I am so sorry to be so delinquent in my blog over the last several weeks. All has gone along smoothly and I haven’t lost any of my original 26. Last week our friend Ryan was able to find a place that will butcher chickens for small farms. So yesterday, Mark and I created a coop/crate for the back of his truck. The baby pool that we used the first few weeks was tethered down in the back and we put chicken wire over the top. At 5:00 this morning, Mark and I got up and started to load up the chickens. Since chickens cannot see very well in the dark they are easier to grab (plus I had no idea how long it would take me to catch 26 chickens! It takes less than 30 minutes if you ever need to know.) These chickens are big and strong! Many of them I had a hard time getting my hands around because of their wide girth. Plus they were not happy to be picked up so they fought me as I put them in the pool. Mark was a wonderful gate-keeper, making sure that what I put in did not escape. I have no idea how many pounds each one weighs as I didn’t want to even try getting them on a scale. But based on my weights that I exercise with, I would guess around 12-15 pounds each. The truck was loaded down with probably around 300 to 400 pounds of chicken!After dropping my kids off at my sister’s house, I drove the chickens to Locust Point Farm in Elkton. When I pulled up, they told me we were in between batches so they wanted me to pull the truck right up the cones. I pulled the top off our makeshift coop and the man pulled out 4 at a time! I was shocked – I had been feeling so cocky about wrestling them one at a time hours earlier and this man is picking up 2 in each hand and making it look like he is holding 4 small bags of groceries. By the time I used the restroom and came back all 26 had been pulled and he was slaughtering the last two as they were in the cones. This farm is fast! As I was leaving, they advised me that there was one piece of information that they didn’t have on their form – the name of my farm that I wanted printed on the bag! Next time I will have to come up with a creative answer (Crazy Lady Farm? Bonkers Bonnie Farm?) I have to return on Thursday to pick them up. They will be butchered and in a freezer bag just like you would purchase a whole chicken from the grocery store. There will be a lot of coolers in the back of my van!
I didn’t take any pictures of the farm today as they were in full swing slaughtering and butchering when I arrived and I wasn’t sure anyone would really be interested in seeing all the graphic pictures. I will try to take some on Thursday when I return and it is much less messy.
