19 Sep 2004
Dynamite Chickens

The meat chickens are going to be dynamite! The weather has been perfect, and they're really picking up the weight. Three weeks old (yesterday) and some of them are already pushing a pound!

We moved them out of the brooder a week early this time, and still haven't let them range outside (that'll happen this coming week). I think we kept the last bunch in the brooder too long, corwding them, and let them out too early, before they were fully feathered. This time, we moved them to an improved house inside the barn, and are setting up a fully enclosed yard system rather than letting them range the entire 12 acre pasture. So far we've lost only three chicks, giving us a total of 207 still going strong.

We've sold the final chicken from the last batch: I delivered a couple of freebies to local stores today to entice them to buy local, free range chickens, as I've found that once you eat one of these birds, it's really hard to go back to commercial factory meat. Happy birds taste better, and my chickens sell themselves.

We had discussed running chickens through the winter, but I don't think we're going to do it after all. I just don't feel comfortable selling birds that have been confined all their lives: every creature should have access to fresh air and sunshine, and in Indiana in January that'd be a real problem with baby chicks. They'd be flash frozen a bit early ... so seasonal production it is, for now.

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