Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so very much to be thankful for today and everyday. We wish you all a relaxing day filled with family, friends and good food.

Butcher Day

Our second butcher day has come and gone. We are in the final stages of sealing them up for the freezer. We don't have a proper scale, so we don't know the exact weights, but figure they are averaging four pounds. With so many more birds this time, we were too busy to take many pictures. Not to mention it was nearly freezing out and we just wanted to get it done. Once we finished the chickens, we had the opportunity to help a couple (Jen and Leaf, nice to meet you!) from an online chicken group butcher their two turkeys. I'm glad I had a chance to meet the birds, because I've never met a nice turkey and these two were very calm and friendly. Hmmm, maybe next year we'll add a turkey to the mix.

So, I just have this one picture to share. It is really distasteful, so if you don't have a sense of humor, don't look, just go on over to Tiff's blog and look at some good pictures there. If you dare, enjoy my mullet chicken!

Broilers at 10 weeks

This is the broilers last week with us, unless you want to get literal and count "in our bellies" as "with us". I will miss them greeting me at the back door every time I go out. I will miss the cock fights. I will miss the cute little honking noise they make. I will miss the running waddle when they try to fly. I will not miss filling the food and water three times a day, the chicken crap all over my deck or worrying about whether or not I need to put an injured meat chicken out of it's misery. Not to worry, though! It will all begin again in the spring. Here's a recap of the last ten weeks. I'm still amazed at how quickly they grow.

Broilers at 9 weeks

No crowing yet, sorry! I did take some videos this week, though. It's hard to explain the sounds they make, so I had to let you hear for yourself. You can still hear a few peeps from some of them, but the rest sound like ducks to me. This just happened to be the stormiest day we've had so far this season. The poor things were soaked, but they choose to stay out in the rain and wind. I guess they truly are free-range chickens.

Real Milk

It baffles my mind that people think they can improve upon Mother Nature. Go ahead and try, but do you really need to make her gifts illegal?! Oregon, along with many other states, has outlawed the sale of raw milk. They think we are safer drinking milk that has been processed to a state that our bodies don't recognize and can't digest. I'm not saying I think everyone should be forced to drink raw milk, just given the choice. Oh, but the scary e coli might get us! Sure, anything handled improperly might make you sick. If it's such a risk, why haven't we outlawed spinach, tomatoes or feedlot beef? For more info on the virtues of real milk, visit real milk or here.
Now that I've had my rant for the day, I'll get to the point. If you, like us, prefer your milk the way nature made it, we can help you out. We are part of a co-op of raw milk buyers who place a weekly order with a dairy in Washington (where raw milk is legal with gov't. inspections). There are members from all over the portland metro area who travel to Washington to pick up the weekly orders for other members to pick up at their home. If you don't live near us, but in the Portland area, there is surely a drop site near you. Let me know if you would like to find one. Until that blessed day when we get our own cow, this is the next best thing.

Broilers at 8 weeks

The broilers are big enough now that we let them out to range the backyard all day. They have stopped making the peeping noise and now sound like ducks. The roosters will start practicing their crowing soon. I'll be sure to get a video of that because it is funny. We have two layers that insist on flying out of their yard to hang with the broilers. I keep telling them that's not in their best interest, but they don't listen. Yesterday I gave up and just opened all the gates/pens and let them go where they wanted. The hens spent a few minutes letting the broilers know they were in charge, but after that everyone got along. Even Broody and the babies got to get out and stretch for a bit. With the whole yard to share, the others hardly noticed they were out.

Everyone sharing the garden

Cleaning out the corn patch

Broody and the not-so-little-anymore babies

The furry chicken, Butterscotch

Totally off topic, but had to share the monster egg one of my mom's hen laid this week. Not sure if it's the goldens or the orps laying these huge eggs, but I feel sorry for whoever it is. As big as it was, it only weighed 4 ounces. I've seen goose eggs smaller than this! The one on the left is the giant egg, the middle is a standard large egg from one of my hens, the one on the right is a baby egg from one of our young hens.

Broilers at 7 weeks

This is the only picture I got of the broilers this week. I don't spend much time with them besides feeding/watering several times a day. The closer we get to d-day, the more I need to keep my distance and not get attached.