Finally butchering again

[iwltfum]

Hey all. Just wanted to post here and say chicken math is real when it comes to meat birds too. I went from a few birds in a season, to 50 a year - enough for the family for a year, to 250 per year - because why not do 250 when you are already doing 50 and sell the extras. Now this year we are raising 600 freedom ranger broilers, 40 turkeys, and 20 ducks along side our laying flock of 160 hens.

We have 10 butcherings scheduled with my butchering crew and we are putting on 10 summer events surrounding picking up fresh whole chickens and selling smoked chickens as well the day after every butchering day.

It feels like we really waded into the deep end of the pool without really noticing.

We raise all our birds in pasture pens (chicken tractors) moved daily. Our pasture has never looked better for "marginal agricultural land" according to the USDA. We are getting 3 significant cuttings of hay per year, where some people in our area struggle to get their second cutting before fall.

Today was our first butchering day. We only had 48 birds to get through so I only had one helper, who is an amazing eviscerator. We set up, butchered and cleaned up the butchering building in 3 hours, which was break neck pace for us.

It's thanks to everyone here on this forum and even some of those who dont sign on to the forum anymore that I'm here doing this. And it's working! So I had to shout it from the roof tops. YOU can do it too! I attached some pic from our day today (and one from late last night when we collected the birds from the pasture).

 

[iwltfum]

Because of the fertilization from the chicken manure?

That's pretty amazing.

In short yes, but I think it's slightly more dynamic than that. I have been reading about the benefits of moving concentrated birds on your land and it in corporates a pH adjustment equivalent to liming, a nutritive element (mainly nitrogen), a mineral element since any minerals they dont use for growth are excreted, a mulching element by manure capping, and a watering element due to the moisture in the manure. The way I see it is all that together is like a spa treatment and massage for your land all at once!

 

[iwltfum]

I love your cooler, BTW!

Thanks! A restaurant closed down just down the road from me and we bought that cooler from them. It was a bear to move, but it's been an important part of our butchering process.

Props. I'd suggest sheet pans as the racks in the cooler look like they'll be a bear to clean.

I am currently trying to get the household on board with harvesting our own. It might come to: like it, or not...I'm doing it.

Thanks. Thats a great idea. The racks aren't too hard to clean, with a powerwasher and a soap sprayer, but if i can find some sheet pans that fit, I'd definitely consider that. I do like how the racks dry them nicely by letting any water or moisture through them.

Wow at @iwltfum that is really something! Can you elaborate a bit on the events you are having this summer? Sounds like a great way to legally sell meat. Great job growing your home business! You are truly an inspiration, providing wholesome food for your family and community. I look forward to continuing to learn from you.

X's 2!

Thank you. Last year, because farmers markets weren't happening, we had a couple of fresh chicken pick-up days where we sat outside for a few hours on the day after butchering and sold chickens to people who had pre-ordered them. This year we nixed the "pre-order" part and are just advertising that we will be having chickens for sale from this time to that time. We are also going to fire up the hot smoker and smoke a few birds to sell since prepared food options can be few and far between around where I live. I have invited a few musicians to come out and play some live music during the events also - and we are going to encourage people to wander around the farm and find a place to sit down and eat their chicken if they want to. Or they can take it home with them. Keeping it simple at first. We'll see how it goes.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'd suggest seeding clover. But I like clover more than grass. The white clover stays short while the red and crimson get a foot tall.

Yep, the grass and weeds will attack the fertile soil with a vengeance. Plant a garden! The tomatoes really like the soil.

I have agreed with my husband to put that specific area back to grass. He has agreed with me to figure out how to convert the Outdoor Brooder to a tractor and run either meaties or grow-outs on the areas that are bare and unproductive.

And he will allow me to plant clover in the seed mix -- in part because he has a buddy who will put a beehive in our orchard once it's more established and do all the bee-tending without use having to mess with the bees.

 

[3KillerBs]

We are getting 3 significant cuttings of hay per year, where some people in our area struggle to get their second cutting before fall.

Because of the fertilization from the chicken manure?

That's pretty amazing.

 

[3KillerBs]

In short yes, but I think it's slightly more dynamic than that. I have been reading about the benefits of moving concentrated birds on your land and it in corporates a pH adjustment equivalent to liming, a nutritive element (mainly nitrogen), a mineral element since any minerals they dont use for growth are excreted, a mulching element by manure capping, and a watering element due to the moisture in the manure. The way I see it is all that together is like a spa treatment and massage for your land all at once!

How interesting. I'm hoping to harness some of that on a small scale for my garden.

Don't forget the thatching by scratching and the pruning by beaks!

One of the things I'm hoping to do by moving birds around different parts of my land is to soften the concrete-hard, compacted, sand-with-some-clay soil.

 

[Parront]

How interesting. I'm hoping to harness some of that on a small scale for my garden.



One of the things I'm hoping to do by moving birds around different parts of my land is to soften the concrete-hard, compacted, sand-with-some-clay soil.

I think that grazing with chickens, as long as you move them around, will help the compacted soil with aeration from scratching and insects and worms. Their droppings feed the soil microbes and the worms. My biggest problem here is not enough area to move them. I only let them on the lawn grass that I want to survive about once a week, right before it gets mowed. It is very green due to their attention! But, here in arid AZ, I am limited to how much I can water. Grass needs a lot of water!

 

[Brooks_]

Hey all. Just wanted to post here and say chicken math is real when it comes to meat birds too. I went from a few birds in a season, to 50 a year - enough for the family for a year, to 250 per year - because why not do 250 when you are already doing 50 and sell the extras. Now this year we are raising 600 freedom ranger broilers, 40 turkeys, and 20 ducks along side our laying flock of 160 hens.

We have 10 butcherings scheduled with my butchering crew and we are putting on 10 summer events surrounding picking up fresh whole chickens and selling smoked chickens as well the day after every butchering day.

It feels like we really waded into the deep end of the pool without really noticing.

We raise all our birds in pasture pens (chicken tractors) moved daily. Our pasture has never looked better for "marginal agricultural land" according to the USDA. We are getting 3 significant cuttings of hay per year, where some people in our area struggle to get their second cutting before fall.

Today was our first butchering day. We only had 48 birds to get through so I only had one helper, who is an amazing eviscerator. We set up, butchered and cleaned up the butchering building in 3 hours, which was break neck pace for us.

It's thanks to everyone here on this forum and even some of those who dont sign on to the forum anymore that I'm here doing this. And it's working! So I had to shout it from the roof tops. YOU can do it too! I attached some pic from our day today (and one from late last night when we collected the birds from the pasture).

Props. I'd suggest sheet pans as the racks in the cooler look like they'll be a bear to clean.

I am currently trying to get the household on board with harvesting our own. It might come to: like it, or not...I'm doing it.

 

[Parront]

Props. I'd suggest sheet pans as the racks in the cooler look like they'll be a bear to clean.

I am currently trying to get the household on board with harvesting our own. It might come to: like it, or not...I'm doing it.

As the family member in a past life, go slow. An extremely annoying rooster could be first!

 

[3KillerBs]

I have invited a few musicians to come out and play some live music during the events also - and we are going to encourage people to wander around the farm and find a place to sit down and eat their chicken if they want to.

If I weren't 8 states away ....

Suggestion though -- for biosecurity you might want to make sure that the public is kept well away from your main flock facilities. Maybe set up a display flock in a convenient place for people to look at with the awareness that they shouldn't rejoin the main flock until they've been quarantined?