Chicken Update!

Chickens are going to look a little different for us this year, but it’s a change we are excited about!

To legally sell poultry, it must be processed under USDA or state inspection (which these processors are extremely limited) OR sold under expedition and processed directly on the farm. 

In our experience, scheduling processing in January for chickens that will be processed in August has its challenges. For example, two years ago we had chickens that were less than a week out from the butcher date and we had an absolute scorching heat wave in the forecast. We tried to get them into the processor sooner, but it unfortunately wasn’t an option. While we didn’t lose as many chickens as some farmers did, we still lost several that were otherwise perfectly healthy. Losing chickens that late in their life is not only unfortunate, but it has large financial implications as well. Conversely, last year we had chickens that were started earlier than usual and they really could have benefited from some more time to grow. Once again, processing the birds later was not an option, and we ended up with birds smaller than we would have liked, which also has large financial implications.

To alleviate the inflexibility of relying on others to butcher and process, we’ve decided to start processing our own directly on the farm.  Having not done it this way before, we are gracing ourselves with some time to perfect not only the processing portion, but the shrink wrapping, the weighing, the labeling, the freezing and storage... there are lots of moving parts to doing it this way, and we want to ensure we are running like a well-oiled machine before we commit to raising as many birds as previous years.

So what does this mean going forward?  We are hoping to offer smaller batches more often throughout the growing season, for example, every two weeks.  This year will be a lot of figuring out the logistics (and maybe even a little trial and error!) to provide you with the best product in the years to come.  We anticipate to have some extra chicken, but aren’t taking any preorders and they will be sold on an as available basis. Be sure enroll in our newsletter if you haven’t for the latest updates on availability.

And as always, thank YOU for your continued support!