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Going to the Birds! continued by Anita Gerber |
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Up to this time, I have patronized the butchering talents of a wonderful lady who lives in my area. She is now eighty years old and says she has ‘tapered off’. She used to clean one hundred twenty five chickens per day in her heyday. Now she has ‘tapered off’ to ‘only’ seventy-five! She isn’t a large woman. She almost always has a smile. She is slightly hearing impaired, so her comments and laughter can be heard all across her yard as she works. She has been in this business full-time for almost forty years, putting two children through college on her ‘chicken money’ after her husband died at a young age. She also built her lovely ranch-style home with money earned performing this menial job. There was a time that my friend and I offered to help her finish the last two dozen birds. Dear Flossie expected the worst from us! She had evidently experienced everything from revulsion to nausea from uninitiated chicken pluckers. She seemed rather impressed as we assisted her in every step, from removing the heads right on through to placing the chickens in plastic bags. I very early learned to weigh and tag each chicken immediately, as I sell them by the pound. This past season I started a batch of four hundred chicks, and then about two weeks later a batch of three hundred chicks. Even dear Flossie has her limits and having seven hundred chickens all ready to butcher NOW is asking way too much! I didn’t want them to all reach butcher weight at the same time as this type of bird doesn’t quit growing. I find that when the bird starts to ‘waddle’, it is most definitely time to head to Flossie’s house. If I wait much longer, it seems that they tend to make the ground shake when they walk! I have actually had a few birds that were accidentally overlooked. They dressed out to over eight pounds! My mother would call them ‘baby turkeys’, but they were still as tender as the smaller, more normal-sized ones. Throughout the growing period of the chickens, I contacted potential customers, informing them not only when the chickens would be ready, but also the price per pound and that I would be delivering the freshly-cleaned chickens to their doors at an appointed time. This past season, there were approximately seven hundred chickens to find homes for, so it was essential that a precise record be kept. I have a very valuable list of past customers, the quantity that they purchased, and their phone numbers. I also take note whether the customer prefers larger birds or the smaller fryers. If I had not taken orders for chickens in advance of their availability, I could have found myself with a shocking quantity of unsold birds on my hands. It seems like an unnecessary and costly service to actually deliver the birds myself, but what most people don’t take into account is that the fresh chickens need either to be kept chilled or be frozen as soon as possible. Delivering the birds immediately after collecting them from the butcher means that I myself don’t have to either provide freezer space for them or pay the electricity bill for freezing them. I only need to freeze the ones that I have left after my deliveries for that particular day. I will also take orders from people who live a distance away and would not be able to have me deliver their birds. For these people, I will freeze the birds until they are able to come for them. This coming season, I hope to raise and sell one thousand birds. There is no reason that everyone I know (and a few I don’t know) shouldn’t be having a wonderful chicken dinner at least twice a month! No, I won’t perhaps earn my first million dollars supplying chickens to my friends, neighbors, family and my family’s friends, but for a relatively short period of involvement, the money is good. I also have the pride of presenting my customers with food that I know has been raised clean, dressed properly, and will be not only tasty, but also a healthy addition to their diets. I am privileged to meet new people every year. My customers are always happy to hear from me and often will send others my way. The profits increase when there is no longer a need to buy equipment. All the money that isn’t spent in the barn makes a nice addition to my bank account. Each year, I find myself discovering ways to make it all easier and more efficient.
Please note:
we made sure that there were chickens for our own use!!
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