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Friday, May 15, 2009

Broilers at 9 Weeks

Our broilers are 9 week old and we had to make a decision whether to take them to slaughter or to wait one more week (Tuesdays are slaughter day). Some of the smaller hens are not quite big enough but if we wait another week we risk a couple more dying. At this age we hate to have a nice big chicken die on us before we can get it into the freezer. But we decided to wait one more week. Below is a video that one of our readers requested showing us moving the pasture pen. I enjoy moving the pen. You can tell that the chickens like the new grass. I also enjoy seeing the pasture from a few days before green up from the fertilizer in the chicken litter.

~Dale

6 comments:

ChristyACB said...

That is really neat! Even if they are destined for freezer camp, they sure are having happy lives until then. Good for you guys!

Julie said...

Thanks for the video! I can't believe you move it 2x's/day. I thought it was once a week. Wow.

megan said...

Dale, your property is beautiful - I'd love a video tour!

megan said...

Also - are you sending the hens to the Mennonites for processing this year or are you doing it yourself? Either way, I'd like to see the process that leads up to that.

Dale Johnson said...

I went to an Extension workshop to learn how to slaugter chickens. The killing cones are a very humane way to kill chickens. It really didn't bother me to cut the artery in the neck. One slice with a very sharp knife and the chicken calmly closed its eyes and died. The hardest part is scalding them enough to loosen the feathers without cooking the skin. Of the 4 chickens we slaughtered, we scalded 3 of them too much. I have decided to wait another year and let the Mennonites do it. I don't dare put a video of the slaughter on the internet for fear of what the animal rights nazis might do with it. I am very concerned about animal welfare as I think most reasonable people can see from my articles and videos. But I believe in our dominion over animals (Genesis 2:28, 9:3)and as an omnivore, I draw the line between animal welfare and animal rights.

megan said...

You're right on the slaughtering on video but what about the 24 hours before? There is a process, isn't there? Maybe all it involves is taking away their food and water but it seems getting them into a truck to take them to the Mennonites would be complicated. Either way, I've totally enjoyed watching the process thus far!