We had chicken tonight and as I sit downstairs, I smell... broth? Oh yeah, I am simmering the carcass plus some onion, celery, and salt upstairs. Completely forgot about it. But that smell reminded me of how grateful I am to have chickens. Egg layers are cute, maternal, year-round... but the "boys" are only here for 12 weeks. Why do I love them so?
- Making up their nickname - .We raised Delawares last summer - all boys - nicknamed the "Del-eats". The year before that, the Black Australorps were all "Kenny" since they died at the end (Southpark joke). No word yet on this year's nicknames. Suggestions?
- Chicken Tractors - Those industrious lads mowed all the lawn in the orchard and around the playground for 8 of their 12 weeks. And probably nailed a bunch of the caterpillars under the apples. Free landscape services!
- They bake into such nice dinners - 3-4 lbs after slaughter and when I bake him at 350 for an hour, he doesn't drip enough fat for gravy! Lean boys that are super-moist. Yummy!
- They taste of something alive - not some marinade or brine they were injected with. No seasoning needed here and the broth stands on its own.
- Chicken mobs! - There is something to be said for watching one of the boys find a worm/root/leaf, get all "cluck-a-cluck-a-cluck" and half the rest coming storming over to see if there is more.
- They have legs to stand on - Nice blogpost over at ScienceBlogs about a UK study of broilers and how many had trouble walking (about 25%) or standing(about 3%)! Our boys seem to walk pretty well when I brought the feed, even the "hopper" who got his leg caught under the chicken tractor one morning when I moved it.
- Breaking Even Isn't Hard to Do - Raising 25 boys to 12 weeks came in around $175 (bought chicks, bought feed, no straw, paid $3 per for slaughter). And at $7 per 4 lb roaster, we are cheaper than supermarket's "Nature's Place" chicken and ours are healthier/tastier/lower carbon. And actually live on grass, unlike those poor "free-range" chickens with a pop-door onto a concrete yard at the factory farm.
- Lack of Weird Feelings About Their Past - We don't get our chickens from a factory like this one - I am so scared by this image, that I am completely overlooking the pink uniforms.
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