Fresh Organic Chicken $2.09/lb

Well, today was the end of the line for the meat chickens. We loaded them up and took them to a local poultry processing place at 7 a.m. I have to say, I was surprised at the line of pickup trucks in front of us carrying crates of live birds. The edge of the driveway also was lined with bird-filled cages, the "early birds" so to speak. The "chicken ranch," as the sign proclaims on the front of the processing building, is run by a Mennonite family. I noticed on the sign-in sheet, some of the folks ahead of me drove around 45 minutes to bring their birds to this farm. The man who helped Big D unload our birds said they can process up to 450 birds a day.

We didn't actually weight the birds when we got them back, but Big D said the average weight of each whole bird was a conservative five pounds. Figuring the original cost of the chicks, the feed, the bedding, and the processing, we paid $2.09/lb for our organic home-raised chicken. 

Not the prettiest picture, I know. But will taste great on the dinner table - in a few weeks, after packaging them, Big D doesn't want chicken for a while!