We go through approximately 1,000 lbs of chick grower every 10 days. The broilers and the baby layers get chick grower. The adult layers get “layer feed”. It’s slightly different and provides the ingredients to help in egg laying. Kelly and I left around 730 this morning, unloaded the 1k lb bag into our feed barrels at the farm, and made it home by 1130. CB (the new farmhand) took care of the chores.

Kelly did quite a bit of research looking for the right chicken feed. We don’t just buy a bag from the farm store. For some folks that might be fitting. For us, we’re growing these birds for consumption, be it eggs or broilers. We don’t want just anything going in their belly. Essentially, when we eat them, we eat what they eat. That’s why we are very hesitant to give any medication and absolutely no hormones.

Recently, we ran a basic Facebook post looking for another farmhand, someone to help with the morning chores when we aren’t able. Sometimes I just need a break and it helps to have good help. Help you can trust will care for the livestock the way we do. I won’t use their names, but CB is very new to our style of farming. We trained for 3 days and then gave her the reins to handle it on her own. She did fantastically. I’m very encouraged.

A break is only as good as the farmhand.