Hot chicks arrive TODAY!

Great title huh?  And especially true since the weather is unusually warm and the coop/brooder is 96-98 (it's OK - at this age they like 95 degrees!)

Here's a little guy (or gal) who's taking up residence on the farm year round...  Well - sorta.

Today's delivery was small - only 25 birds.  Of those 12 are a heritage breed of Red Broiler.  That means - they are "like" the meat birds that will be arriving Friday - but are slower to grow, live much longer, can reproduce on their own and supposedly taste even better!  We are trying just a few this year - thinking that down the road we could even breed our own meat flock - now THAT'S local food!

The rest of the chickens are all brown and white egg laying hens selected for cold tolerance, excellent self foraging abilities, long and consistent laying and...  personalities.  As a matter of fact - one breed in particular has already proven to be a handful (and not in size).

Friday 150-ish Cornish Rock Broilers arrive...  so these 25 are enjoying the space and relative quiet now...

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFGM2qmSLQY

Will you cut up my chickens for me?

Here's a GREAT question that I'm POSITIVE other people have had (thanks Michelle for the email):
"Hi Andy~ Any chance you will be butchering the chickens this year to purchase select meat? The reason I'm asking is b/c we really only eat the white meat and last year a lot of our chicken was wasted. I'm going to order some either way b/c I like the whole birds for soup etc"

ONLY EAT THE WHITE MEAT?!?! You don't know what you are missing. (stay tuned over the summer for good recipes to use that dark and ohh so tasty meat up!)

We had thought about doing select cuts but there's a couple of challenges with that. First and foremost, there's pricing. As you can see based on cooler space when you go to the grocery store and look at the sickly factory chicken - breast meat is certainly preferred... So the rule of thumb used when providing selected cuts off your own birds is - you have to price the breast meat in a way that covers the entire cost of the bird - because a rather safe assumption is - most people will only want the breast meat.

In this case - let's assume a 5# bird at $3.49/per pound.

Typically - a chicken breast (and, of course it depends on bone in or boneless skinless) - but "the breast" is usually between 40-50% of the bird's weight. Around 40% by weight with the bones and skin in - around 50% by weight as just boneless skinless... (source)

So - here's where the math comes in for that 5# bird. If we were to parts it up under the standard rule of thumb to make the breasts pay for the bird - and since we are doing the work - let's go with boneless / skinless - since that's the super premium cut. Now - here's where the sticker shock might come in. Since we pare parting out the breast, that's about 40% by weight (as I said before) - 40% of 5# is 2#. BUT - you don't really get 2# of meat because there's bone + skin in there too. So, remove the bone + skin and you are down to about 1.5# of tasty, pasture raised, 100% white meat.

One more time - back to the rule of thumb - "you have to price the breast meat in a way that covers the entire cost of the bird - because a rather safe assumption is - most people will only want the breast meat". Which, in following the letter of the law exactly - the bird is $17.45... and that makes the market price of boneless / skinless breast cuts about $11.60 per pound! (Gulp!)

In reality - since there is a small market for thighs, wings, legs and "soup makers" - usually the breast meat is discounted about 15% - so in this case it would be $9.86/per pound of boneless / skinless breast meat.  So how does that compare?  Here's this weeks ad for chickens that don't get pasture, can't eat clovers and grasses, they don't get sun light, don't get to hunt and peck for worms and critters...  Feel good about THAT food...

Food you (try and) feel good about

So - I guess I just made the case for parting up a chicken for that cost per pound huh?

My answer to the original question is - I suppose if there's enough folks who would like their chicken parted up, based on requests, we can do that.  Right now - this is the first and only time someone has asked this question about this years birds.  The parted up meat would be available by cuts (thigh, leg, breast, soup).  Since we are farming for the community I'll leave the choice up to the community.  If there are enough folks who have already ordered or who will be ordering that are interested in this as an option - please shoot us an email or post a comment here. (andy(at)chickenthistlefarm(dot)com or kelli(at)chickenthistlefarm(dot)com)

If enough people want the service we can offer it - but as of right now we are not planning on cutting up your chickens into select cuts.

(In closing I'd just like to offer something other than chopped up chicken to think about.  You see the math here - and I hope you visit the farm this summer to see how the chickens are taken care of and raised.  Now - for just a moment - seeing how the math works here...  consider WHAT you are eating when it's the "on sale for $0.99/pound" boneless / skinless Value Pack of chicken...)

A Fowl Question

(Posted in response to a great comment/question)

Q:  I think the closest farm to me that I can buy a whole chicken is Newnan. I fear Newnan. I’m curious as to what your opinion of Bell & Evans is… that’s the company that supplies my farmer’s market and I did some superficial research and thinking it’s a step in the right direction.

A: If you fear a local farm - all the more reason to avoid it!  That's the real power of local food - you know and see where it's coming from!  Our per pound price isn't the cheapest around these parts - but I encourage people who want to buy a "cheaper" bird to visit our farm and flocks...  then visit other farms and flocks...  no harm - no hurt pride - you are welcome back anytime (just wear different shoes so you don't bring disease grossness into our flock).  It's called being an educated consumer - and competition raises the standards.  Sure - there are some other really great local farms - find them - maybe they offer things we don't...  but when it comes to chicken production environments and veggies - well - like I said, we will welcome you back!  There's no arrogance there - just repeating what others have said to us.

As for your question - there's sorta "stages" of better chickens - IMHO.  At the bottom are the factories - pack em in, debeak them and fill their food with antibiotics because the flock density is so high you don't have any other tools to control disease.  Feed them waste scraps of things you would not want your food eating and include arsnic to make them grow faster...

On the opposite end of the spectrum is - fresh air, green pastures, let the birds hunt the way they are programed to be.  I think your Bell & Evans folks look like, on a sliding scale, they are about 1/3 of the way from factory towards pastured.  And that's not a bad thing for the volumes of chickens they produce.

Their operations still looks to keep the birds indoors and out of sunlight (think about how you would feel and your personal health after a lifetime of no sun).  They do - however - appear to keep densities lower, use less "junk" in their feed and use a higher quality feed...  So - bottom line - their chickens are likely better than the "discount" factory birds out there but at the same time "likely" not of the same quality (flavor and nutritional) of those birds that spend most of their lives on pasture supplemented diets (that's sun, clover, and crickets).

Your question is a great one.  People should spend their food money like they are voting with it.  Your choice for the non-status-quo chicken is a vote in the right direction (I still say go find a local farm that's not scary - check localharvest.org and craigslist to start - when you get there ask to see where the chicks are started, where the birds grow up, where and how they are processed...  and let your gut tell you if you should be buying chicken from that farm)

It's amazing - most consumers really believe that the old adage "you get what you pay for" is true when they go buy a computer, car, washer, clothing...  you name it...  so - why doesn't that register when we are standing there ordering entire meals off of the $1 Value Menu?

Plant lights - The good, the bad and the bright

Plants need the right light to grow

If you plan on starting seeds indoors you are going to need lights to accompany your efforts as plants need light for photosynthesis.  The question often asked (see the previous post's comments) is - what's the "right" light for starting plants indoors?  Since I spent a fair amount of time researching this very topic years back I figured a concise post about what I do might offer some mild guidance and insight (or not).

First off - the reason why home seed starters struggle with this question is the fact that the light you "see" is slightly different than the light plants "use".  On a technical level there are really 4 peak light wavelengths that plants use for photosynthesis.  The goal of seed starters - hit as many of those peaks as you can so your plants don't grow up leggy, tall and unhealthy.

Back when I spent a good deal of time looking into this I referenced articles published by Cornell and Purdue's agriculture departments.  The classic question being - incandescent or fluorescent.  And if fluorescent - which bulbs?  The easy starting point was NOT incandescent.  For starters they get HOT - and having enough of them to light up your plants becomes dangerous for the plants as well as the planter.  Also - they just don't produce the right light for the plants.  So rather than spend a long time discussing them - let's focus on the fluorescent options.

Fluorescent lights are inexpensive (big box stores offer a 4' light for under $10 + bulbs).  Inexpensive is good.  It's not the fixture that generates the rabid discussions amongst growers but rather "which bulb"?  And it's here in the conversation that you hear people use terms like "degrees Kelvin", "full spectrum", "cool light", "warm light"...  And while there's a TON of science behind all that, here's the basic takeaway:  Natural sunlight is the "full spectrum" of light - it's what plants have evolved to use - the closer we can get to that - the happier the plants are.  The color of the spectrum is measured in "degrees Kelvin" with light that appears blueish being higher in degrees Kelvin (around 6500K) and being referred to as "cool light" (because of the blue color - not degrees).  The other end of the spectrum is "warm light", it's reddish and is around 3500K. (here's a great explanation).  Ok - so what does all this mean - boiled down?

Well - when you pick up your $9 shop light and need bulbs there are 3 primary choices you will see:

1. very expensive "full spectrum" bulbs that are sold specifically to support seedling development and growing plants with no natural sunlight


2. cheap "cool white" bulbs - they look very blue when lit and are typically recommended for a garage or a kitchen on the package


3. cheap "warm" bulbs - these look orangeish and the package will tell you these are great for your basement or family room

So which one?  Well - the research conducted by some of the worlds best ag schools found that a lighting fixture with 2 of the "full spectrum" bulbs that cost up to 4X as much work no better than a the same fixture loaded with one "cool" bulb and one "warm" bulb.  The idea of combining the two types goes back to the 4 peaks in photosynthesis (two of them are in the blue regain and two are in the red region).  Ohh - and the single most important factor in good plant development - not the color of the bulbs but their age.  these studies showed after 2 years - you really should replace the bulbs.

At then end of the day (you timer should turn off the lights)...   At the end of the day - the choice is yours.  You can certainly opt for the expense of the full spectrum lighting but I have been using one cool and one warm light in my lamps for years and very rarely have to deal with spindly plants.  Those times  I do get leggy growth - I look at my notes and see that I must not have replaced older bulbs.  When I do get strange growth I have another trick I use that keeps my guys growing squat and robustly... more on that later...

(Thanks Shirley - for you comment and article inspiration)

Extra! Extra! - Read all about it!

Pretty exciting - we made the paper...  OK, not a feature article - but we are listed in there!  Very exciting!  Page one (ohh, wait, it's alphabetical!)

Fair and balanced reporting - thanks Karen!

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Article