Sunday, February 10, 2013

Chickens: Ready...Set...

We are now getting ready to dive into the hobby of chicken farming!  That's right...the Wheelers are going to be farmers (of some sort)!


When we got married ten years ago, we never would have guessed we'd be raising our family in this small rural town with a passion growing inside us for pasture raised poultry.  We were both city kids, tried and true.  All the conveniences of the big city had us saying "We could never live in the country"!

As our family has grown and changed, so have our desires.  Once the Lord called us to this little city, we quickly began to long for a home in the country, so we moved out from the city limits to a 5 acre "fix-me-up" farm outside of town.    

Here we are...and we are absolutely loving it!  Let me tell you, the simple life is quite addicting!  Watching my boys work along side their dad and seeing our whole family involved in projects is such a sweet blessing!

As we have worked, studied and prepared to be chicken farmers, the kids have been included in it all and they are just as excited as we are!

Our passion for pasture raised poultry began with a simple goal: to feed our family better food.  For over a year and a half we read and studied about how to produce our own healthy, organic food.  Chickens seemed like the easiest "meat" to start with so we began reading what the expert in raising quality chicken had to sayJoel Salatins methods have been a HUGE inspiration and guide on our journey!

So with his plans in hand, we got started this weekend!


We are using special pens that we have constructed ourselves.  These pens allow for mobility, as we will move our chickens to fresh grass every day, which will also mean new insects and seeds in their crisp "salad bar".  The pens also provide the perfect balanced temperature for the heat of our mid-west days and the cool of the night.

We will even be butchering the chickens ourselves, on site, following Salatins technique. Butchering on site guarantees that our methods remain humane and clean as we strive from beginning to end to gain the healthiest chicken possible.

So the construction has begun!!  Stay tuned for (what I'm sure will be) our crazy adventure with all it's failures and successes!


5 comments:

Kara said...

Congrats on the new addition! She is adorable! Did you have her at home too?

We have chickens for eggs but one of our really good friends are starting a pasteurized poultry business this month. It is fun to watch and be a part of. We have majorly shifted our diet too, much more organic the big thing is non-gmos for us!

Glad your back, I love keeping up with your family! I love blogging but finding the time is hard now... By the time I sit down to blog my mind is spent on other things!

~ Kara

Bri said...

So excited to see pics of your new little one :).
We also were reading up and learning about chickens when we lived at our old house, but haven't been able to do anything since moving into a rental. I'm excited to follow your new adventure! Maybe we can come see it sometime soon :)

Cheymelah said...

Grace I just wanted to stop by and say thanks so much for visiting my blog! Congratulations on your newest beautiful baby Hope! I hope to see more of you!

Gwen T said...

Yay! You're back!! :) I'm so glad you commented on my blog or I would have missed your return!!

And what a hoot - we're both starting "chicken farming" with a whole houseful of helpers. Thanks for the links you included because we've had a few interesting experiences already with our brood. (meaning chickens not children) Did you see that we used giant black tubes (painted white) for our coop? So I can totally relate with your construction adventures.

Congratulations on baby #6 - so happy for you. You're going to be catching up with those crazy Tolivers soon. Since I'm 40 now, it probably won't be too hard. :)

Victoria Osborn said...

Grace- Glad your back to blogging! Congrats on the new baby girl. I love getting updates from my mom through your mom!

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