The Chicken Project

My friend Rebekah and I have decided to do meat chickens this summer. We are buying a total of 50 chickens. Twenty-five each of two different kinds. One kind will arrive June 16th the next group will arrive June 30 and our plan is to butcher them on August 16th. I have never butchered a chicken. I have only eaten them.

I researched it a little bit and wanted the chickens to be free range, but don't really want 50 chickens running all around the place. So I found a chicken coop design that had no floor and is moved daily to give the chickens the ability to scratch but still be contained. We started working on it a week and a half ago and Gil put the final touches on it today. He calls it "The Tank". I have decided that this is me fulfilling the Proverb 31 verse that talks about bringing her food from afar. I bought the chickens on the Internet and will raise and butcher them, that has to be better than buying chicken from Wal-Mart right?

Rebekah and I will split the cost of the chickens, feed and then our husbands and the two of us with our eight children between us will butcher the chickens. Sound like fun? We will see.

Here is Gil working on my chicken coop. We only bought a couple of hardware items for the coop, everything else was made from stuff around the farm. Gil had picked up logs from work which he cut down with his Chain Saw Mill that he received for Christmas. The logs were free and it worked well. And we are also using the saw dust for the stalls where my goats are. I insulated the coop because I don't really want roasted chicken before we have chopped off their heads. And Colorado summers can get up to 105 degrees.

I will let you know how it goes. The first batch of chickens arrive in two weeks.