Jamie and Nick, along with their three children, have around 50 chickens, including roosters and hens. They also have around 10 guinea fowls, which began as fair-showing birds that Jamie laughingly said they are “stuck with” have become permanent residents of the farm.

All three of their children participate in the Fulton County 4-H Poultry Club, which Jamie volunteers to help lead.

“The kids have about a dozen cages of show chickens that they show at the fair and a couple of open shows throughout the year,” she said.

The meat birds take around 10 weeks to mature before they are ready to butcher.

“It’s definitely not a money-saving venture, because we spend a lot on feed,” said Jamie. “But I know where my meat came from and that it’s fresh.”

During the peak months, the family collects around 30 eggs a day.

“It’s a lot,” Taylor said. “I’ll sell the eggs. There are times I’m completely overrun with eggs. But once it gets colder, it slows down a bit. Chickens just naturally have a cycle that when it gets colder they don’t lay as much. Their cycle is based off of the sun, so the less sunlight there is, the less they’re going to lay.

“When my oldest was about 3 or 4, we decided to do chickens,” she said. “We started with egg-laying chickens, got a bunch of them and butchered some. We did that for two or three years before we figured out about Cornish cross, which is the breed of meat bird, and how much easier and faster that was to do. With a normal chicken, it takes around 5-6 months before it will do anything. With the Cornish cross, you have them for about 10 weeks and then you’re done. It is absolutely insane how quickly they grow.”

Taylor said the hardest part of raising chickens is that they hide their illnesses well. By the time you realize they are sick, they are really sick.

“That’s one thing I’ve learned, you have to keep an eye on them really closely,” Taylor said. “As soon as you realize something is wrong, you have to try to treat it yourself. You can’t take them to the vet around here. Nobody treats chickens. It’s all looking it up online and asking Facebook groups for advice and figure it out yourself, or the chicken passes.”

The Taylor children are: Jessica, 16; Kirsten, 13; and Hunter, 9; all attend Caston Schools. Each has an active role in the chores, including the butchering, cleaning and processing of the meat birds.

“We never hid (the butchering) from them,” said Jamie. “They like them when they’re little because they’re cute, but then they hit this ‘ugly teenager’ stage, when nobody likes them. It helps gets rid of the attachment. We’ve always told them. We never hid it from them.”

Taylor recalled that after one butchering session, Kirsten went to preschool the following Monday and told her classmates that she watched the heads get cut off the chickens. The teacher contacted Taylor to ask if she really let the children see that happen.

“Well, yeah,” was Taylor’s reply. “They need to see where their food comes from. As long as my kids aren’t passing out from it, I’m fine with letting them see the process. They help. They don’t do any of the killing, but they help with the gutting and cleaning. They are part of the process.”