Dateline: 21 August 2016 AD
Garlic bulbils are tiny garlic bulb seeds that form at the top of a garlic scape. I usually cut the young scapes off my garlic plants, and don't get any bulbils. But this year I let them grow. The picture above shows several of the seed heads.
The thought occurred to me that my chickens might like the pungent little bulbils. So I broke off some and scattered them over the chicken's feed. After some initial hesitation, they ate them right down.
Then I did a Google search about feeding garlic to chickens. It turns out there are people who regularly feed crushed garlic to their chickens, starting when they are chicks, to maintain their health.
So, I decided that it was a good idea to harvest all those little bulbils for my chickens...
My meat birds have about a week of fattening to go before I harvest them. I'll be feeding the rest of the bulbils to them over the next few days.
They really do like garlic. Look at these happy faces...
We'll have to try that. We cut up some of the scapes and use them in salad and stir-fry. Pretty good that way. Speaking of chicken harvest, we are about due for some, too.
ReplyDeleteHi Lee—
DeleteSounds good. The best way we've found to eat scapes is to pickle them when young and tender. A standard dilly bean recipe will do it. They're something special.
Was going to do about 25 of the meat birds but was informed by youngest son that there will be no room in the freezers after we finish doing the 23 Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys, so I passed on them this year. Going to have to make room somewhere for the two pigs when we process them in November. Or buy another freezer and that would be number 7. I am about to give up all this animal raising and leave it up to the kids to handle it all! Sigh.
ReplyDeleteSeven freezers! How many people are you feeding? We have three. :-)
Delete21 when all are around!
DeleteHerrick, do you use any soy or corn when raising your broilers? How many weeks do you allow them for growth? Jim is toying with using some of each for the last batch of broilers to see the difference in the growth rate. Our leaves are turning already and it's not fun butchering in cold weather. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Lynn,
DeleteWe are feeding them the standard broiler mix from the local feed store. I can see it has corn in it, and more than likely it has soy too. In the past, we have gotten an organic broiler mix, but not this year. The birds are seven weeks old today, and big enough. They are walking with difficulty. I'll process them on Thursday or Friday, hopefully. One of these years we would like to try the Freedom Rangers for a change.
The last batch we recently butchered (without soy/corn -- about 100 broilers) was allowed to grow for 9 weeks. Most ranged in size from 2 to 3 lbs. and had a couple that were 4 lbs. Most customers like them at 5. We usually go with an organic mix we buy in large quantities and have it shipped in. Last year we tried a batch of Freedom Rangers and they ended up being the last in the freezer to sell since there was a lot less white meat on them. Your figures give us a good comparison of the 2 feeds. I'm not sure what Jim will decide to do.
ReplyDeleteJust my two cents worth...
ReplyDeleteWe've had great success with Pioneers from McMurray hatchery. They are a hybrid of four different breeds and they take longer to mature (about the same as the freedom ranger). But the best part is they are a true dual purpose bird. We have crossed them with a NH Red but this is our third generation of the original chicks. So, now we are self-sustaining. We hatch out our own meat birds and have replaced our layers once. Will do so again this spring. Get big eggs the rest of the year. Roosters dress out at 7.4 or 8 pounds consistently. Hens between 3-4 pounds. They have none of the issues the Cornish X do. We feed them Morrisons Organic plus they are tractored (meat ones) or free range 1/2 the day (layers). Very pleased with this breed.
Pam
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