I'm still recovering.
On top of that, we also picked up a quarter steer again from a local ranch, Oberg Brothers. The chest freezer is once again full of beef and quite happy.
And on top of that, we also received our late harvest olive oil from Chaffin Family Olive Oils in California. Oh, how I've been anxiously awaiting this shipment!
Besides the fun of spring weather and grand feasts, I've been busy with my vegetable starts and prepping the beds for the coming spring.
Ya, baby. That's a tomato!
If you remember, I heavily mulched them with WOOD CHIPS earlier this spring and am already blown away by the benefit it's brought to my soil. I went out to check it yesterday afternoon and was easily able to paw my way down through the entire bed. It was so light and rich - oh la la.
See?
Beyond that, I've also put up another HOOP HOUSE so that the soil will begin to warm extra in this raised bed. This bed will be home to my herbs, beets, kale, lettuce, spinach, and peas. Because most of these are planted early in spring, I figured it best to get a jump start on the season - this way, I don't have to worry about a light frost, as the tender seedlings will be protected! I'll be able to plant in this hoop house the middle of this month.
My kale is already calling it home during the warm days, though it still is happiest sleeping in the house.
I simply love this time of year. The birds are back and are noisily chirping, you start to see bugs crawlin' around, and I'll be danged if I didn't see patches of green grass the other day. The ground is slowly coming back to life and there is nothing quite like gardening to make one appreciate these blessings.
And speaking of spring time...guess what?!
Guess!
It involves feathers.
Guess!
Okay, I'll tell you.
My parents and I are going to raise meat chickens this spring! Is that the most exciting news you've heard all day? Perhaps, in your lifetime? I thought so.
In my quest to find local, pastured chicken (I am currently dissapointed with 'organic' chickens that still never area allowed to roam free and eat bugs and such...but that's another post...) I was astonished at the price. Here in Washington, pastured chickens sell for about $4.50 a pound. A POUND! And it's not that I mind paying more for a great product, but for that price, I'd just assume do it myself.
So that's what we're going to do.
Not only will we be able to pasture them (using a temporary and movable pen), use their manure as fertilizer, utilize the feet and necks for broth (and livers for cooking!), but we'll also be able to control what sort of grain they will be receiving. Not to mention that added benefit of experiencing and appreciating the chicken's contribution to the homestead. Truly, nothing makes you appreciate meat like raising and butchering your own.
There is still lots to decide, such as which breed we will choose and what we will feed it, but luckily, we still have a few weeks to decide. We're looking to start the beginning (ish) of April, which means the chickens should be ready to butcher sometime around the end of June - just before the garden work really starts to get busy. Perfect timing!
It looks like we'll be raising about 50 chickens - 25 for my parents and 25 for us. Hopefully, we won't loose too many as chicks (or to predators), and will yield somewhere around 20-23 chickens each. This will supply us with chicken for about a year.
Eeeek!
Is it weird that I get so excited about such things? Does this put my into some sort of 'social outcast' category? Will I be that crazy lady in the town that no one wants to talk to their children? Honey, don't talk to that lady, she butchers chickens...
Such is life, I suppose.
At least my husband doesn't think I'm a complete agrarian loon....
....yet....
Regardless, life on the farm in spring really kicks off with a bang and I'm ready, baby. Oh, I'm so ready.
Now....who's got great information for me on meat chickens?
We haven't gotten our meat chickens yet but buff orpingtons are a pretty good dual purpose chicken. We have 6 of those for eggs but have been told that they make a good meat chicken. I am really excited to be that "weird chicken lady" too! Although, my hubby will have to do the actual killing. I just can't bring myself to do it yet. I cry way too much! I will be a part of the processing though. Can't wait to see how it goes for you!
ReplyDeleteHow exciting to get going on gardening already! I've done the raising meat birds...3 years in a row. While it was nice to raise big meaty birds for the freezer, I found those little beasts pretty nasty! I raised Cornish broilers. They went from yellow balls of fluff to big stinky birds in 8 weeks (5-7 lbs). Those last few weeks they ate 50lbs of feed every 4 days for 30 birds. Now that is alot of fermenting chicken poo! I'm not sure if I'll embark on it again...lol
ReplyDeletecan you tell me what is your last frost date where you are? Annd...on my homestead we just got two piglets and we are going to butcher them in the fall. They are so sweet but secretly I'm super excited to eat them, lol!
ReplyDeleteStarted with White Rocks, a dual purpose breed. I found them to be very slow growing and ended up losing quite of few just over the course of time. I tried the CornishX next and they are now my choice, there are lots of horror stories about them, but thankfully, mine have always done fine. They are very fast growing, so they will eat a lot! Have fun whatever you choose! Oh, and if you can rent/borrow/build a chicken plucker I would do it, it is amazing the difference it'll make!
ReplyDeleteDo you already have chickens that you get your eggs from? Or are you just looking at a breed for eating?
ReplyDeleteWe raise meat birds, but we don't feed them like most people do. They get to eat as much as they want when they are young, but to keep them from dieing we only feed them so much each morning and each evening after they are 4 weeks old. They are a bit smaller than other peoples, but I have more live to butchering date because they have to move around like other chickens do. Keep their food off the ground so they have to stand and eat (it makes them healthier) and give them plenty of extra greens if you have them. We have 6 in our family and did about 20 last summer. It lasted us to about November. This year we are raising 50 and praying it last us through the end of the year. Just keep them moving and don't over feed them and you should do fine.
ReplyDeleteI was able to order Pastured Poulty Profits by Joel Salatin from our library. He had good ideas in there to how to brood, when to put on pasture, etc. I've also read more of his book and he goes into why he uses the cornishx instead of a dual purpose. He uses the dual purpose for stewing hens. We have raised cornish x for 6 years and last year we did 100 birds. I love the fact that we raise our own! It's an adventure and just like gardening you never stop learning and improving how you do it. =) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteGood idea to raise your own chickens! We live in Washington too and the prices of organic are crazy~especially if you have a large family! We raised Cornish crosses last year, but I think we may try the Freedom Rangers this year. The Cornish grows sooo fast, which means that they eat a lot of feed...and we had them in a tractor too. Good luck with your chicken growing adventure~we'll never go back to store-bought meat again.
ReplyDeleteEven if others think we're crazy! :)
We raised Cornish Crosses last year... Not going there again. They are definitely meaty, but we're doing Freedom Rangers this year... We also have layers and dual purpose breeds. Excited for you!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the rabbit in the classroom. We did cornish-cross rocks last year and about half didn't make it to the butcher. They kept dying. We had a really wet spring and that may have been part of the problem. Some people we know said to limit their feed. I will try that this year. Good Luck!!!
ReplyDeleteI raise Buff Orpingtons. They are a slow-growing bird (June to October last year), but unlike crosses, which you can't breed yourself after that first year (they start to lose the qualities that make them such fast-growing broilers), we can hatch our own chicks every year and gradually build a flock based on the characteristics we want.
ReplyDeleteI chose Buffs because the more research I did into the meat birds available from the big poultry farms, the less I wanted to raise chicks who risked bandy leg and other growth problems because they were bred only to eat, eat, eat! Six to eight weeks to maturity just seems a little crazy to me. I'd much rather have a bird I can put out to pasture for a few months and keep as an egg-layer if need be.
Best of luck to you!
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