"It's heaby, Mama!" Yes, it is Laura. The chickens Brian took to Arthur, Illinois last week for processing averaged over 5 pounds and they are beautiful. A few even topped out over 6 lbs and we promptly roasted one for supper. Brian will make 6 trips to process the broilers this season. Many of you probably don't realize but Arthur, Illinois is the only federally inspected poultry processing facility in the state of Illinois. With truck and livestock trailer, it is over 3 hours for Brian to haul the broilers for processing. He is supposed to arrive by 7 a.m. so it makes for an early morning. And a long day. Since it is so far to drive, Brian sticks around until the chickens are processed, packs them in ice and drives them home arriving back at the house around 5 p.m. We have no other alternative if we want to take the chickens off the farm and sell them. There is some talk about a new facility here in north central Illinois but we don't expect anything real soon.
The most interesting part about the trip is the time spent waiting for the birds to be processed. Sometimes the wait is 5 or 6 hours. And with Arthur being in the heart of Amish country, there is always a story to tell when Brian arrives home. Lucy has been quite lucky when she tags along. On one occasion, a few young Amish kids were hitching up a 4 wheel open cart to a pony and one of them asked her if she might like to go for a ride. I can only imagine Lucy's eyes big as saucers and the biggest smile. As if that wasn't good enough, the kids unhitched the cart, put a saddle on the pony and took Lucy for a pony ride. As if that wasn't good enough, Lucy has also had the priviledge of riding in a real Amish buggy. While Brian was loading up the processed chickens, Lucy stood watching an Amish woman hitching up a horse to a buggy. Brian apparently asked the woman if she minded Lucy watching while he went about his work. It was no problem and then before he knew it, there goes the Amish woman and Lucy driving by in the buggy! The Amish have a reputation of being very private so these experiences are unusual and very special.
Lucy Unloads The Processed Broilers
