I am so excited, as are the children, to get new chicks tomorrow. I have the brooder set up in the house and the outside brooder ready for later. We have feed, waterers, feeders, and clean shavings. I have heard the arguments for and against pine shavings for a brooder, but from my experience, shavings keep drier, cleaner, and offer traction for little feet.
I had a friend over earlier with his wife and 6 kids. They are planning on adding to their garden next year, and have recently gotten a horse. Their eldest daughter works with 4H and acquired a horse from someone they knew. This year the plan is to add some laying hens and broilers to the mix. Lenny (the dad) plans on butchering the chickens at home, as needed, as opposed to using a slaughter house. I have seen the pros and cons and believe that for personal consumption, it is a toss up. For smaller batches, I prefer butchering, but anything over 30 birds at a time, it takes a whole day of wrangling, killing, cleaning, and packing. I can get 30 birds butchered, completely hands off for me, and packaged for $90.
The big difference is that we have not slaughtered less than 80 birds at a time with broilers, so I have no qualms with hauling them to the slaughter facility. The cost is about a day's pay and I don't have to get dirty or bag chickens. We do have to use 4 hours out of our day, but most is in the truck or talking, not exactly hard work. It is also a good time to meet other chicken folk and learn what others in the area are using for feed. Prices and quality are different at different feed stores. I have been using an organic grain mix that I mix with fish meal and Fertrell's. We also use whey when we have it on hand. It is a great protein source and often free from a friend that makes cheeses.
I ought to get some sleep, as we have chicks coming, an overtired baby girl(and her daddy), men's Bible study, and a birthday party tomorrow. This all has to be done after I finish making the new shelving and storage in the house. I will write later about the remodeling we have been doing lately. That is a long story and deserves its own blog. Have a great evening.
