowadays, but I tend to look for non-gmo and pasture raised when I look for my meat. I'm biased, but to me you can taste the difference.
mako1331 said:
I just always assume Christmas trees because that’s what everyone grows here, although there’s only a 3-4 county area where it’s productive. As far as the chickens go, I’m also kind of a softie when it comes to slaughtering them, so that may be a big part of the reason we don’t eat our own. They kind of become pets. Stupid, annoying pets, but still pets. We’ve got close to 22 acres of cabbage this year, and another 10 or so of strawberries, and we are gonna try watermelons for the first time on my fil’s river bottom land, so that will probably be an adventure.
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The watermelons will do great in the bottoms. I used to plant a garden in the sandy, loamy soil of the Yadkin River bottoms on our property, but moved my garden to higher ground after losing a few to flooding. Now we just use the bottoms to grow fescue to bale.
 
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ChrisL68 said:
In my opinion if he was abusing the PM's during his time out he should have just had that privilege removed and remained in the wasteland.
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In my opinion he should have behaved differently if he didn’t want to get banned.

If you have so many opinions on how the moderators should do their (volunteer, unpaid) job then why not offer to take on the role yourself?
 
Organic and free range are such loose terms with chickens anyway. Chickens can be considered free range if there is a doggy door sized opening in an industrial chicken house that allows the chickens the opportunity to go outside, an opportunity they rarely take given that all their food and water is inside the climate controlled chicken house. Knowing where your chicken actually comes from is the best way to ensure you’re getting the type of chicken you want.
 
tsywake said:
I've noticed it too. Not sure of the cause, but it may have to do with the feed commercial chickens are fed. Tyson, Purdue, etc provide the feed to chicken houses so that they have a consistent end product. Those feeds are guaranteed to have certain percentages of nutrients, but the origin of the nutrients varies based upon whatever is cheapest at the moment. For protein, many industrial chicken feed includes ground up dead chickens. It's gross, but a way for those companies to save $$. Organic is the rage nowadays, but I tend to look for non-gmo and pasture raised when I look for my meat. I'm biased, but to me you can taste the difference.
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Thanks. Makes sense that it might be the cannibal chickens that are the issue. I tend to look for locally-grown stuff, but when they're asking for $9/lb for their pet chicken "Clucky" who had her own massaging recliner during life, I'd rather just buy something else. I have noticed that marinating the chicken helps, even if it's just 30 minutes in a lime juice/basil bath.
 
BeachBumDeac said:
Tsy is air chilled vs water chilled a big difference in chicken?
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IMO, yes. You want to get the chicken chilled asap after slaughter. We're going to drop them into ice baths after gutting, mostly to reduce the temperature quickly to reduce the time in the danger zone of temps, but also to reduce the heat volume of dropping dozens of chickens into a freezer at one time. Depending on how many are added at a time, they can spoil other items in the freezer when they cool. Also, IMO air cooled meats tend to dry out more than water cooled.
mako1331 said:
Organic and free range are such loose terms with chickens anyway. Chickens can be considered free range if there is a doggy door sized opening in an industrial chicken house that allows the chickens the opportunity to go outside, an opportunity they rarely take given that all their food and water is inside the climate controlled chicken house. Knowing where your chicken actually comes from is the best way to ensure you’re getting the type of chicken you want.
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This. So much this. We let ours out each morning and lock them up at night. We occasionally lose one to a predator, but they typically stick together and aren't messed with.
 
tsywake said:
So those of you who aren't friends with me on Facebook, we started a farm during the pandemic. We've been overwhelmed by the demand so far, just doing free-range, pasture raised eggs. We can't keep up with demand, and are expanding into other products. It's really been a mental and physical gamechanger for me, and also why I've not been as active here for some time.
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Congrats. Watched the biggest little farm doc recently with the kids. They were into it.
 
DeacInVermont said:
Thanks. Makes sense that it might be the cannibal chickens that are the issue. I tend to look for locally-grown stuff, but when they're asking for $9/lb for their pet chicken "Clucky" who had her own massaging recliner during life, I'd rather just buy something else. I have noticed that marinating the chicken helps, even if it's just 30 minutes in a lime juice/basil bath.
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I get the cost argument as well. If it tells you anything, last year I bought a case of fully grown, processed chickens at my wholesaler for $2.50 per bird.

The 80 birds I have coming in next week cost that much, and they're only one day old. By the time I feed them for 8 weeks and process them, my cost is roughly $8 per bird. If I sell them for $10 per bird, I'll profit $160 total. Economy of scale is insane when it comes to farming.
 
deaconson said:
Congrats. Watched the biggest little farm doc recently with the kids. They were into it.
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Our 4yo daughter loves to help, but obviously we shield her from some of the sights and tasks. I want her to understand where her food comes from so that she'll hopefully appreciate the work folks put into it and how easy it is to go to the corner market and buy items you want.
 
tsywake said:
I get the cost argument as well. If it tells you anything, last year I bought a case of fully grown, processed chickens at my wholesaler for $2.50 per bird.

The 80 birds I have coming in next week cost that much, and they're only one day old. By the time I feed them for 8 weeks and process them, my cost is roughly $8 per bird. If I sell them for $10 per bird, I'll profit $160 total. Economy of scale is insane when it comes to farming.
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We will get the "non-Soylent Green" chicken here and there if only to support the local farmer and I'm grateful we can do so without it being a struggle. It is remarkable to me the difference in quality between the family pack of grocery store meat or produce and the locally grown stuff and how much effort or expense is attached to getting access to food that is better for you.
 
Thanks for all the discussion folks. I think I've posted more in the last 24 hrs than I have the past 2 yrs combined.
 
mako1331 said:
Organic and free range are such loose terms with chickens anyway. Chickens can be considered free range if there is a doggy door sized opening in an industrial chicken house that allows the chickens the opportunity to go outside, an opportunity they rarely take given that all their food and water is inside the climate controlled chicken house. Knowing where your chicken actually comes from is the best way to ensure you’re getting the type of chicken you want.
Click to expand...

I typically buy Vital Farms products when it’s available. They’re pasture raised. Their Instagram had a pretty cool graphic about how many hens could fit on a football field. Cage free = 48,000. Pasture raised = 533. A wild difference.
 
Tsy - did you start the farm with the intention of just producing food for you & your family? Or was the goal to get into business?
 
Just hopped on Zoom for the Forsyth County Dems Convention and they're playing 1970's soul/funk elevator music, lol
 
YoungBuck95 said:
Tsy - did you start the farm with the intention of just producing food for you & your family? Or was the goal to get into business?
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We got 6 hens to just produce our own eggs. We'd give extras to friends and family and then were approached about selling. It's grown from there.

The peace and serenity it gives me is also playing deeply into our decisions. Working remotely during COVID, I'd wake up, go to the upstairs office and not leave until dark. Farming gives me a reason to cut off work at a reasonable time and gets me outdoors and active, something I was severely lacking.
 
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