Pastured Turkey Recipes

Below are links to two pastured turkey recipes. Please feel free to use you standard recipes as well. The main difference in the pastured turkeys compared to store bought commercial breeds besides the amazing flavor, is the chemical composition of the fats. The diet is so different with pastured raised birds that the difference is noticeable in cooking methods.

Please if you ever have a recipe to share, we will be starting a recipe page on the blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!





http://nourishedkitchen.com/slow-roast-turkey/




http://www.bechardfarm.com/turkeycooking.htm

Turkey

The turkeys are looking good!
Don't know if we will have any "huge" ones this year, but they are certainly eating a lot!

Just a few left that aren't spoken for!

Winding down

As the temperatures drops, we are starting to wind down on the farm.

The meat chickens finished up in mid-October; thank you to all of our customers who have purchased chickens, we hope you are enjoying them. The only animals left on the farm are the turkeys and the laying hens.

The laying hens will be moving down to Hillsboro to winter over in a garden that will appreciate the fertilization. We do not yet have any electricity on the farm and without a little supplemental light, the egg production will really drop as the days shorten.

The Turkeys are growing nicely! I really wish I could better estimate what weights they are going to finish up at, so I could more confidently assure my customers that they will get the size bird that they need.  With almost a whole month left, we are hopeful their sizes will satisfy customer expectations.

Shortly, we will be adding a "recipes" page to the blog. If anyone would like to share a recipe, please email us, and you will get credit for it on the site.

Well it has been a while

Sorry for the lack of updates!

The First Annual Potluck Pignic was a great success!

We plan on adding some videos and recipes soon!

Our last batch

In a couple days we move our last batch of meat chickens out to the pasture!

I promise to blog a lot more this winter about our first years experience. Successes and failures.

This picture is of our third batch sharing a pen with the turkeys! What a fun day that was!

Full of Graze Farm Pignic!

Beautiful Start to a crazy week

Some places on the farm look like October already, thanks to the drought.

This week we process our second batch of chickens, move our third batch (along with the turkeys) out to pasture, and start our last batch, which we've doubled, into the brooder....

My logistics planning is paying off, but I won't complain when this week is over!

The newest Farmer

JohnPaul David Wilson

July 23, 2012

A new pasture for the pigs

Ask not what your farmer can do for you. . .

So now we have our hands in the muck and mess on a daily basis and we know what it's really like to try our part in farming.  Though the labor is hard and the planning is all-consuming, we feel incredibly blessed to be fulfilling a mission of providing clean, healthy food to others.

Of course not everyone can be a farmer, even on a part-time basis.  Still, we all play our roles in the cycle of agriculture, from the bugs and grass, to the chickens and pigs, to the farmer, to each and every consumer of food. If even one link is missing from the chain, the whole system fails. Just as no theater production can go on without each and every person involved, so no farm can succeed without a cooperative effort from many.  Think of the animals as the actors, the farmer as the director, the cooperating families as the backstage crew, and you, the customer, as the marketing team that will showcase the farm to others.  The world will be our audience as we show that small, family farming is alive and well and is the key to healing the land and rebuilding community within our communities.

What can you do as a customer to contribute to the well-being of the farm?  Here are 10 practical tips for how you can promote local, clean food production and strengthen the circle of sustainable farm life:


1) Educate yourself... on why you should choose to purchase your food directly from a farm rather than from the grocery store.  (For great titles and informative documentaries, see the sidebar.)  An educated customer is a committed customer.

2) Get convicted...about the necessity of good food for good health and when you do, don't look back!  No one is perfect, but as often as possible choose farm fresh over grocery stale.  Join a CSA, buy meat in bulk, stop by your local farmer's market or roadside stand, learn how to cook.  It takes some effort, but you'll love the results!

3) Communicate...with the farmer.  Ask questions and offer feedback.  See if you can visit the farm to observe first-hand how it's all run.  Meet the animals who will one day give their lives for yours.  Get in touch with the beauty of self-sacrifice for the sake of others.

4) Spread the word...  Become a walking, talking billboard for your favorite farm.  Tell all your family, friends and co-workers how very delicious the eggs, chicken and pork are from Full of Graze Farm.  And if someone is interested (or maybe the worst kind of critic) buy a dozen eggs, wrap it in a big bow, and let them see the difference for themselves.  Share the link to our blog so they can see the farm in action and maybe order a product or two. If each of our customers sold our products to 2 people they knew, we'd be very happy farmers!

5) Offer... your services if/when you can.  Don't worry, I don't mean you need to offer your brawny arms for shoveling manure.  But perhaps you are a graphic designer and can offer to create a cool logo for the farm.  Or you are a photographer who can take gorgeous pictures of the land and animals to be used for marketing purposes.  Maybe you just know your way around a kitchen and can make a mean batch of cookies for the end-of-season customer appreciation pig roast.  Every little bit helps.

6) Reuse, reduce, recycle... Don't throw out those empty egg cartons!  Return them to the farmer to keep his costs lower, your prices lower, and save precious landfill space.  Just built a deck and have extra scraps of wood?  Before throwing them out, call your farmer friend to see if he can use them instead.  If you don't keep a big smelly compost pile in your backyard, save fruit and veggie scraps in a bag in your freezer so they can be fed to our piggies, who really do eat almost anything!  (If you do this, be sure the scraps aren't anything that's been bitten by a human mouth.  It can spread harmful bacteria to the pigs.)

7) Support... restaurants who buy food from local sources.  They are out there and they need your endorsement as much as the farmers who provide the animals, fruits, and vegetables.  When you go out to eat, won't it be nice to know your belly is filled with the same nutrition that you have at home?  Find these restaurants on websites such as www.localharvest.com or www.eatwellguide.org, (or, for those in our neck of the woods, see: cincinnatilocavore.blogspot.com).

8) Organize...your orders.  Maybe you don't need a whole pig and 20 chickens, but perhaps you know one other family who would love half that pig and 10 of those chickens.  Order together.

9) Order early... Small-time farmers have to plan carefully for their growing season and it's difficult to predict the needs of our potential customers.  Because we are a society of instant gratification, the concept of ordering our food (and putting down a deposit) months in advance is totally foreign to us.  (And I do mean "us".  It's still hard for me to get used to buying food this way.)  But it is SO VERY HELPFUL if you do your part by placing an order and committing to our products in advance. We will thank you for it!

And last, but most certainly not least:

10) Please, please, please, do not complain ...about the prices of our products and how they are so much higher than what you can get at the grocery store.  I sincerely doubt that there is anyone in local, sustainable, family-farming for the money.  Our prices are higher not because we want to gouge our customers and make it rich, but because we are offering a high quality product through back-breaking labor that we ourselves are putting into the project.  It is our own money that is used as capital, it is our own spare time we are spending after work or with toddlers in tow to feed and clean up after the animals and/or tend to the garden.  And because we do it for the sake of conviction, I promise we are keeping our prices as low as we can while sustaining and growing our farm.

Very few people these days can make a living wage by farming alone.  Most conventional farms only stay afloat by the assistance of the government, and when we buy cheaper food in the grocery store only a mere fraction of our dollar ends up in the hands of the farmer who actually grew the food.  Your hard-earned dollar handed directly to a small farmer at a farmer's market goes immediately where it belongs, and much of it goes right back into the land.  No one who provides food for others should himself starve.  It is right and good that we should thank the farmers who provide us with clean, healthy food by paying a fair price for the products we buy.

Not everyone can afford to buy directly from farmers (a problem that needs to be remedied now) and this we understand.  But be assured that we are doing our best to make our food products as affordable as possible, and if/when you make the stretch in your budget for better food from a local venue, it will not be forgotten.

Summer is Here on the Farm

With the summer season in full swing, we are seeing the rapid growth of our animals as they nourish their bodies from the best of all nature can provide.  Egg production is at an all-time high, the pigs are rolling in mud to keep cool, and the broilers are finally on pasture and seem to be at home in their new home.  

Not so long ago, we knew nothing of where our food came from or how animals were treated in the industrial model.  Now that we know, we are so happy to be a part of the solution by providing a natural environment for our critters so that when the day comes, they will be the best food product for you and your family.Using a little ingenuity and lots of brains, Farmer Sean has built some fine shelters for our broilers, to protect them from the blazing sun, rain, and predators.  They can roam a large pasture area while still having the benefits of a safe home.  Great work, Sean!

Family farming at its finest.  

Happy Hens are Healthy Layers

Plenty of exercise...

Looking for tasty bugs...

They look happy, don't they?  Our hens give us tasty, healthy eggs.  There is no substitute for an egg produced by the abundance of life provided by the hands of Mother Nature.  Lots of sunshine, plenty of green grass, and creepy crawly meals make for a delicious breakfast!  Thank you, ladies.  We couldn't have done it without you!

The season is upon us!

First of all sorry for not being better at keeping the blog updated.

The farm is in full swing! The broilers are 3 weeks old and move out to pasture this week. The layers are giving us between 3 and 4 dozen eggs a day! The pigs are growing fast...eating a lot, and are on there 3rd pasture rotation.


Pictures to come this week Check back.

• Currently we are offering our eggs: $4 a dozen Free Range Fed only Non-GMO grains-
• via pick-up at the farm (appointment only, we wish we could be there all the time but we're not)
• After Mass at Emmanuel Church in Dayton @ 12-12:30 on Sunday- Please email ahead
• If we get an order for 5 dozen or more a week - we will deliver to a drop point - email for more information.

• Our Meat chickens: $3.75/lb Pastured - Fed only Non-GMO grains
• We will offer Chicken pre cut for an additional fee
• Only 5 short weeks until our first batch is ready!
• We are not yet a part of a farmers market
• We will have drop points on Tues. July 17th in Dayton - email for more information
• Our next dates are Aug. 14 - Sep. 11 - Oct. 9

• Our Pastured Pork: $3.50/lb for whole - $3.65/lb for half - Pastured - Fed only Non-GMO grains
• Still a couple available - Mid Oct.
• We will be offering a no Nitrate cure for all cured meats for a nominal processing fee
• Our processor also offers a kielbasi, and different types of sausages. (they're still working on an all pork hot dog!) 

• Thanksgiving Turkey: $3.50/lb Pastured - Fed only Non-GMO grains
• Available Fresh right before Thanksgiving - add a new tradition with one of these mouth watering birds!
• These are selling faster than anything else we offer. To ensure availability we will be asking for a $25 deposit with your order

See our order form in the sidebar to order 

A couple pictures

Sarah with the first egg!

One of the girls enjoying the thistle ( there is grass on the farm too!)

Introduction to grass and forage

Quick Youtube Food Tutorial, just for fun

Okay, so I want to make very clear that I do not subscribe to the Paleo-Go-Back-and-Eat-Only-What-the Cavemen-in-the-Ice-Age-Ate Diet.  I have not been convinced, and find it very hard to believe, that all dairy and grains are de facto bad for you.  And even if it was proved to me that all dairy and grains are bad for me, well, I like a lot of them and am simply not willing to give them up.  Not to mention that my husband would probably divorce me if I told him I would no longer buy cheese.  I like being married to Peter and I like bread (sometimes not in that order), and no amount of health could make me give either of them up.

HOWEVER, I do think this video gives a quick, funny summary of the problems with the Standard American Diet (SAD), the way it's produced and the effects it has on our health.

C'mon, people.  I go from books, to videos, to a Youtube clip.  I'm making it very easy to get educated here.  Join to movement!

Food Documentaries?

So maybe you read the previous post and thought, "That's nice, but I'm not much of a reader.  I don't have a lot of free time and if I did I would probably fall asleep reading a book on where our food comes from."

No problem!  Do you have Netflix?  There are several informative food documentaries worth watching.  "Food, Inc", is probably the most popular.  But there's also "Fresh", "Food Fight", "Broken Limbs", and my all-time favorite: "Ingredients".  Okay, so I like to read lots of books and watch documentaries on food production.  Call me a nerd if you like, but I am a healthy one!

Join the movement for fresh, local, clean food.  Your body will thank you.

Where to start?

"Okay, so I'm ready to start the investigation into where my food comes from and how it's produced but I don't know where to start (and I don't want to be grossed out in the process).  Where do I start?"

Well, that all depends on the type of person you are and how much you want to know.  It's true, there are plenty of books and documentaries out there that will make you look askance at our Standard American Diet (SAD, for short) and quite possibly make you ill.  I've read/seen a few and I just can't recommend them.  At least not to start.  In my opinion, it is better to face the facts in a gentle, non-nauseating way than to purge all your old eating habits in one day.  As in anything in life, it is better to choose something because you see why it's good for you than to choose it because the alternative is bad.  Choosing good food over bad food is like choosing heaven because God is there and not just because you fear hell...And trust me, pastured products are truly heavenly!

Here are Full of Graze's best suggestions for reading materials:

If you are a mom or dad, one of the most influential books I've ever read on the topic of food is Dr. Sears' Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood.  Will it convince you to move strictly to pastured meats and eggs?  Nope. But he will give you all the reasons why you should completely eradicate junk foods from your family's diet, and by junk food he means foods that are highly processed, with many preservatives, food colorings, and harmful substances such as high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.  Backed by a Harvard medical education and decades of experience as a pediatrician, Dr. Sears voice is one of reason and common sense, and he shares lots of practical tips and lists of the best "grow foods" for your family.  It can get a little scientific at times, but not distractingly so.  It will move you far from a junky diet to wholesome health!

To gain a good understanding of where our food comes from and how it's produced, read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma.  It is the most accessible, intelligible, and witty journalistic text on the topic of food out there today.  And, no, it will not divulge all the details that will make your skin crawl and stomach turn.  It approaches food from the perspective of the average buyer, and investigates how food is produced using conventional, industrial means; how it is produced on a small, family-run, pasture-based farm; and how it can be had by a hunter/gatherer in the modern world.  No need to buy the book as it should be available in your local library.  (If it's not, request it. They'll get it for you!)  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading one chapter of this book, the one that explains the benefits of pasture-based farming using a rotational method of grazing with a variety of animals.  If that is all you read, you will have read enough to know why we farm the way we farm at Full of Graze!

The third step you should take in your food investigation is to read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  This memoir tells the store of how one family lived for an entire year on the food they could either produce themselves or buy from local sources.  It will not only educate you about food production but also inspire you to eat locally and seasonally, for your bodily health, for the health of your local community, and for the health of our natural resources!  While it isn't realistic for most families in our society to live that radically with regard to food, it will certainly convict you to do the best you can.

Happy reading and happy eating!!

Videos of the piglets

Our Pigs first day at the farm: True Grazers

Enjoying their work

Start at the Very Beginning

At Full of Graze Farm, we are not just a business trying to make a start at pastured farming with the aim of being successful. While that may be one of our goals, our larger commitment is to the extended community, to promoting education regarding food topics, to raising animals in a humane and healthy way, and to preserving the land for future generations.  Welcome!

Though we have just begun our small, family-owned, pasture-based farm, in speaking with customers we have come across many questions about our products and food in general.  How are our products different?  Are we "organic"?  Why are your products more expensive than what I can buy at the grocery store?  I simply can't afford all that healthy, "organic" food.  Where do I even start?

First, "organic".  What does that mean?  Simply put, "organic" is a term that is now used to label foods (fruits, vegetables, dairy, meats, eggs) that are produced in ways whereby conventional chemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, etc, are not used on the crops or in the feed for the animals.  There are certain fees that must be paid to the government and standards that must be met and approved by government issued agencies, for a product to be labeled "organic".  A simple, objective article that explains "organic" in greater detail is here: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/organic-food/NU00255

We are not an "organic" farm, strictly speaking.  At the same time, it is our belief that our products are produced in ways that exceed "organic" standards.  Our pigs are not fed "organic" feed, but they are given access to the pasture and allowed to root for their food - food that comes from Mother Nature like grubs and bugs and other piggy goodies.  That is not a requirement for pork labeled with a government issued "organic" sticker.  Our chickens are given daily access to sunshine, grass, and bugs, and the richness of their exercise and diet is reflected in the beautiful eggs they produce.  The same is true of our broilers (chickens raised for meat, not eggs), and will be true of our turkeys, as well.  Meats offered at the grocery store with an "organic" label will likely have none of these benefits.  They will simply not be inundated with the chemicals that conventional products have in them, which, of course, is a good thing, but it's not what's best.

Money, money, money. The price difference between our products and standard grocery food is reflected in the care with which the animals are raised and in the quality of the food your family will eat.  You receive what you pay for.  Nothing worthwhile can be had cheaply.  If a can of vegetables costs 50 cents, you have to wonder how much nutrition can be had from that can.  About 50 cents worth.  And actually, even less, because the company has to make a profit off it!  Better to save the 50 cents and put it towards a bunch of homegrown beans.  The same is true of meat and eggs.  If a chunk of meat costs $1/lb, where is the value?  In the excessive fat that accompanies the meat and clogs your arteries?  Our pork may cost a bit more up front, but it will give you far more for your dollar than any factory-produced, warehouse-raised pig ever could.  Guaranteed.

"But my family has to eat!  My budget will not allow all that fancy food."  It is true that most of us live by a budget and the price of food is gradually creeping higher and higher.  I have five (going on six!) children and next to my mortgage there is nothing I spend more money on each month than food.  Crazy, I know.  However, that was just as true when I bought standard grocery store food as when I switched to pastured meats, organic dairy, and only fresh produce.  The untold secret is that, over time, healthy, seasonal, whole, unprocessed foods, will not cost much more than processed junk.  The key is to rearrange where you spend your money on food.  

The processed food available in stores may appear to be cheaper, but in the long run you simply buy more of it.  It satisfies neither your hunger nor your nutritional needs. There may be a bit more work involved, but feeding your family a bowl of mashed potatoes is significantly cheaper than feeding them tater tots.  A bag of apples will last longer and keep your children full and satisfied much more than a jar of applesauce.  Drink water instead of juice, homemade whole-grain bread instead of white, oatmeal instead of sugary cereal. Start small, by removing waste foods - those foods that cost little, offer nothing in the way of nutrition, and yet are designed by the industry to induce you to eat more ...and more... and more.  "Bet you can't eat just one!"

The money saved by casting out the junk can then be invested in the pastured meats and eggs we provide here at Full of Graze.  Buying our meats in bulk will further reduce your expenses and give you the chance to plan meals wisely.  And the health benefits of our pastured products will pay off in the way of long-term medical savings, for you and your children.  I learned from my wise mother-in-law that it is better to invest in food than in medical bills.  Good food comes from the hand of God and is designed to nourish your body in a way that will protect it from illness and wear and tear.  That idea drives our farming philosophy at Full of Graze.

Above all, educate yourself!  There is no virtue in ignorance, especially where the health of your family is involved.  Read articles, books, and blogs dedicated to food topics.  We have a list on the sidebar of recommended titles.  Go at it and decide for yourself.  Good luck!

Home and Free on the Range

What is a free-range egg from a "pastured hen" and why should you switch from conventional, store-bought eggs to the kind your great-grandmother used to collect in her backyard? For oh so many reasons, but primarily because they are better for your health, produced in a more humane way, and their production helps rather than hurts the environment.

1) Do not confuse true free-range eggs from pastured hens with store-bought eggs labeled "cage free" or "free range".

Nearly any egg bought in your basic grocery store, regardless of whether or not it is labeled "organic" or "cage-free" and marked up significantly in price, is produced in a large-scale, industrial way...which means it is produced in a factory/warehouse setting with inhumane, unsanitary conditions that provide little to none of the natural elements needed to produce a truly healthy, wholesome egg. True free-range, pastured hens are those that are not only given so-called "access to the outside", but those that are regularly free to roam on a pasture and greatly benefit from the sunshine, fresh air, exercise and bugs, worms, and grass they eat. And the benefits these ladies receive from God's good earth pass along into her egg and into your belly!

2) Why are free-range eggs from my local farmer more expensive than what I can buy at the grocery store?

"A dozen eggs should not cost $4!!" Simply put, it is a fact of life that you get what you pay for. Cheaply made food with less nutritional value will be cheap. Food that is carefully raised to reach optimum nutritional benefit will cost a bit more. It is difficult (if not impossible) for true free-range laying hens to be raised on a massive scale of production. Much more time, care and attention is needed to produce a dozen eggs in the natural world than is needed in the industrial model. But the taste and nutritional benefit of a true free-range egg are worth its weight in gold!

3) Okay, then, what exactly are the health benefits of a true free-range egg?

Mother Earth News conducted an egg testing project in 2007, finding that eggs produced by free-range hens compare favourably with those produced by battery cage hens. Eggs from free range hens had up to:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

The study involved 14 flocks across the United States whose eggs were tested by an accredited Portland, Oregon, laboratory, and the results were similar to those obtained via a 2005 study of four flocks.

This is just a short list of health benefits and found in one study. If you need more convincing, do research on the web. Here are a few more sources to check out:

http://www.realfooduniversity.com/truth-isfree-range-eggs-healthier-store-bought-eggs/

http://www.chickenkeepingsecrets.com/chicken-eggs/free-range-egg-vs-caged-hen-eggs/

4) How can I be sure I'm getting the real deal?

Know your farmer!! Who is providing the food you eat? Knowing your food provider on a personal basis is much more reassuring than sticking your hand in a grocery store refrigerator and pulling out a carton of eggs/milk/meat from a unknown, unnamed source. Talk to the local farmer who is selling free-range eggs and inquire how they raise the hens, what food they feed them, and if you're interested, ask if you can see their farming operation up-close. Most small, family-owned farms are very happy to have visitors and pleased to show off how well they treat their animals.

5) What did you say about the environment?

Farming on a small-scale, with products distributed to local buyers is better for the environment. Period. We at Full of Graze Farm are not advocates of preserving the earth for the sake of the earth, but we are conservationists. It is our belief that it is our privilege and responsibility to be good stewards of the natural resources God has given us, to conserve and promote the health of the land for future generations of human beings and animals.

In a good farming model, a variety of animals are raised in a way that creates a symbiotic relationship between human, animals of different species, and the earth, where they all work together to reduce unnecessary waste and improve each other's living environment. Done well, small-scale farming is much more sustainable than the industrial method of producing cheap food for maximum profits. In a word from Sustainatable.org:

Environmental Benefits
Pasture-based systems can help the environment, especially through fertilizing the soil and by reducing the amount of grain produced as feed. And unlike industrial farms, which rely on large amounts of fossil fuels to truck feed and animal waste, pasture-based systems take advantage of the animal’s ability to feed itself and spread its own manure.

For a greater study into this topic, see Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. It's one of our recommended, must-read books found on the sidebar of this blog. It's available at most libraries.

There is, I must admit, one disclaimer to this article. Once you try free-range eggs, you'll never want to go back to the store-bought, caged version!! They're just that good!

Which egg is not Free Range?

Happy Easter

The hens are at the farm

The finished Layer Wagon

We had a lot of help over the weekend from my daughters, and my niece, nephew that have been taking care of the chickens. They came out to paint the wagon and help me with some other projects in preparation for the hens to arrive.

 Lucy is gonna be movin' broilers before we know it

The finished Layer Wagon

Farm Update!

Spring has sprung on Full of Graze Farm!

The layers are moving out to the farm in less than two weeks, and we are ready. I guess you could say this is an inaugural event, and the official opening of the farm. In mid April we will get our piglets to the farm. They were born in early March and are ready to come and see their new home.

The building of the layer wagon

From the outside...without the roof or paint

Outside access to EGGS!

 A pig feeder that we found in the woods on a friends property....FREE. We are going to clean it up and see if it will work for us. We love Free!

We've been busy

You know, I keep forgetting to bring the camera out to the property. Today, I finally brought it and took some pictures of some of the projects that we have been doing to prepare for this first season. One of our major hurdles in planning for this year is the fact that we live 40 minutes from the farm, and I work a 12 hour day shift a half hour in the other direction. Obviously we have our challenges, and the way that we choose to raise our animals makes these challenges a little more difficult.

Our Dog Blaze - hopefully she will not get a taste for chicken!

None of our animals will be stationary on the farm, everything will move to fresh ground regularly.

 After a brief stay in the "swine meets electric" training facility, our pigs will be moving through a field this summer to help us get rid of some thistle that has gotten out of hand. This fall they will move into the woods when we re-seed the pasture that they have destroyed all summer. In the woods they will work again to clear some overgrown areas into future pasture.

Pig Training Facility

Semi-portable pig shade

Our laying hens will be towed around the farm on our Coop de wagon, which currently looks like a wagon and not much of a coop. We have just built the floor so far. They will be given an area large enough for 3-4 days so that moving them does not have to be a daily chore

One of the things that will be a daily chore is moving our pastured broilers. For those of you who don't know, not only will we be moving chickens everyday this summer, we are also expecting our third child near the end of July. The hoop coops need to be heavy enough not to blow away, and light enough that even Alison @ 9 months pregnant could move them on the days that I work. The wheels below are on a pivot; when forward, the coop is down on the ground and when back, it is about 2-3 inches off the ground. Instead of having the wheels in the back of the coop, where the whole weight of the coop would have to be lifted, we put them at 2/3's of the way back, giving more leverage and making the coop lighter to pull.

Forward Position

Back Position

The hoop coop in the field, it will be covered with a tarp eventually

This is the completed shed....can you imagine what my car looked like before we finished this?

The chickens are outside!

The Layers have finally made it out of the garage brooder. No one is happier than my sister in law who has graciously allowed her children to raise our chickens for us since Dec. 9th. The kids are still raising them, just outside in the garden area. I built a shelter that will become our brooder once we move it out to the farm. Building this with the move in mind was certainly a challenge and I would have done a lot of things differently if I was building it in its permanent location.

Rhode Island Red

Buff Orpington

Barred Rock

Golden Laced Wyandotte

Our daughter Sarah is truly in love with the chickens, and it's always a challenge getting her out of the coop.

I wish I could get her to zip up her coat 

The smile tells it all