"A good life....one bad day." Funny, harsh, to the point, how ever you feel about the above statement. It is a true proud statement I refer to on my farm.
I strive for my livestock to live a quality life. All production livestock has a propose - MEAT. Those cute chicks could start here on my farm or in an overcrowded, ammonia filled barn with 20,000 other cute chicks. They never see the sun. They never see a blade grass. Their "end' is the same as the "end' for chickens on my farm. But I am proud to say that the 6-8 week life of a meat chicken here on Black Willow Pond Farm was indeed a good life.
Yes my chickens cost more then the big box stores. I can't compete with 99 cents per pound chicken. And that's ok, I don't try.
I won't feed the world with my small farm. I will however support a local mill for my grain and a local young, processor. Local small stores and amazing local restaurants will feature my chickens on their menus. I will participate in my community farmer's markets and festivals. My chickens will  feed numerous families who care about their food and the welfare of the livestock used for meat.  The box stores can't compete with that!
I also guarantee they taste amazing because they actually have taste! Ever wonder why the statement - "it tastes like chicken!" is so overused? Well think about it, because commercial chicken has no taste!
So as always a big thank you to my great customers!  Enjoy great tasting chicken, raised with care and appreciation and yes the even cuddles of two small boys!

Well hello! See I knew keeping up with this diary would be a challenge! Taking the pictures is easy but writting the blog - well that requires sitting! So I'll combine the past couple of weeks so you can continue to see how fast these Cornish-Rock Chickens grow!
The picture above is the chicks at 4 weeks old a weighing in at a good 3 lbs or so. Below is the chicks making their move outside last week in the beautiful 70 degree weather onto green grasses.
You can almost hear them singing the theme song to
"The Jeffersons" - "Movin' on ....out!"
as we packed up and headed to the pasture!
My goal is to have meat chicks out to pasture by 4 weeks. The first group of the growing season is usually the lastest to make the move due to wet fields, fridged temperatures or yes even snow!
While this group was a week late getting outside the weather they have had as been great!