Pastured Poultry Partnership
I'll start by telling you our entire process. This will give you as much information as possibly to help you decide if your family would like to be included in our partnership opportunity.
We start by ordering chicks usually in February, to be delivered around the first week in May (obviously every year may vary slightly). Then we wait…. As soon as the weather starts to break, we will go through our infrastructure to make necessary repairs or upgrades for the year. About a week prior to our delivery date for chicks, we will make sure that the brooder is ready for the new guests by a purchasing and spreading wood chips, getting the heaters set up, and going to pick up all the feed we will need to raise the birds to butcher age (approx. 8 weeks). For our family, we have been ordering 60 birds. Those 60 birds will require 900 lbs of feed. There are always a few that end up dying before butcher day ( we estimate 5-10% for dead loss). Last year we processed 56 of the 60 birds, and that will last our family until we process again the following year.
On the day that chicks arrive at the post office, we will get a phone call. As soon as we get that call, we have to drop what we are doing to go and pick them up and bring them home. We will then individually introduce them to the brooder by pulling them out and making sure they get their first drink of water, showing them where the feed is, and placing them under the brooder heater. It is important that the chicks have a constant source of all three for their early development. If it is too cold in the brooder, the chicks will crowd under the heat and can kill each other. The chicks will remain in the brooder for their first three weeks with fresh water daily and an all you can eat buffet of 22% non-gmo feed. During the third week in the brooder we will begin to wean them off of the heaters so they are prepared to go outside for week four.
Once the weather is right, and the birds are ready, we move them to pasture. We keep them in what is referred to as a “chicken tractor” . It is basically a coop that has an open bottom so that they can have access to grass, dirt, bugs and sunlight while still being able to protect them from sunburn and predators. When the chicks get put on pasture, they are then moved to a 19-20% protein feed, and limited to about 12 hours of access to feed per day. If their feed isn't limited, they will overeat and potentially die from heart attack. Every morning starts with fresh water and feed. And, every evening they get fresh water and move to a new spot of grass. This move is important, because they have fresh things to eat from nature, but also they have a clean place to sleep for the night that is free of bacteria and parasites that are attracted to their feces. This same process will happen day and night until they are approximately 8 weeks old. At this age, they are between 6-9lb average live weight, and ready to process.
“Processing day” begins about a week before the actual day, by planning the daily moves so that the chickens end up in a convenient location for processing. This saves them from having to go through the stress of catching and moving them the morning of. The night before, we will set up all the equipment so we are ready to get started early the next morning. After a sleepless night of going through everything in my head, the morning begins with lighting the propane burner to begin to warm the scalding pot to 160 degrees. At our house, this morning is all hands on deck. Once everyone is ready to go, and the pot is hot, we divide up into separate stations: Catching, killing, scalding, plucking, and eviscerating.
The chickens are then caught one by one and placed upside down in a cone. This cone will hold their wings together and keep them from flopping around. It also forces the blood to their head so their neck can be cut and they will quickly bleed out. They will then be swirled in the scalding pot to loosen up their feathers in preparation for plucking. They will then be placed in the plucker and sprayed with water for approximately 30-45 seconds until “all” of the feathers are removed. The final step starts with removing the few stubborn feathers by hand, then removing the head, feet and finally the entrails. The bird is then rinsed out and put in an ice cooler ready to be packaged whole or further broken down and frozen.
So, I’m sure if all this is new to you, you have tons of questions. I’d be happy to answer any of those questions for you, but want to start by checking a few of the top ones off the list. As I’m sure you know, the commercial food industry is a broken system that sacrifices most things in exchange for competitive pricing. Raising real food is not cheaper than buying food from the grocery store. But, it is so worth it to have a freezer full of delicious, healthy food for your family.
How much does it cost to raise Pastured Poultry? (These costs will all be broken down into a per bird average) Chicks-$3.25, Bedding $.50, Electricity for heaters $1.25, Feed $5, Total- $10 plus a bunch of labor.
If you have ever looked into the cost of buying pasture raised chicken, you will find anywhere between $4-5 / lb. The average bird is 5lb at a cost of $20-25 per bird.
We are planning on charging a fixed price of $5 per bird for the labor involved in raising your birds. So, the total price will be $15 per bird with $5.00 due p ordering the chicks, $5.00 due one week before the chicks are delivered, and the remaining $5 due prior to processing day.
How evolved can I be? You can be as involved with raising them as you would like, by stopping by to observe the process at any time. There however would be no expectations from you until processing day. Processing day, you would be responsible for helping get all the chickens through the plucking stage by filling in at one, or multiple of the stations ( I would like to give you the opportunity to be hands on in as many of the stations as you would like to). And then you would be responsible for the final stage of your chickens by cleaning them prior to the ice cooler. I understand that you may be coming into this with zero knowledge on the subject. We will be there with you and teach you to be competent in every step.
What will I need to bring with me on processing day? You will need to bring a sharp knife (I can make recommendations if you need), A large cooler, Ice ( I will let you know how much you need based on the number of chickens), and obviously appropriate dress for the occasion.
Who can come with me? We have made it a family event in which everyone helps. However, kids under the age of 10 or so, would probably be more of a hindrance than a help. Also, this is hands on, so anyone not willing to get their hands dirty should probably stay home.
What still needs to be done? When you leave, you will take with you your cooler filled with whole processed chickens. Those chickens will need to sit overnight to let rigamortis set in and release prior to packaging. The very next day you will need to package, or cut up and package your chicken to prepare it for the freezer. If you choose to package your birds whole, it is recommended to use a poultry shrink bag that can be purchased from amazon. The bags are simple to use, and can be done in a pot of water on your stovetop. If you will be cutting up your chicken prior to freezing, you can use either ziplock freezer bags, or a vacuum sealer if you have access to one.
How do I sign up? If you are still excited after reading all of this, then let’s take the next step. Obviously our current infrastructure will limit the number of chickens we can raise at one time. By using the form below to answer a few questions for us, it will help us determine how many families would be a good fit, and whether we should start planning to raise more than one batch this summer.
https://forms.gle/mSrAnCGuv7injsvs7
Thank you!
Bo & Michelle