Monday, November 17, 2008

Chickens

The chicks now look like chickens!  They have been moved to the brooder house.  Mike is now going to figure out how to build an egg mobile-- delayed due to sick child today.  
Mike is also going to pick up his MPU (mobile processing unit) on Wednesday.  He'll spend the day with Eli learning how to use his setup (meaning he'll process some chickens with Eli) and then drive it back to the house.  

This was taken two weeks ago.  I love maple trees.

4 comments:

Blue Heron Farm said...

Oooh, must hear all about your MPU. Please make an entry about it.

...and if it's not rude to ask, how much does such a thing set one's farm back?

The chooks are deliciously ugly. Congrats.

Michael@greenakeys.com said...

About 8 grand plus the trailer. 9500 total. I figure I will have to process 1000 birds and sell them at 4 dollars per pound to make up the cost of the MPU. After one season, the MPU is gravy. Safeway sells whole "organic" birds at 4 dollars per pound. And we all know that those birds are raised in confinement like all the others. My birds will be teh awesome.

Cost of processing around here to get USDA certified organic is about 4 to 6 dollars per bird and you have to go out of state. In state, you will pay 2 dollars per bird or so but you still have to drive an hour and a half. And there will be extra costs on top of that if you want them cut up in pieces. Or vacuum packed. Simple processing is impossible to find.

Michael@greenakeys.com said...

Granted, Im operating under the 1000-20000 bird federal exemption so Im not going to need to be inspected to sell on farm, but even if I did decide to seek USDA approval, the MPU can still be used. There is on in Bucks County, PA near Philly that is used in a USDA inspected facility at a farm. They were approved because they compost and handle everything else properly. The MPU is not what needs to be inspected. The entire process is just as important.

I wont be able to call any poultry I process USDA inspected but under the federal exemptions for on farm sales, I wont have to.

Blue Heron Farm said...

Ah-- I just commented in the new thread about regs. Interesting.

Around here, $4.50 per pound is pretty easy to get. Turkeys go for up to $6.75/pound. Chaching! AND THERE WOULD BE EVEN MORE MOOLAH IN GUINEA FOWL - BUT NO ONE IS DOING THEM NOW. (oops - sorry - Caps lock)

We've gotten into the "whole bird" thing. It is so easy to roast a whole bird...don't know why more people don't do it.

There are two producers at my FMs. One does their own processing - whole, frozen birds only.

The other trucks them up to Dallas for processing and also sells pieces and parts along with whole birds.

Model A is MUCH more sustainable. ;)