The Chicks Have Arrived!

Raising a laying flock was something we’ve wanted for a long time. Naturally, it was one of the first enterprises we wanted to start on our new homestead. Well, we’ve started. The chicks arrived today, and we’re ready to go. We’re putting together a mixed flock of Buff Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Dominques, White Cochin, Blue Orpington and Easter Egger chickens. We had them shipped from the hatchery, and today they arrived via the U.S. Mail (yes, you can get mail order chickens). Today we’ll introduce you to our chicks, get them into the brooder, show you we’ve got our brooder set up, and show the care required to get your poultry flock started right (or at least how we’re doing

Chicken Processing Workshop with Patricia Foreman

In September we had an opportunity to attend a hands-on chicken processing workshop at the Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs, Pennsylvania.  The workshop was presented by Patricia (Patty) Foreman, Michael Badger, and Matt Wilkinson.  If you know anything about poultry, you’ll know that these folks are kind of the celebrities of the chicken world.  And they did a fantastic job of leading our group from a live, clucking, flapping chickens to a ready-to-package set of chicken cuts. I’ve butchered plenty of deer, squirrels, and rabbits before.  But I’ve never slaughtered and processed a chicken.  It’s really a very different process.  But it’s really pretty simple when you have experienced people showing you how, and giving you feedback in