Sunday, November 29, 2009

renegade chickens . . .

This week will be our last week for chicken butchering. Since we've started, we have probably processed around 50 birds altogether.

Tonight my job was to find out where the RENEGADE chickens roosted for the evening. These are the cocks that we let roam the land and forage for food. We see them throughout the day sometimes in the fields, and sometimes on the property. They usually travel within a two mile radius but they always return to the same spot each night to sleep. So tonight, as the sun went down, I walked out closely to see where they laid their heads down for the night. Apparently it is in the drainage tile on the side of the road! Here I am riding Lady right by the place they call "home" for the night.

I watched four of them cautiously circle around the ditch while they watched me, and then saw one quickly slip into the tile. I stalked them a bit and finally caught one for butchering tomorrow night. I ended up catching three more tonight that roost near the chicken mobile as well. (there is a reason why you catch them at night; they are laying down and trying to sleep) It makes it a WHOLE lot easier to catch a chicken when they are not running from you. :)

I decided to butcher a few each night after school and give the children a break from the smells and mess of it all. The girls are especially thankful. :)

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