Well hold on there Sally let me tell ya...
So, before I started working for my Grandfather as his herds-woman I lived with my parents on their 134 acre farm. We started out with about 50 chickens in our back yard collecting eggs everyday and somehow it has expanded to roughly about... let's say anywhere between 86,000 to 100,000 chickens in our back yard. I bet your eyes just got huge and you had to reread that last sentence... It still boggles my mind knowing where we started and how far we have come now.
Before I get into the life of a chicken farmer and what I did this past week, I should probably explain how we got so big from just starting out with 50!!!
My step-dad is the kind of guy who researches everything before just jumping into it! Smart guy status right there!! So the 50 chickens was just a way for us to have fresh eggs everyday and one of the first additions to our new farming lifestyle, that didn't call for a lot of labor!!
FLASHBACK*** I can remember getting those chickens for the first time. Us kids who were probably 14, 12, and 10 fought over who was going to check on the chickens to see when they were going to lay their first egg. It seemed like years and years went by until one finally laid an egg! I believe it was my sister who found the first one and she was so ecstatic and could barely talk when she was trying to tell us about the egg and if I can remember correctly it didn't last long until we cooked it up to try our first farm fresh egg!!. We have never seen a fresh egg, let alone never quite understood where it actually came from until having those chickens on the farm. Then there was that brown egg... wow!!! Wait!! What!!??? Brown??!!! Yeah BROWN! Our eggs back in the city were always white!! How in the world did this chicken lay a brown one! We thought it was bad or something and then learned to realize that some of the chickens we had laid brown eggs and they were the same as the white eggs just the shell was a different color. Those days were so fun learning about what the chickens ate and watching how goofy they were. How they ate pebbles and we didn't understand, or why the rooster always chased us, or why the chickens dug in the dirt. Oh those were the fun days learning about those chickens and what it took to make an egg for our selves***
....now we are growing meat for the world!
My step-dad is a retired police officer who has lived in the city for his whole life until about the age of 40! So he had to learn a lot before he decided what he wanted to do with his 134 acre farm. (He still can't believe he's a farmer now... even 10 years after the big ole move he still is in denial he's a farmer) We started off with turkey's and now we are at chickens... He has became a chicken expert in his short 7 or so years raising them... He may be stubborn and not want to admit it but he does know a thing or two about chickens and he may not admit this either but I think he loves them!!
So you asked... how do I know? Well he calls them his girls and talks to them when hes in the barns, just like I talk to my cows when I'm working with them. sometimes he even signs and dances for them! He doesn't even do that for mom!!! I caught him one tie jamming out to Dancing Queen! He had headphones in and he was singing at the top of his lungs and dancing as he was walking up and down the rows!! Funniest thing ever.. I wish I still had the video :)
So back to my chicken hat!! My brother went to Texas for 2 weeks to take care of a whole herd of bucking bulls for some friends of his and since he was gone I was the runner up for Chicken duty.
Being a chicken farmer is not complete rocket science but it sure does require a shower immediately after!! Some people may argue and some may agree but I would choose cow manure any day over chicken manure! JUST SAYING!!!
So everyday is kinda the same starting off with a walk through and checking water pressure, making sure feed is working properly, checking barn temperatures, and ventilation. Every once in a while you'll encounter a feed spill, which is a mountain high pile of their feed! The chickens don't mind the spill they actually love it and roll in it, climb it, play in it, eat it and just plain out make a huge mess of it!! But, that just causes a headache in the chicken farmers book.
The chicken houses are 708 feet long by about 63 or 68 feet wide and we have two of them working on getting a third one built, yikes I can't remember how wide they are so don't quote me! That's the length of almost two and a half football fields!! I sure get my workout in walking back and forth every aisle and sweating in the dead of cold because of how warm it is in their. During the walk-throughs we pick up any birds that may have died over night, keep our ears alert and eyes open for any thing that may seem off. With 46,000 chickens to one house any farmer is bound to have a couple chickens die everyday due to natural selection/causes and it is our job to pick them up so other chickens don't get the same problems they may have had.
These chickens live in absolute paradise!! They are about 27 days old right now; they have an unlimited supply of food and water, they live in a constant environment temperature of about 78 degrees (That is warmer then my house!!!), they have all 708 feet to roam freely!! They are absolutely pampered...
These chickens are Free-Range Organic broiler chickens through Coleman Natural with Purdue... Let me break that down. Alright, so Free-Range jut means when the weather outside is nice and warm enough they get the luxury/opportunity to go outside and play in the luscious green grass in their own little fenced in pasture!! Yes, they have this luxury but nope, our birds seem to rather stay inside then go outside. I mean who doesn't blame them when they have unlimited food and water and a controlled temperature and toys!!! Oh yeah I forgot to mention our chickens get toys to play with and jump on! We have active chickens :) Organic means our chickens eat only organic corn, and broiler meas they are meat birds not birds used for laying eggs.
Here are some pictures for you that allow you to step inside our Chicken Houses without needing a shower immediately after exiting! I hope you enjoy :)
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| For the most part the chickens like us... I wasn't to thrilled because their wings hurt if they try flying away. Did you know chickens can't really fly. They can kind of soar/glide a couple feet or fly up outta harms way but they can't fly distantly. |
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| If you look closely there is a wooden square, this is one of the toys the chickens are exposed to. This allows the chickens to jump on the ledge and down into the box. It keeps them more active. |
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| This picture is showing how the Chickens get water. They have water lines with little knobs that hang down and the chickens peck at them and water falls out. |
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| This is my Step-Dad, Greg, fixing the water pressure. |
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| Just a view of the lovely ladies in their house. |
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| This is how their house stays a constant warm temperature. There are about 30+ of these heaters along with other space heaters throughout the house. |
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| Here's a short video clip of the chicken house. |
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| This gal right here doesn't look the prettiest. None of them do right now. They all are going through that stage in life where they are loosing their baby fuzz and growing real feathers! |
Though I traded in my dairy hat for a chicken hat for 2 weeks... at the end of the day I am always thankful and looking forward to putting my dairy hat back on and working with my girls!!
~The Barn Winow
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