September ends with the completion of a few big projects. We moved the chickens from the hoop house to a Salatin Box to protect them from hawks and themselves, rebuilt the brooder, and processed the meat birds on October 1st.
The Salatin Box works great now that I've figured out a good routine. The chickens don't seem to mind the increased confinement much. Catching the birds for processing went much more smoothly, though it inflicted a different set of problems. We still need to find someone to fabricate a dolly for it. At the moment I pull it with either vehicle (the fit is go even on the farm). Over all, it is a reminder that we're still learning.
The re-built brooder now stands alone and better fortified against raccoons while also more accessible for the humans. Hopefully the chicks will arrive tomorrow as planned and let us know what works and does not work. I still need to paint it. Since winter is coming and I tend to become depressed with all the gray in the world, I decided to paint the base white and the roof yellow. Once Le Petite Poulet has a logo we will paint that on it too.
Processing went very well Saturday, October 1st. We managed to round up five other people to help. One person had processed before, one volunteer brought their fishing and deer cleaning experience and others just caught on well. We processed about 60 birds between 9AM and 1:30PM. Then we all sat down for lunch, which was tasty thanks to Hal who also provided the driveway and equipment. One dedicated volunteer even stayed to help put away the equipment. Our volunteers rock!
