Year Three at The Cluckery!
February 2024
Hello! It’s chicken-ordering time! If you’re like us, you’re rapidly working your way through what you got last year. We actually raise anywhere from 50 to 60 for ourselves (with a family of 7, a chicken a week is NOT too much!), but even so I have to make sure we ration them so we don’t run out too soon.
Good news…no price increase! It’ll still be $4.75 per pound. Blessings on my feed guy for keeping his prices the same! Many costs go into raising chickens, but his locally-grown, organic feed is far and away the biggest expense, so this is excellent news.
One of many factors about buying locally like this is that you get to see your food being raised. You are ALWAYS welcome to come see our little homestead. To talk to the person who raises your food. To question what you don’t understand. To SEE for yourself if we’re telling you the truth. I can say “pastured poultry moved at least once daily,” but YOU get to actually come see the path the chickens followed, and I would argue that’s a level above “official certification.” I’ve heard it said that if you have to apologize for something more than once or twice, you have a problem that needs fixed. I like that! Anyone can have a bad day. Maybe I got sick and the chickens didn’t get moved…ONCE. But if EVERY time someone comes out I have to say, “Oh, sorry it’s a mess; I’ve been SO BUSY…,” well, I’m probably going to be losing so me customers. In-the-flesh customers inspire consistent, honest effort.
That said, each time I write this letter, I need to point out that these chickens are NOT USDA certified; certified organic, or officially certified anything. They are just healthy, home-grown chickens, processed in the fresh air and sunshine. The only inspection is what I do as a final check before they are bagged up. Yes, I sanitize things before we start the butchering process, but we do NOT chlorinate the chickens as is done in factories. Under these conditions, it isn’t necessary. We prefer it like this; how about you?
So do a little thinking about how many chickens you and your family would like to have stocked up in your freezer this year and get back to me as soon as possible. We are not yet at capacity, so order up!
Finally, we are again offering a $10 credit for each new person you refer to us who places an order. If you know folks who wish they could get their hands on some good, clean chicken, please pass along our information. Just not to your cranky neighbor who complains about every little ol’ thing! I’ve only had sweet customers so far, and I’d like to keep it that way. ;-)
A little more detail…
It’s funny; I only send out this big letter once annually; all year long I think of things to tell you about raising chickens: the whys and the wherefores, the struggles and the victories. Then when I sit down to actually write, I can’t think of a thing to say, until the juices start flowing and I’ve got to rein it back in!
Yes, it’s February, but believe it or not, I’m sitting with a cup of coffee under the awning watching the layers enjoy a little free range time (they’re still in their winter quarters in February). I rarely let them free range without the protection of their handy-dandy portable electric netting, because we have so many predators around, but I figured I could bring the computer outside and type this up while keeping an eye on them, and in an hour or two they’ll “come home to roost.” Ain’t they purty?
There are so many things I could write about under the heading of “A little more detail…” But this year I’ll give you this.
WHY PASTURED POULTRY?
Good question. When I go past a market that has a sign out in front, “Whole Chickens $0.99/lb,” or “Chicken Quarters $1.99/lb,” I have a moment of wondering why anyone would pay $4.75/lb. for chickens from me! Then I remember how those chickens are raised and how mine are raised…and I know why. Do you know why?
Side note: I have cut this list way down. There are many other differences I could bring in. But I have three reasons for not going that direction.
1. I don’t want people to buy from me due to fear-mongering or slamming “the other guy.”
2. Back when we were raising five kids on one income, all we could afford was factory-farmed meat. We thanked God for it, and He blessed it to us. I don’t want anyone to be discontented if they simply can’t afford better right now.
3. I can’t prove all of those other differences! I may have my own reasons for believing them, and they may make sense to me, but I haven’t seen them with my own two eyes, so I would prefer to stick with some of the incontestable, common-sense, obvious differences.
Finally, I said I didn’t want to slam “the other guy.” When you read about the chlorine baths, realize these folks are just doing what they have to in order to get a safe product out to the consumer. CAFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are a fact of life in our world, and they get food onto our plates cheaply (in dollars). Look, if you’re raising my chickens with 10,000 other chickens on ground that raised 10,000 other chickens last month and 10,000 other chickens the month before that, please, please, PLEASE do SOMETHING to sanitize my meat! Seriously! It’s the only way to make it work on this scale. Sort of how we all know Social Security is a broken system; we don’t like it much, but we all participate, because it’s just the world we live in. Th…th…that’s all, folks!
What is the difference?
The Collins Cluckery ChickenConventional “CAFO” Chicken
Unvaccinated Vaccinated
Probiotics (immuno-stimulant) Antibiotics (immuno-depressant)
Very little ammonia vapor (smell) High ammonia toxicity
Homeopathy/herbs used if any treatment needed Routine medications
Small groups (low stress) Large groups (10,000 or more)
Careful attention to individual birds (small Broad measures taken for group control
groups mean a chick in distress is noticed and (impossible to notice individual needs
treated singly and appropriately) in groups of tens of thousands)
Fresh air and sunshine Raised indoors
Low parasite load (fresh pasture daily means High parasite loads occurring due
parasites can’t get established) to “same ground” life-long necessitates
chlorine baths
Meat firm and toned (from all the exercise) Meat soft and flabby (from lack of exercise)
You pay for meat, not water (firm, toned meat You pay for meat AND water (soft, flabby
doesn’t soak up water during chill bath) meat soaks up water during chill bath)
Fresh daily “salad bar,” including bugs No fresh material or bugs
(In nature, bugs make up much of a chicken’s
diet. “Vegetarian eggs” are weird.)
Short transport (maybe 10 feet?) to processing Long, stressful transport to processing Hand-eviscerated Machine eviscerated (prone to breaking intestines and spilling feces and bile over carcass, which is part of why chlorine baths are necessary)
Guts and feathers composted and used for Enormous quantities of guts & feathers
fertilizer an on-going environmental challenge
Customer-inspected Government-inspected
Promotes family farming Promotes “Get Big or Get Out”
Consumer/producer relationship Consumer/producer separation