Chicken Farmers...

Let me tell you what.... raising chickens is no easy or cheap feat! We lost 5 more to a racoon! 3 of our pullets that were just about to start laying eggs and 2 of the biggest, fattest meat birds (of course, therefore the slowest and unable to get away). We are now down to 9 meat birds plus the 3 we already butchered makes 12 out of 25 birds! UGG.... feed is expensive.... anyone who complains about the cost of TRUE farm raised, free range, organic eggs or meat.....let's just say.....it is a SCREAMING deal for what these farmers go through to get that product to you! It really makes me realize the extent of the "corner cutting" that must take place in order to provide 99 cents a pound meat from those commercial producers! (Is it really even "meat" ??? or....??? But that's a rant for another day...) I think we are going to butcher the rest of the meat birds tonight after the kids go to bed... I just can't bear to see any more wasted to the darn racoon! (not to mention the cost that was put in to those birds that will now not bring in a dime...)
On a lighter note.... we went to the most incredible farm this evening! Pigs, horses, cows, lamas, chickens, flowers, vegetables, blacksmith area, saw mill, cedar sauna shack, and more! What a set up! They sell their organic chicken eggs for $5/dozen and are thinking to move it to $6/dozen... we sell ours for $4/dozen, but the more thoroughly I am keeping records this year is teaching me that we are possibly losing money or barely breaking even. We'll see when those pullets start laying... It has been really tough to shell out $300/month for food for all the chickens and only bring in about $30/month from the 12 full grown chickens we already had.  OUCH! The pullets are suppose to start laying in July... so hopefully we'll make up for it. Anyway, I just thought I'd rant a little about it all. I finally made it to Kits Camera today to get my memory card in my camera put on CD so I can erase the card and be able to start taking pictures again! So I will try and post a lot next week to catch up on what is going on with the garden, the house and my new business that is just recently in the works... =) In the mean time.... know this.... those organic, TRUE/hands on farmers earned every cent you pay for their product.... happily pay it and question how anyone can offer it for such a drasticly lower price...