Chickens

 We are all about the chickens today.

We are crawling back into the chicken flock thing.

We have 9 green egg layer chicks arriving

on Tuesday morning through the mail.

Our preferred hatchery is done for the year.

So we had to order them from our 2nd

choice - My Pet Chicken.com.

This morning Rod and I went into Hays to

Home Depot to buy all the stuff to build the

new coop he designed for me.

HOLY SMOKES!

Prices for building material is ridiculous!

So....

a quick re-design and we bought that stuff

instead. It was still $100.00.

Sheesh.

And it will get the job done.

Meanwhile, you may have heard the rumor.........

we are considering partnering with a company

called Vital Farms.

You may have seen these in your store.

You may not have PURCHASED them, since they

are super fancy (and pricey...)

but they are a family owned business that started

as a single family farm.

And then they started expanding in their local area

to include other family farms.

They are now over 350 farms, all working together

to bring pasture raised eggs to the masses.

Next time you are at the grocery store, grab a carton

and take a peak at the end.

There you will see the NAME of the actual farm

where these particular eggs came from.

And you can actually go to that farm's website

and possibly watch a webcam of YOUR chickens.

(The eggs in our local WalMart in Hays this morning

came from 2 different farms, both in AZ.)

Anyhow.

Vital Farms is expanding into what they refer

to as the pasture belt.

Which just happens to include KANSAS!

So I took a chance and filled out an application online.

And this morning I got an email back that we were

exactly what they were looking for.

So the next step is to join with them and other

prospective farm partners at a tradeshow in

November in Springfield, Missouri where their

headquarters appear to be located.

(Or at least one of their hubs... I'm not sure...)

Anyhow.

I called and talked with Jim and he called and

talked with Sabrina and they are both onboard.

So he is going to fly out and join Kyle and I

at the tradeshow where we will be introduced to

their business model including what would be

needed to get us up and running.

We will also meet reps from their banks,

vendors, and builders.

One of the requirements was you needed to have

at least 50 acres of pasture land

and have "some" experience.

Based on the information I've read so far,

it looks like they use the same breed of chicken

that we used to have in our egg flock, back when

we had 120 chickens and processed 30 dozen eggs

each week. (Hand gathered and hand washed.... ugh.)

VF hatches the chicks and has a facility that raises

them to the age of 17 weeks, just about the time

they are ready to start laying, and then they ship

them to your farm, where they are required to stay

inside your chicken barn (yet to be built) for

what they call "nest training". 

Then after 2 weeks, they get turned out into their

pastures for foraging and enjoying life in the

sunshine of our mild climate.

They know (after their 2 week training) where

to go to lay their daily egg but also where to

come in to roost for the night, just like my flock did.

We gather the eggs daily and then they are shipped

to their facility in Springfield where they are

washed, sorted, graded, and packed for sale.

(Whew! I was worried we were going to be

in charge of washing them.... ugh. I'm sure they

have machines for that... but still...)

Anyhow.

Here's the kicker.

The flock is 20,000 chickens.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

A little larger than what we had.

But hey, if you can do 120 completely by hand,

20,000 all automated should be a breeze.

Right?

Anyhow.

We are excited to go to the meeting and get

all the particulars.

And having a proven successful business

with mentors and support (and a monthly

farm visit) makes me much less nervous than

starting from scratch and doing potatoes (or anything

else we were considering on our own...).

(Especially since our mentor/partner just lost his

lease on his Florida farm and at the same time

job a DREAM job offer to manage a potato

farm encompassing THOUSANDS of acres in

Oregon... he's already packed up and moved.)

He says they are still very interested in farming

in Kansas, but obviously needs to put it on the

back burner for awhile until he gets settled where 

he is. Which we totally understand, but we 

don't really WANT to be on the back burner...

Anyhow.

Getting financing should be much easier when you

have Vital Farms and their proved business model behind us.

And their banks have done this before, over 300 times.

And....

VERY conservative estimates show that we should

be able to support all 3 separate families very 

comfortably and pay everything off in a short

period of time and again be able to live a 

debt-free life style.

So.

That's the latest from around here.

Never a dull moment, eh?

We'll keep everybody posted as things develop.

But for now,

we are starting with a VERY conservative 9.

And I'm ok with that.