The Miraculous 64 cent/lb chicken

We have an ongoing dispute around here about how to raise our broilers. One side promotes electro-net (see post below on laying hens for a picture of electro-net in foreground). This solution offers ample space for the chickens to move around, a large natural environment, and is fairly aesthetic. The netting is moved once / week but the feeders inside the net are moved daily. The other side promotes 10' x 10' chicken tractors. The chickens are more crowded, but the pens are moved twice per day, which means they almost all always have 'fresh' pasture and the manure is more evenly deposited across the pasture.
Which ideal do we feel is most important. Aesthetics? Enjoyment factor for the person doing the work? Our pastures? Chicken health? Economics for us is a necessary component, but happens after we have our ideals in line.

Economics got me to thinking too, about some recent chickens we bought at Safeway. We were testing a new bagging system and wanted to experiment on some cheap chickens instead of our own broilers. I could not believe that the price was 64 cents/lb. How in the world does an operation pay for egg-hatching, housing, feeding, processing, bagging, marketing, and distributing a 64cent/lb chicken and still make a profit? This is certainly a wonder of modern-day economics. But is it a wonder of anything else?

Does the 64cent/lb chicken benefit from impassioned discussions among its owners or shareholders arguing for its well-being or environmental benefit? Does the 64cent/lb chicken bring wonder and enjoyment to the folks raising the chicken, processing it, or eating it? Pondering these questions helps me put our own dispute into perspective. For us, its not about the right answer, but about the process and the ideals behind what we do. The end result is far from a 64cent/lb chicken but certainly tastes better.

Hen-condo

We've been working on getting more laying hens going and needed improved living quarters for our girls.

Shown here is our new deluxe mobile hen-house. It was constructed from a vintage 1950's discarded trailer, old plywood for nest-boxes, tarps, 3/4" electrical metal tubing (EMT), chicken wire, 1x1 welded wire for the floor, and corner braces from Creative Awnings. The total cost for this ran about $300. Most of the cost for this house was for the EMT and chicken wire. We still need to enclose the ends and make a door for the hens.

In the foreground is electric netting from Premier. Cost for 1 roll of this is $130 (expensive stuff but it works great). Once the hens get acclimated to their new digs, we'll remove the electric netting and they will only wander about 150' from their home.

On-farm Chicken Processing

We're processing 200 chickens this Monday, June 11th. This is double the number that we've done the past two times. At our first processing last month, we had our friend Ariel playing the harmonium and leading chanting during the killing. It was a very spiritual experience to participate in the death of living beings with such honor and intention.

We welcome anyone to come to the farm and watch the processing in action. The best time to come would be between 10am and 3pm. We welcome people who want to help too! Let us know if you want a chicken and we can reserve one or more for you.