Broiler Adventure II

Time to raise some more broilers!  Last year, after much research and learning how the big boy plants process chickens that we all purchase in our local super markets, it totally grossed us out so we decided to try raising our own meat chickens.  And that is just what we did.  You can read all about it on our Broiler Adventure I page.

This year, our new adventure started mid March when we ordered our 150 Freedom Rangers!  Yes, that is correct, ONE FIVE ZERO!!!!  Call us crazy.  We knew we had to do some modifications to our broiler brooder/pen.  I definitely wanted to change the front so we could walk in more easily instead of having to duck down to get in and I wanted to install a full size door, well almost full size.  Lol!  We also knew we would need more than one heat lamp and bigger feeders and waterers.  The kids and I wasted no time.  We knew those little "meatballs" would be here before we knew it.

Our new front

Whew!!! We finished just in time.  Our local post office called on April 18th saying our rather loud packages had arrived:)  You may be asking, "What took you so long?  You had a month."  Well that is true but we had school and other projects going on as well.  We have become pretty good jugglers of projects.  Lol!

Picked up our packages!

Let's see what we have here :)

All 150!!! 

Enjoying their new space

First night on the farm!

Awww, the chirping of little chicks:)

Since I haven't done very well in documenting this adventure, I will jump ahead a bit to week 4.  We have been reading Joel Salatin's books and watching his videos.  We decided to try his egg mobile method instead of having 150 "meatballs" plus our laying hens roaming our yard. That might be nitrogen overload!  We decided to go with a scaled down version of 8x8x2 instead of Joel's 10x12x2.  So far, we have two built; one with a tarp cover and the other with tin.  We definitely like the tarp version better. It is much lighter and easier for us to move.  We have one more to build and then we will have the ratio that we want,  around 50 birds per egg mobile.  There are a few kinks we are still working out, like our dolly system.  The way we are doing it now definitely requires two people to move it so we need to work on that.  My very talented son has been assigned that task.  I would also like to improve our watering and feeding system but for now, it is manageable.  This is all a learning experience for us.

Our first egg mobile, minus the doors

First time on pasture

And then there were two

Close up of the happy "meatballs"

Each of these egg mobiles cost about $35 to build.  We used treated lumber so we should be able to use them for several years.

Papa Roo and I are super excited about this year's adventure.  Last year we started from scratch; one small broiler pen, a handmade drill plucker (which served its purpose), homemade killing cones, and a make shift evisceration table.  This year we have invested in our egg mobiles and a couple stainless steel tables.  What I am most excited about is our new stainless steel EZ Plucker.  I will definitely post pics when it arrives.

I think that has brought us up to where we are today and I will do my best to keep you updated on our adventure.  Thursday, 23 May, our broilers will be 5 weeks old.

Week-5 ......................
Our little "meatballs" were five weeks old yesterday.  I think they have finally figured out the egg mobile and have learned to walk with it while staying away from the edges so their little toes do not get squished!  I love watching them discover the new grass as the egg mobile is moved to a fresh spot.  They are like a group of preschoolers that have been turned loose in a candy store.  Their voices are about as loud too.

As for moving the EMs, we have finally figured out a system that works quite well for us.  It is not the Joel Salatin dolly method, but it works.  We use our furniture mover pads under each corner and it slides right along the dew coated, green carpet :)  I have to give credit where credit is due on this idea.  It was all Papa Roo.

Another improvement we made this week was our watering system.  We used the five gallon bucket idea like Polyface Farm, but tweaked it a bit for our use.  We replaced the hanging waterer inside the EM with a pvc pipe and poultry nipples.  That is one less thing we have to remove when we move them.  The little meatballs took to it right away.  I sure wish our laying hens would take to the nipple system.  It keeps their water so much cleaner.

My Gentle Giant installing the
watering system 

Ta Da!  It works!

They love it!

Chicken Girl giving some love
to the little meatballs :)

Mid week update.....
I just couldn't wait to post these pics of our completed egg mobile project.  We now have three!!!   As mentioned in an earlier post, we used a scale down version of Joel Salatin's idea.  Ours are 8x8x2.  The first one we built, we used a tarp to enclose the back half, mainly because we didn't have tin and was not willing to pay $25 a sheet.  After doing a bit of searching on Craig's list, I found a great deal.  I purchased approximately 42 pieces for $40.  You do the math!  Excited to follow Joel's design, we built our second EM and enclosed the back half with tin.  It didn't take us long to discover it was a bit heavy for our taste.  So this weekend, after completing our third one with a tarp, we took the tin off of the second and replaced it with a tarp.  The tin will just be saved for another project around the farm.  By the end of the day, the field was freshly mowed, with a push mower!  Lol.  That is my sanity exercise.   Then the EMs were strategically placed in the lush green grass, water systems in place, food gutters filled, and finally, the little meatballs were divided into approximate groups of 50 and placed in their new homes.  They now have a 24/7 salad bar.  Each day the EMs will be moved to ensure the freshest of salads and special delights.  You can just listen to them and hear how happy they are, singing away while chasing bugs and microscopic yummies for their tummies.  Happy chickens make great tasting food.  Farm to table at it's best.

So proud of these little Egg Mobiles

Quality care at it's best!

Good night little meatballs

Week 8 ------------

Well,  it has been a couple of weeks since I posted about our broilers.  Our family took a road trip to TX to close on some property for our next adventure.  While we were gone we had a nice young teen tending to our little meatballs allowing him to make some extra cash.  What teen doesn't like to have $$s in their pocket? Lol!    I must say he did an excellent job.

The broilers are all healthy and happy.  I must admit, I was experimenting with their food ratio, which slowed their growth down a bit.  I have gone back to feeding them straight "grower/finisher" from Tractor Supply.  We were hoping to process a few next weekend but I think we are going to hold off until week 12.  This will give them time to put on another pound or so.  Plus, the kids and I have another road trip and then Papa Roo has a road trip of his own.  Once everyone gets back to the farm it will be all hands on deck for processing.

Speaking of processing, our new commercial size Easy Plucker is here!  Yay!  Can't wait to try her out.  It was delivered by UPS on Monday, however the delivery guy was lacking in truck driver skills so the kids and I had to meet him at the road with a trailer hooked to the ATV.  Really dude?  We get our 39' diesel pusher down our snake drive.

Let's check it out! 

Ta Da!!  There she is!

These fingers are gonna do the walking!
I mean PLUCKING!

Here are some pics our little meatballs.  The straw in the pics were placed in the EMs to give the birds a dry place to sleep.  We have had some very heavy thunderstorms the past few days.  No one likes to stand or sleep in water puddles. :)

Her comes our food! 

Yum, yum! 

Happy chicks

Our little system

For those who may be interested in this design, you can view the plans here,  Joel Salatin's tractor plans

Week 9 -----------

Well, here we are at week 9 and we were hoping to try out our new EZ Plucker this weekend, however, due to my experimentation with the food mixture, the little meatballs are not as big as we would like.  This has sort of put us in a bit of a pickle because the kids and I have a road trip planned and then upon our return, Papa Roo has his own road trip.  Do you see the dilemma here?  The broilers will be 13 weeks before we are all together again to process, unless the kids and I step up to the plate and do it on our own.  With total confidence, my son assures me that he can do everything but the eviceration.  Wow!  Cool!  I can do the eviceration, however, the down side of that is I am a bit slow.  Who am I kidding?  I am really slow.  Lol!  The upside is, practice will make me better and faster.  I will definitely post our decision.

On the EM note, things are still working smoothly.  We are moving them daily so the broilers have a fresh salad bar everyday.  The gutter food trays are working well and the watering system my son built works perfectly!  The little meatballs are back on track with their growth since we switched the food to straight "grower/finisher" from Tractor Supply.  Non medicated of course!!!

Breakfast is served

Healthy and happy

Beautiful birds!

Fresh Salad Bar for the day!

Week 11 -----------

It has been two weeks since I have posted about these little meatballs.  The kids and I have been away from the farm helping family in TX during fireworks season.  Us Texans love our fireworks!!!  While away, Papa Roo was taking care of our broilers.  Before we left, we modified the EMs just a bit.  We are still playing around with different systems to make moving the tractors easy for one person.  Our latest method is a small lawnmower wheel on a long bolt.  We drilled a hole in each corner and we just place the bolt w/wheel in hole on two sides and pull with the handle.  Papa Roo said this is working great!!!  Yay!  This may be our answer to the dolly system.

As mentioned in our last post, these growing meatballs are going to be 13 weeks before we get to process them.  I have decided not to try the new plucker until we have "all hands on deck".  The good news is, the broilers will be a nice size.  The bad news is, we are out extra dollars for the extra two weeks of feed.

Here are some pics that I took after we got home this weekend.  I will try to remember to take a pic of the wheel system later this evening.

Egg Mobile #1 

Enjoying the salad bar! 

Egg Mobile #2

Egg Mobile #3

 These birds are going to be so delicious!  They are happy, healthy, and I know what they are eating!

Week 13---------

Finally! Two weeks later than planned, let the processing begin!!

Papa Roo is back from his pacific travels and there is no time for jet lag.  On Monday, after much anticipation, we got to use our new EZ Plucker.  I must say it works just as advertised.  This is an awesome investment.  It will pluck a bird in 15 seconds, leaving it naked and smooth as a baby's bottom :)  If we had a doubt, and we did, about spending our hard earned $$$s on such a machine, it is now gone.  I can't stress enough what a great investment!!!!

Since our son is away at church camp, that just leaves the three of us for our assembly line.  Chicken girl is responsible for gathering the broilers and bringing them to the station.  Her method of choice is a kennel and her ATV, aka, Chicken Transporter.

The Chicken Transporter!

She has our first two volunteers!

This is our second year to process our own chickens and I must say it has been a wonderful adventure.  Even though I was the last one to jump on board with the idea, I must say it is very rewarding.  Chicken Girl has totally surprised me with her eagerness to learn the process and steps right in to help.    She does things I just can't bring myself to do yet.

I got this!

Yep, my girl is showing me how it is done.  I cannot bring myself to put the chicken in our "trash can" killing cone, much less do the deed.  My evisceration station has to be positioned so my back is to this station.  Lol!  I know, I know.  Be gentle on the judging :)

Normally our son runs the kill station, along with the scalding, however, since he is not here this week, Papa Roo had to run the kill station, scalding station, and the plucker.  Well, the plucker pretty much runs itself.  Did I mention what a great investment the EZ Plucker is?!

Our EZ Plucker!

Killing Station

Scalding Station

Plucking Station

And the feathers are flying right off!

Ta Da!  All nice and smooth as a baby's bottom.

Sorry!  I don't have a pic of the evisceration station because I am the photographer.  Maybe I can get someone to snap a pic on our next processing day.  After all, there needs to be proof that Papa Roo isn't doing all the work.  Lol!

This is the ice bath area once I have completed the evisceration process.  I know!  You are not seeing the ice.  We have a very deep well and the water is ICE cold, plus we are only doing 10 chickens at a time until we have all hands on deck.

Ice Bath

10 chickens completed

From the killing cone to ice bath, it takes 6 minutes.  Not to shabby for a couple of amateurs!!!

Now comes the final step, the packaging.  We bring the birds inside and I do a final QC, cut off the necks, shrink wrap, and weigh each bird.  Last year we used our vacuum sealer which worked fine but this year we are using shrink bags.  They are very easy to work with, quicker to package, more professional, and show off the birds so much better.  Plus, they stack easier in our freezer.  We also have added a Safe Handling Label w/Instructions for NON Inspected Poultry since we will be selling some of them this year.

Aren't they pretty!

Fresh Pastured Poultry ready for the freezer!

We try not to waste any part of the bird.  I will be packaging the feet and selling them for making hearty stock and Asian delicacies.  Also the livers will be packaged for selling.  They can be fried, used for fish bait, which my son will be doing, and/or used for a raw diet for our four legged friends.  Even the blood, guts, and feathers can be used in our compost bins.  God gave us dominion over the animals, so when we take them for food, we definitely want to be good stewards.

Chicken Feet

Livers

Twenty down and about 120 more to go.  It's gonna be a busy weekend because we will have all hands on deck.  I will post one final time on this adventure once we have completed all the processing.