And its a wrap....

The day after processing was hectic, and the day after that I started dealing with all the other things that had been neglected while raising the chickens, and the day after that I continued and the day after that I got busy with my "real" job, and the day after that the house was a mess so I cleaned all day and the day after that we went on a vacation, and I didn't make time to blog.

Now I am 2 and 1/2 months from our first flock and I am finally getting a chance to summarize the processing and selling of our flock.....

So we raised the chickens for 48 days and they appeared huge and healthy......

 

Cam and I rose long before the crack of dawn and geared up and headed to the coop.

We had no idea how long it was going to take to catch the chickens and the processor needed them by 9am. We opened the back doors of the barn and Cam proceeded to calmly catch them one by one. I stood on the trailer and gently transferred each caught bird in to the drawers of the crate. Cam moved slowly in the barn as to not intimidate the birds. When the poultry was placed in the drawers or the crate they needed to be handled gently as they were naturally in a panic and wanted to flap a lot. The flapping can cause undesired bruising to the wing meat.

It only took about 20 to 30 minutes to catch the flock and stow them away. Biohazard guides and articles that we read stressed the importance of not transferring any bacteria from the farm to the processor. The clothes and shoes we wore for catching the birds had to be left on the farm before we drove to the processing facility. So, Cam changed and I went inside to start the familial morning routines.  Brackton was already up and dressed and excited to join dad on the drive to the processing facility. What a kid!!

 

After completing a form and letting the forklift transfer the crate of drawers of our precious cargo, Farmer Cam's job was done. It wouldn't be until the next day that we could pick up the processed chicken as they meat needed to be air cooled for a least 24 hours.

We chose a federally regulated processing facility in Abbotsford. This cost a bit more than the alternatives but having the confidence in each of our birds being inspected and certified safe to consume by a federally appointed regulator was well worth it.

Having to wait to pick up the meat was tough. It was kinda like waiting for your grades to be released after writing an exam. We took 99 birds to the processor - how many would not be safe to consume? How damaged would the meat be? How much would the average dressed bird weigh?

Oh the suspense.......