Our latest batch of cornish cross chickens are preparing for their trip to "freezer camp" in just a few days. "Freezer Camp" is a gentler way to say that they will be sent to the processor and then sold to people for their dinner tables. The time is always bittersweet, on the one hand it's nice to not have to fill the chickens' feed and water twice a day and move their mobile chicken tractor onto new ground, but on the other hand it means that all of the care that was given to them will soon be over in a matter of seconds as they meet a swift end. It feels like a sacrifice and I have to say that I hope that feeling never ends because it is a checks and balance to be sure that the top most care is always given to these birds who grow so quickly that they are ready to be harvested at 6 weeks or so.
The birds are brought to the processor early in the morning and by the late afternoon, they are packaged in cryo freezer bags, packed in ice and brought back home to await where their next resting place will be. It's truly something that has always amazed me - how something can turn from living being to food so quickly.
The hope is that all of these birds sell and sell well and the proceeds will go back into the farm to help grow the other operations we're working on, like bees.
