Hi Audrey, I'd have posted sooner but we had the loveliest weather today (above freezing, sunny and NO WIND) so I've been outdoors a fair bit, playing with my geese and giving Marilla (our cat) an airing. First my congrats on being ready to take the plunge. I was pretty sure you'd get there soon and I was right! Pat yourself on the back, first for undertaking it and second for being concerned to do it well. I have every confidence that you will do fine. A few questions... How many broilers do you have? Will you have any help or support for the killing and cleaning or are you entirely on your own? Do you know anyone with experience who can help you out with the first batch? And now a few comments on my own experiences. My friend and partner, Brian, who shares this venture with me, is actually the one who pulls the birds' necks to kill them. My hands are small and I am not confident I could do it efficiently. If you use the broomstick method, strength is less of an issue. Do you have Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow? There is a good chapter on different methods of "doing the deed." I quote: "If you have trouble snapping a chicken's neck by hand, as I do, use your feet. Grasp the bird by the shanks and lay its neck on the ground. Place a broom or rake handle across the neck. With one foot on either side of the neck, stand on the handle and firmly pull the bird upward. After the neck has snapped, hang the bird by its legs with a piece of twin, cut the neck on both sides and let it bleed." A killing cone is an excellent idea... it will keep the bird from flapping when the neck is cut. The bird is already dead but the reflex action of the nerves can be very unsettling, especially at first. The cone will prevent this. Cut the neck on both sides just behind the head... the more it bleeds the better. When I was in France, the year before I started with chickens, my sister and I stayed overnight with a good friend of hers who has a "ferme auberge" (upscale guest-house with supporting farm) in a mini-chateau. She routinely culls hens for the table... rabbits too. One was needed for the kitchen that day, so she allowed us to be present at the killing, since I wanted to determine if I would have the stomach for it BEFORE I got chickens. The proprietor caught a hen, took it into the processing shed and put it in the cone. She applied an electric current to the cone to stun the bird - it went instantly limp - and then cut the bird's throat. No struggling or sign of distress... and the whole thing over in less than half a minute. This would be my preferred method if I had very many birds to process. All we have are the year's cockerels and any old or nasty hens. Never more than a dozen birds for the season. So Brian pulls their necks and bleeds them out and I skin, eviscerate and cut up the carcasses. Personally, I don't like to do more than three in a morning, since I get a back-ache from too much standing. You might want to consider a "practice session" where you do only two or three. Nothing worse than having a dozen birds dead and not enough energy to get them cleaned. You will find, of course, that as you get accustomed to the job you will be able to do more, in less time; but there is a learning curve. If you want details of how I skin and eviscerate, please let me know. This particular post is already too long... but I hope some of it, at least, is helpful.

Thawk, You have radishes and beets up already? That is awesome. When did you plant them? Maude, We have 5 big gardens (not enough LOL) so hand spading is out of the question. Besides hubby dearly loves getting out there with his tractor and plow/disk. Actually had an extension agent tell us that we wouldn't have much trouble with - oh, what is the name of that stuff tomatoes got so bad last year, wilt?, - staying in the ground because we fall plow. There is something to it, as he was also surprised that we could raise canteloupe. Good rotation practices and fall plowing must be the keys. You are so right about the hard pan. Brother in law had a farmer come in and chisel-plow his garden spot. We don't seem to have much trouble, rarely ever water anything either. Need to get to Chamness in Eddyville and get some more of their inexpensive compost. Black Gold :) Do you have a heat source in your greenhouse? Hubby is in the process of building one, 6'x8'. And please tell me more about growing sweet potatoes...I have developed a taste for them, but have never grown them. Do they get planted in early spring too? SOS

It was warm and pleasant here today, but did not need the AC. Tonight I notice there is a tornado watch for much of Arkansas, Missouri and west Tennessee. That's what happens when it is unseasonably warm here. I just found myself a new screen saver from Birds and Blooms.... a beautiful huge snow scene. That's how I enjoy snow best! Rose

You're so right about the fix making things much worse :( The raised area near the fireplace is actually new wood and that's why we are so disappointed. He "fixed" it and it doesn't look as bad now but it doesn't look flush still. The fireplace is in the living room area in which he has fixed 2 things, the wood near the fireplace and sanding the step which was not sanded properly earlier because it was very rough to touch. I'm not sure how he kept the colors the same but he added another coat all over the living room. Now onto the bad part, the living room now has very bad creaking sound that wasn't there before. I'm not sure whether this is caused by his fix or is it due to the wood not acclimatized properly. He started installation 2 days after wood delivery and he managed to be almost done with the living room before we could stop him. He claimed that it doesn't matter much since it's summer and the wood came from a warehouse nearby that kept their woods off the floor. The creaking sound almost sound like paper rustling and we're pretty sure it wasn't there earlier. Coupled with the raised wood near fireplace that wasn't raised at installation, I'm getting very worried that it's acclimatization issues. He's also "fixed" a few things we brought up but we did not agree to those fixes before he did it :( He changed the wood in the few areas where we pointed out holes or broken wood and now I have a few spots that are shinier. He said he would come back later to add another coat on top all over but I don't know whether we could handle that since we have already moved in. He's also "fixed" the kitchen area with another coat on top. He said we have a small water damage under the small undercounter fridge so we removed the fridge and he refinished that area but without first changing out the damaged wood. So now my water damage is still there and my kitchen floor is shinier than everywhere else. In addition to swirl marks everywhere, the kitchen floor is also shiny! I asked him whether he's accidentally used semigloss instead of satin but he denied that and said everything will be consistent when he comes back to add another layer on the rest of the area. We are paying more than 30k and I feel that we're not getting the quality that we should be getting :( I feel that his "fixes" do not really fix the issues and he just want to do easy fix asap so he can get paid fast.