Thanks, Old Girls.

All good lives come to an end, and I like to think that all my animals have good lives here on the Farmlette.  The ladies in the Little Coop have had four glorious years, filled with grass, and bugs, and plenty of delicious left-overs from the kitchen.  Today, they move along to make space for some new girls to take over laying duties. 

That is code speak for: Today is Harvest Day.

I know, some of you are shuddering out there to read this.  How can she eat them?, you wonder.  Well, the fact is, for all its diminutive size, this is a working farm of sorts.  The chickens, while I love them and wouldn't consider not having them around, are livestock--not pets.  I knew when I started raising chickens and keeping layers that eventually, they'd have to be culled and replaced with new recruits.  Once a chicken reaches a certain age (about 3 or 4 years old), they stop laying.  And a hen that doesn't lay is a hen that isn't really helping much with the productivity of my very small (and therefore necessarily very intensively managed) operation.

My job is to make sure that the Ladies lead healthy, happy lives until the end, and that the end (when it comes) it done humanely and safely and with as little stress as possible.  If I had the space, I would process them here, but as it is, I have a wonderful facility run by good folks just a few miles up the road.  They do a good job, and I appreciate the respect that they show the chickens in the harvesting process.  It isn't an easy thing to do, raising animals from chicks through adulthood and eventually ushering in their death, but it is a good, complete cycle.  It isn't a way of life for everyone, but for me, it works with my philosophy on being intimately connected with my food and being as hands-on as possible in all aspects of life on the Farmlette.

I'll miss their quirky personalities, to be sure, but I will love the fantastic chicken and dumplings that will result from their demise.