The Beginning

I guess it's fitting to begin at the beginning, so here goes. When my husband and I began to consider the idea of becoming  contract broiler growers, the business where I had worked for almost 10 years was struggling and cutting workforce and my position was on the line.

The farm we found had two poultry houses on it, the previous owners had gone through an ugly divorce and in the process had badly neglected the farm. The amount they were asking for the farm was very reasonable as they just wanted it off their hands, however the updates the the chicken houses that the poultry company required added quite a bit to the cost. Still when it was all said and done, we borrowed less than it would have cost to build new houses, so we felt like we were in pretty good shape.

We decided that since my job was probably going away, that I would stay home and take care of the chicken houses and we thought since I wouldn't have job related expense such as gas, clothing, etc. that the income from the chickens would provide a replacement for my previous income.

We. couldn't. have. been. more. wrong.