Bucklist item #12 - CHECK

Mid morning we drove to Farm Fed to pick up our meat.

And to continue the analogy of the exam grades - we got an A+ . We took 99 birds to the processing facility and we picked up 99 birds! Cam and I were so pleasantly shocked - we hadn't dreamed of a 100% success rate.

We signed the paperwork, paid the bill for processing and rushed home to get all these in the fridge and freezers.

I began the big task of breaking down the meat in to the custom orders of each of our customers and Cam bbq'd us up some thighs.

I weighed and priced each whole bird while Cam helped label. We quickly realized how we were short on fridge and freezer space. Cam began calling our customers and encouraged them to come as soon as possible. Cam went to pick the kids up from school and got the playground mom's that had ordered to come by asap and pick up their orders.

It was a frantic afternoon and the beautiful invoices that I had designed and hoped to distribute to each customer didn't happen. They had to be emailed out afterwards. Its a tricky life being an accountant and a farmer, I tell ya!

The birds were delightfully huge - bigger than we expected.

After sampling our first tastes of Cam's bbq'd masterpiece we noticed:

The meat did not shrink up when cooked because it wasn't soaked in water after processing (as water cooled meat is).

 

The meat is dense and loaded in flavor because the chickens were fed healthy grains with no horomones.

The skin wasn't loaded in fat because the chickens were given plenty of space to move and roam in the coop and they weren't force fed for rapid growth. This reduction in fat prevented bbq flare up.

Overall - DELICIOUS - and worth every ounce of effort.  We can't wait to do this again......

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.......

A broiler chicken's final day

In case you are curious.... there is a lot involved in the final day of the chickens' life

Day before slaughter:

At 4pm we gave the chickens one final bag of feed and inspected the flock for anything peculiar or out of order that might contaminate the flock as we transition them to the processing facility

At 9:30pm inspect the flock again.

Midnight - remove all feeders from the barn so the chickens have access to food. Chickens should not have eaten 12 hours prior to slaughter. This reduces the risk of the chicken's stomach exploding during processing and minimizes the amount of fecal matter being excreted during the slaughter. Both would contaminate the meat.

The food can't be removed too early or the internal cavity of the chicken will become either convex/concave (I can't remember which one, I just remember its not good) if they are too hungry.

Day of slaughter

5:00am Rise and Shine - we got chickens to catch. Its important not to stress the chickens as you are fielding them and prepping them for transport. Stress can traumatize a chicken to the point of death. Stress can also cause the meat to be more tough. Plus, caring and respecting these creatures is important. I have invested a lot of care and effort in to these lil guys.

So this is really happening....

Tomorrow is the end of the road for my first flock chickens

I can believe I am here. It seems like the endless hours researching were just yesterday. And here I am.... having successfully raised my first flock of chickens trying desperately to detach emotionally from this final step.

We have chosen to have the chickens processed at Farm Fed. This is a federally inspected and licensed facility in Abbotsford. Its a little more expensive than having a mobile slaughter service, but I have opted to have use Farm Fed because everyone of the birds will be inspected before being released backed to me to sell. I am paying for peace of mind.

They have provided us with the crates we will need to transport our birds from our farm to the processing facility.

10 to 12 chickens per orange crate

The staff have been so helpful, answering our endless questions and being patient with us as we learn and try to get this right.

Mann loaded the crates on to our trailer for us and showed us a bit around the plant. Cam and I could not stomach the smell so the tour did not last real long.

And again I am shocked as to what I am using my SUV for. When we bought the truck a few years ago we had hockey gear, youth group attendees, large playdates in mind - we would have never imagined that we would be using it for transporting 100 chickens.  Mike at Campbell River Honda would be so impressed, I am sure!


So tomorrow morning - around 5am - Cam and I will be attempting to catch our flock and transport them to processing. Should be a time of lots of laughs and interesting to say the least!

Meet Gimp

Our Special Care Nursery

So this little guy (that I have affectionally dubbed "Gimp") has at least one broken leg and the other leg is not quite right either. He can't move around the coop very well and the other chickens just push by (or over) him.









If he is left with the rest of the flock he will die or be savagely killed by his flock mates. Its a survival of the fittest scenario. So we set up a little special care area for him only. We have caught a few healthier chickens hopping the wall and stealing his food. Despite the isolation, he is not growing as quick as the others, but he is alive and being cared for well.

Day 36?!

Well - 3/4 of the way! This is awesome..... these chicks are huge! Full fledged white feathers, red combs and all. We went away for 5 days and left the chickens in great care. When we came back they were way huger than before we left! Its amazing to see how quickly they grow and we really noticed it having been absent for several days.

While we were away, ecoli in beef being sold commercially, locally, was all over the media. People getting sick. Questions being asked "why is so much of our entire country's beef dependent on one processing facility in Alberta?" What about keeping it local? What about eating food that was raised / grown / made close to where I reside. This whole "scare" renewed my confidence in the importance of raising / growing / making my families' food. Raising and processing these chickens is only a small cog in the wheel. But its a good start.

Oh how I love paperwork!

The accountant in me - loves documents

The BC Chicken Marketing Board is a wealth of information and regulators of small flock farms like ours. I was finally able to track down exact information on how many chickens I can raise and details on regulations and procedures. All inquiries I made lead to the Marketing Board. I can raise up to 2000 chickens per year and sell from the farm gate all of these. I can not sell to commercial facilities (grocery stores, etc.). So I just received a beautiful package in the mail with a wealth of reading material and this beautiful document.

Promptly after reviewing in, Cam asked me if he could hang it on the barn so that we look official.  "Look official?! We are official, baby!"

The Board is collaborating with the University of the Fraser Valley and putting a course together in November for small flock chicken farmers. Looks like I am heading to the Chilliwack campus on Tuesdays in November. Some free education? Yes, please.