Chicks at 2 weeks old

Chicks at 1 day old

Chicks at 14 days old

I had to show you all the photos side by side so you can really get a grasp on how fast they grow.  After just 14 days they are almost fully feathered and have more than quadrupled in size!  Tomorrow I will be moving them out of their brooder and into a larger space, but I will still have heat lamps on them for the next week.  At about 3 weeks they will be ready to go out on pasture and start eating their greens!  I finished getting their field shelter all set today.  I'll include some pictures of it soon.  They'll be staying inside it at night and free-ranging during the day protected by an electrified net that I can easily move to make sure that they are always on fresh pasture.

At The Green Faire 2011

We were invited to set up a display for our farm at this year's Green Faire at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron.  The theme for this year was ethical eating, and the displays focused on fair trade, sustainable agriculture and other related topics.  We shared our table with Debbie Fox, a good friend of ours that runs the White House Gardens CSA.  Right next to us was the Crown Point Ecology Center's display.  They are one of the largest CSA's in the area, and also do research projects and educational programs.   There was a wonderful turnout, and we were so happy to meet many new people.

We want to say thank you again to the volunteers of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron's "Green Team" for putting such a wonderful and educational event.

Broilers at 1 week

The picture at the top is of the broilers at 1 week old!  If you look at the previous post you will see the picture that I took of them at 1 day.  They are a hybrid that has been bred for fast growth, and a big appetite.  It is the same breed that you are used to seeing on the supermarket shelves, but these birds will soon be allowed to roam free on organic pasture unlike their brethren which are kept in confinement to accelerate growth. Many people would not even recognize the body of a traditional breed of chicken that has not been bred to produce a plump body with a wide breast.  The picture below is of the new pullets (young hens) which are about two months old now.  They grow much slower than the meat chickens, but now that they are 2 months old they have been getting to venture outside a little during the day.  They should be laying eggs in a couple more months.  

The first chicks of 2011 are here!

It was an exciting day around here yesterday.  We got the first batch of chicks for this season.  They're all safe and sound in their brooder where it's a toasty 95 degrees under the lights.  They'll need that kind of warmth for about the first week, and then we can begin to taper it off.  They'll need to be in the brooder there it's safe and warm for about three weeks before they can be moved out to the pasture where they'll be exposed to the elements.  

Brooder's all set, chicks arrive tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the big day! I get the first batch of chicks tomorrow, and this is a picture of the brooder. We bolted together a couple of galvenized steel sheets to form the circle, and the lid I made is 1/2" hardware cloth. I'm determined to keep any rodents away from my brood! This is where they will live until they are about 2-3 weeks old at which point they'll need more space and be moved to a different part of the barn for about another week until they can go out on pasture. Underneath the box where the light is coming from it's a tosaty 95 degrees. That's just about right for day old baby chicks, but there's plenty of room for them to roam around if it gets too warm. Check back tomorrow for pictures of the new chicks!

Honey bottling and Winter Greens

Well there's lots going on at the farm! I've got the first of the broiler chicks coming on april 5th and the preaparations for their brooder are just about complete. Susan's honey business has been booming lately. Above is a picture of Ed and Samantha bottling in the honey house. You can find it on store shelves at Mustard Seed Market, and most recently Heinen's. Get in touch if you want more details on getting some off this delicious local honey! Below is a picture inside the high tunnel where some winter growing has been going on. Lots of salad greens, and there's some kale down there somewhere too! It's technically spring now so warm weather is almost here. Stay in touch!

The hens are back in their summer home!

After 3 long months of being cooped up in the barn for the winter, the hens are finally back on the open range again. Of course they weren't confined the whole time. I would open up the house for fresh air and leave the door open on warmer days, but when there was snow on the ground they were just not interested in setting foot outside, even if it was above freezing during the day. These hens stay at my parent's house not at Schmidt Family Farm where I will be raising my meat chickens this year. They have plenty of layers of their own over at Schmidt's so if your coming to pick up meat birds this summer you should definitely plan on picking up some of their eggs, honey, and vegetables that will be available.

I don't have much of an update on the organic certification other than the application has been submitted, and all that's left to do now is wait for inspection. I'm told that may not be until June, but the chickens won't be ready until then anyways. The pasture that they will be raised on is still under organic certification, just not the livestock production. It's all in place though, and the first chicks will be here in just 2 weeks!

Building the Brooder

This is a picture of the "Ohio Brooder" that I built.  It is so named for the Ohio Experiment Station that came up with the design in the early 1940's.  designs such as this have been largely forgotten about since the vertical integration of the poultry industry and the demise of the small farm.  It is a simple yet practical design.  Notice that there is a gap of about 4 inches between the floor and the bottom of the brooder, this allows the chicks to run in and out as they need to to stay warm.  Think of it like a big mother hen.  When the chicks are hungry or just want to explore they can leave the brooder to get food or wander, and when the get cold they simply run underneath just as they would run under the wings off their mother.  We don't need anything fancy like a thermostat because mother nature has built one right into the chicks, and she's been doing this for a while.

Spring is in the air!

I was just over at the farm earlier this week, and I snapped a couple of shots of the pasture that I will be raising the chickens on this year.  It's nice to see things thawing out, and I can already picture how beautiful things are going to look in just a couple of weeks when things start to blossom.  I got a picture of the new laying hens too. The light colored ones are golden comets.  They lay the brown eggs.  And if you spot the couple of darker ones, those are the araucana.  They lay green eggs.  I will be getting the first batch of meat birds on April 5th,  and I have set the first processing day for May 28th.  Just in time for a memorial day BBQ!  There is a link to this year's order form on the right hand side of the blog.

Organic Certification

We have completed the last of the paperwork for our organic certification for 2011!  We just have to wait for the application to be processed and hopefully we will have our inspection before we process the first chickens in June. Going certified is a big commitment but it is one that we are eager to take on.  The application is very intensive, and I have a new found respect for any small farm that carries the organic seal.  We have always believed in the things that the term "organic" stands for. Those of you that know me don't need to see a seal to trust that I am using the approved practices, but I want even those who don't know me to have the piece of mind that I am inspected by a certifying agency.
The first round of chicks will be here on April 5th.  There's so much that I still have to get ready, but all of the planning that I have been doing for the last few months has me quite prepared.  Dad and I have been working hard on the chicken plucker, and it is almost finished, but we will probably be putting it aside for a month or so.    Most of our efforts in March will be focused on building the brooder before the first chicks arrive.  The new layers are already at the farm and they should be at laying age before July.
I hope your all as excited as I am.  Keep checking back for more updates!

Chicken Plucker!

These are pictures from the automatic chicken plucker that dad and I are building.  I am going to be processing a lot more chickens than last year so I figured that I had better upgrade to make things a bit easier.  I looked around to find one to buy and quickly learned that they cost over $1000!  In the process I found a book on how to build one yourself. Those that know me are surely aware that I am not exactly that mechanically inclined, but we decided to tackle the project anyways.  I started gathering the parts around at the end of December and things are actually moving along quite well.  The pictures you see are of the frame which will hold the tub, and a view looking down into the plucker tub.  Those rubber fingers that you see are actually quite soft.  The plate at the bottom of the tub spins tumbling the chickens around removing the feathers cleanly and quickly.  We have completed more than the pictures show.  The tub has been installed in the frame, and it has been painted.  I'll post more pics soon. I used one very similar to this at the farm that I worked at last summer, and it makes the work MUCH easier.

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming season, and I'll keep you all posted on the construction!

Going Organic

It was about one year ago that I became enlightened about the plight of our current food system.  Things like the impact that it has on the environment, the lack of sustainability, and the inhumane treatment of animals and migrant farm workers struck a very strong chord with me.  Rather than doing what I usually do in these situations and ranting on and on about it I decided I would actually do something about it.  I would eat locally as much as I can, be more connected with the food that I eat, and maybe even try growing some of my own.  All that lead me to become a vegan for the better part of 3 months.  I stopped eating meat unless I knew exactly where it came from.  And by that I mean actually shake hands with the person who raised it.  This is a practice that has stuck to this day.  All these things were just the beginning of my food journey.

I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) that spring, and I insisted on helping on the farm as much as I could.  I went there pretty much every Sunday starting in March to help out and learn as much as I could.  I knew nothing about growing so I figured it was the best place to start.  I wasn't really sure where I was going with all this though.  I tried to keep it open though because I didn't want to become over zealous and burn out on the whole thing like I usually do with something new.  I observed and I learned and even planted a garden of my own at my parents house where I was keeping some laying hens that I was raising.  All this lead in to the farm dream.

I'm not sure when exactly the idea of farming got into my head, but I'm sure that it had something to do with reading Joel Salatin's You Can Farm.  I had seen him in the movie "Food Inc." and really liked his style.  The book made me feel empowered and inspired and filled me with a great sense of purpose.  I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and lately had been kicking around the idea of starting my own business.  I just needed something that I believed in that also happened to have a growing market and demand.  Enter one of Joel's other books Pastured Poultry Profits.

All of a sudden I felt that I had found the perfect business to get started in.  Raising poultry was something that I was already familiar with from my 4-H days and the start-up costs are low.  Best of all I could start on a small scale while still keeping my day job, and just see where it goes.  Well as anyone will tell you, there is no money in the poultry business.  The fact is that this is only true if you are talking about the wholesale, vertically integrated poultry production model.  This model revolved around small scale direct marketing.  Sell in limited quantities directly to the consumer for a reasonable profit, not to a large poultry distributor who will only give you pennies a bird.  The other aspect was on farm processing.  Yes, as in slaughter.  There are three major advantages.  First, doing it yourself saves a considerable amount off money. Second, there is less stress on the animal because they don't have to be transported a long distance to a processing facility.  Third, you are exempt from government regulation if you are only processing birds that were raised on your farm.  But Could I do that?  Would I be able to bring myself to take a life?  I suppose in reality I have done that every time in my life that I have ever eaten meat.

The only way to find out if I could do it was to see it first hand, and maybe even try it myself.  So I called around to a couple of other producers in the are and found one that was willing to let me come out on a processing day, and see what it's all about.  Not only did I see it, but by the end of the morning I had killed, bled, scalded, picked, and eviscerated (gutted) several birds.  I guess I just had a knack for it, but  I assure you it was with the utmost respect and reverence for life.  

I went back to the farm several times to help that month before being offered a part time job a few days a week.  I thought if I really thought that I wanted to be a farmer I had better give it a shot and see if I still feel the same way at the end of the summer.  So I took the job and worked like crazy that summer between my day job, and helping on the farm.  At the end of the season I was exhausted, and had dirt under my nails that I think is still there to this day, but my determination had not wained.  Not only had I worked on the farm, but I also raised my own meat birds in my parents back yard, and picked up a few customers from family and friends.  I was totally immersed in it, and I loved it!

It's pretty much been a whirlwind of planning since then.  I've been writing a business plan, making plans for movable chicken coops and a brooder, attending seminars, reading everything I can get my hands on, and saving every penny I possibly can.  It's only February and the first chicks won't be coming until April, but everything is falling into place.  We are working on building an open air processing facility, and my dad and I are building a mechanical feather picker to make processing much easier.  I will post some pictures of the progress soon.  It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since I even conceived this idea, but I can assure you that it's been pretty much all I've been thinking about.  I'm so glad that the dream is finally becoming a reality!