the kill is on.

tomorrows our first chicken kill.  it’s definitely on my mind.  although I’ve been through several over the past year, and an able crew has been assembled, this being our first kill at the backyard moon feels pointedly different.  and I suppose it should. 

we’ve been through a lot with these birds.  root and i accidentally crushing two birds before we perfected our daily flock move comes in a distant second place to losing thirteen overnight during a nasty storm a few weeks back.  this week, with tornados bombing the region, and farmers hiding in bathtubs, our now full grown, soon to be slaughtered birds, are stout, weathered, and vital—handling the storm in proud stride.    

the knives are sharp.  the water is hot.  the kill cones stand empty in the shade and the chickens stand clucking in the fields—one last time. 

tomorrow I’ll wake early, with a crusty eyed sun still a good ways from it’s morning debut.  we’ll capture and crate the birds, disinfect the processing area, and groove on into the ancient human ritual of a group slaughter.

the kill is on. 

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the photo is of one of dan's lady layers over at darby farms.  much thanks to dan for his guidance on our first kill.  to see a video of dan breaking down exactly what happens to the bird during evisceration, check out last season's footage.  also remember to check out our other processing and purchasing videos on the sidebar of this site -->

the chickens first three weeks on pasture {part one}

this is a video from about two weeks ago when we moved our chicks out to pasture.  it is remarkable how much bigger they are today than in this video.  i'll make sure to post it soon.

seven am at the backyard moon.  farmer root and farmhand nick wake up with me at first light to do the deed.  our friend dan, from darby farms, reccomended we transfer the young chicks into crates while it was still dark, in order to catch them in as stress freee of a way as possible.  not having crates, we came up with the half brilliant/half moronic plan of just transporting them in the bed of my truck.  for the most part, it worked pretty well, but i think we can work out a few kinks for next time. 

for those of you in the athens or atlanta area, make sure you look into buying your chickens from darby farm. 

one hundred and fifty chicks first day at school

what an amazing thing.  one hundred and fifty peeping little puffs of feather—all in  a box—and waiting at the post office like an amazon shipment.  much like everything else on the farm, things that sound simple inevitably turn into complex challenges.  after debating back and forth on what sort of structure to build to house the baby chicks, we decided to go with one similar to what we saw over at darby farms earlier in the week.

we spent two days clearing out a cluttered green house, building a wall, enclosing the place with chicken wire, filling it with hay and bedding, and rigging up a lighting system.

our biggest concern, after containing the chicks in a dry, warm environment, is to prevent predators from snacking their way through our flock.  rats, our biggest concern, can enter without much effort and pick off baby chicks—one by one—without much detection.

the video below is an overview of the two days leading up to our chicks arrival, as well as their pickup at the post office, their arrival at the farm, and their first feed and water.