Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

On the contrary my Chinese friend suggests the older the chicken the better the texture and flavour for soup, according to Wikipedia the source of all knowledge, chicken soup should use an old chicken and simmer for 3hours ish....

Oldest Birds I have eaten are 2-3 and I think they are excellent soup.

My African refugee housemate was over the moon when she discovered cheap broiler chickens, ex battery hens after paying higher dollars for mushy supermarket chickens.

That said, I am a little cautious about eating any animal that has been intensively farmed especially for long periods, or those of someone in poor condition.

I hope there is no penalties for piling on but I have to agree will all the stock makers. Chicken stock is like Bacon, it makes lots of dishes taste better, but I even boil shrimp peels to make shrimp stock, freeze in cubes and use as needed. A old hen stock is what I use for stock in chicken and pork jambalaya. Simmer until completely disentigrated in the liquid. Then pour off the liquid and freeze. Then pick the bones and gristle out the meat. Then you can run the meat thru a blender. Then in a skillet, sautee finely cut bell pepper celery and onion, and seasoning of your choice add water and geletin simmer for 1 minute to activate geletin, pour in a tupperware mold and refridgerate. Serve cold on crackers or sliced bread, like hog head cheese except with chicken.

I hope there is no penalties for piling on but I have to agree will all the stock makers. Chicken stock is like Bacon, it makes lots of dishes taste better, but I even boil shrimp peels to make shrimp stock, freeze in cubes and use as needed. A old hen stock is what I use for stock in chicken and pork jambalaya. Simmer until completely disentigrated in the liquid. Then pour off the liquid and freeze. Then pick the bones and gristle out the meat. Then you can run the meat thru a blender. Then in a skillet, sautee finely cut bell pepper celery and onion, and seasoning of your choice add water and geletin simmer for 1 minute to activate geletin, pour in a tupperware mold and refridgerate. Serve cold on crackers or sliced bread, like hog head cheese except with chicken.

An old farmer once gave me some advice on how to get rid of old, non laying chooks which are too tough to eat....

Bury them up to the neck near your favourite fruit tree........and run over with the lawn mower. I never did try it. Sounds a bit messy...

If that doesnt send a message to the other chooks nothing will

A bloke who farms chickens for eggs once told me that they make really good chook food too... just cook em up, then along with some store bought chook food, grind em up into powder and pack into pellets again.
They love em. All the nutrients a chicken needs, obviously, cos they come from chickens...

mmmmmmmmmmmmm cannibalism is not good. Just ask the mad cows.

Hehehe. Cannibalism is ok, just not for herbivores! Cows and even omniverous cholla should not be cannibalistic.
My post was in jest.

When I am dressing out our birds the rest of the flock hover nearby, ready to snatch up any bits, livers, innards etc, that fall to the ground. They haven't got Mad chicken disease yet but with chooks, how would you tell?

That is most interesting Axl. So they're not distressed at the demise of a sibling or friend?

The big rooster gets a bit huffy when I first grab the .......victim??? but after the chop it all goes silent and he calms down and ignores me again, mind you he doesn't seem to want to have a go at me for a few days after just in case........

Not at all like rabbits, rabbits know and stress to their eyes bug out!

Thanks BRB I'll keep that in mind when I harvest my first litter.