We’re tired.  Like tired tired.  Wiped out.  Used.  Sapped.  Tapped out.  Done.  Spent.  200 birds.  2 days.  2 adults, 4 children and a little help from my mother-in-law.  The dog may have eaten a few livers too.  We also went swimming, watched a little Star Trek, read, played legos and took care of the rest of the farm but the poultry processing was the absolute focus.  It’s not like we’re new to this…it’s just hard work.

Here’s a shot of the new freezer:

Here’s a shot of the CL freezer we got from a nice couple in a beautiful home complete with chickens and kittens way, way out past the greater MO trailer park-o-rama off of 70 somewhere.  I mean way out there.  Well, not as far off the beaten path as we are…but still.  Way out there.

So.  That ought to keep ’em for a while cause that’s it.  Well, I have another hundred on pasture to butcher in the next three days or so but then I mean it.  That’s it.  Well, that’s kind of it.  That’s it till we butcher again in October.  Maybe.  Raymond Mears (ex-gf’s grandfather (I have some of his ties)) said, “Corn in the bin is money in the bank”.  I suppose I could look at this chicken that way.  As long as the power doesn’t go out, it’s money in the bank and it’s safe from the 4-legged masked bandits that have apparently taken over the farm.  I saw 3 in my yard early this morning!  Sheesh!

I read about guys who process 300-500 birds/day or process 10,000 birds/year.  Salatin says he processes 30,000.  I can’t imagine how they chill all those birds.  Those two freezers are putting out a lot of heat right now.  Maybe walk-in coolers can handle it better.

We work to be very efficient from kill to chill and from chill to freezer but I’m surprised to take note of how long we spend packing the birds into transport crates.  I don’t think there is much of a solution to that but I haven’t been estimating that time correctly.  Just an observation.

Well, chicken for dinner tonight.