Practicality

I’m wishing I had something philosophical, something poetic, something thought-provoking to write tonight. But this time of year my thoughts and activities are necessarily directed towards the practical, the execution of plans made. The class is focusing now on accounting, and budgeting. I imagine there are CPA’s who might disagree but in my mind there’s not much poetry in accounting. (However I do happen to think there can be poetry in computer programming 🙂

Today I got the broilers scheduled for butchering on June 8th. I feel a bit sad when I think that their deaths have been arranged before they’ve even hatched. But while they’re with us they will experience the happiest, most chickeny life we can manage to give them.

My main goal with the chickens this year is to decrease death loss in the broilers. I’m trying to get it down to 10% or less. Last year was the first year we raised chickens. We raised 2 batches of one hundred broilers, and will do so again this year. Last year’s death loss was 20% on the first batch, mostly in the brooder phase. I made some adjustments to the feed and feeding schedule and lost zero in the brooder phase with the second batch. Most of the death loss in that batch came in a single day, which we will forevermore refer to as Black Tuesday.

I’ve been significantly more relaxed with the 25 chicks we received Monday than I was with any of the chicks last year. But the pullets and roosters are just for fun. The broilers are the money birds, so we’ll see if I revert to obsessively monitoring their every waking hour after they arrive on Thursday.

Happy and Blue 2’s comment about the chicks being airmailed reminded me of a story. The Amish around here don’t bother to meet the mail truck in town to pick up their chicks. My dad is a rural mail carrier. He carries the chirping box around the route in his car and delivers the chicks to the Amish at their homes with the rest of their mail. They take them right in the house and put them by the stove to warm up. I wonder how long they keep them in the house.

I did receive a bit of poetry yesterday in the mail. (Delivered by my dad, of course!) Poetry in a soap, via Natural Impulse. Yummy, yummy! Not only is Karen a talented soapmaker, she is also a gifted writer and photographer. Her blog is my daily dose of poetry.