https://www.facebook.com/460406107145472/

Urban Hatch Homestead

Home
United States
Fort Dodge, IA
Urban Hatch Homestead

Homesteading in the concrete jungle 🐔🌇 • Living sustainably and sharing our self-sufficient journey • Come along for the ride! 🏡🤎

05/19/2025

Evening roost check-in at Urban Hatch Homestead! Chickens instinctively perch high for safety—but here, it’s mostly about the pecking order. Up top: The Colonel & Grant Wood (Cemani roos), Sweet Pea the Barnevelder, Dolly the Polish, Raisin the Marans, and sapphire sisters Salsa & Olive. Sakura the Easter Egger’s posted up below, doing her own thing. Not pictured: our 3 older hens, who refuse to come in on time—they’re probably out back starting a coop dance party.

05/09/2025

Step aside, supermodels. Our chicks are redefining the runway and practicing their best struts, but who do YOU think is doing it best? Tell us below which glow up is your favorite (promise we won't tell them)!

05/08/2025

We did it.🍗

Our first-ever batch of meat birds went from day-old chicks to full-grown in just 7 weeks, and this week, we completed our first processing day—every single step, start to finish.

From 42 pounds of live weight, we put an incredible 30 pounds of homegrown chicken into our freezer. Our biggest rooster, lovingly nicknamed “Big Boy,” weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces—and had a personality to match. He’d started trying to crow and mount the other birds like he ran the place.

Before each one, we took a moment. Gave them a few seconds of pets or a gentle hug. We thanked them. These birds spent their days in the sun, waddling around, being part of our homestead flow. And I’ve learned something important—something I thought I understood, but didn’t.

I used to think raising livestock for meat meant some kind of emotional wall. But it’s not that simple. These birds weren’t just animals we housed and fed—they were part of our family rhythm. I’m not heartbroken, but I am deeply grateful. Grateful for their lives, for their presence, and for the nourishment they’re now providing.

It’s been a few days now, and the freezers are full. We’ve eaten our first meal from birds we raised ourselves, and it tasted like hard work, respect, and pride. This experience wasn’t easy, but it was real—and it changed how we think about meat, life, and this little homestead we’re building.

04/29/2025

I debated whether or not I should post this, but it's been a crazy evening, and maybe telling the story will help calm the chaos for me.

All afternoon, we had a few meat chickens who would not stay away from the supplemental heat for the young chicks that are transitioning outside, but we'd go out, drag them out to the waterer, and they'd get a drink and settle down in the shade.

Except this one. You might know where this is going. We got them all out, then went inside for supper. Went out with the leftovers after and found her freshly dead of apparent overheating.

We decided to process her, see if there were any unseen issues, and practice for the big processing days in a few weeks.

The silver lining is we made some mistakes, but ended up with a pretty good finished product- weighing in at a whopping 3 pounds 11 ounces processed and before added water weight from the ice bath. Google says the average grocery store bird is 3-4 pounds, and that would be twice this bird's age- she was in the later processing group and still had four weeks to go.

After checking her blood, organs, crop, etc...she just overheated because she is genetically designed to eat, and nothing else. It's relatively normal for a meat bird to not have the survival instincts to leave the hot box out the giant door apparently. I won't use this post to get on my soapbox about the ethics of Cornish cross...but that shouldn't be normal animal behavior.

Anyway. Today was productive, a learning experience, a bonding experience. I'm proud of us. Today, despite the loss, was a good day. ❤️🐔🍗💪🏼

04/25/2025

Can you believe what a difference just four weeks makes? I even tried to get a similar pose—but there’s no way they fit in one hand anymore!

Our meat birds are now 5 weeks old, and their growth has blown us away. They're already weighing in at 3–4 pounds each, with the biggest boys just ounces shy of grocery store size.

Because of this rapid growth, we’re planning to split processing into two stages: the males at 7 weeks, and the females at 9 weeks. This helps us avoid the common health problems that can show up in fast-growing birds like these—things like heart attacks and broken legs.

Raising Cornish Crosses has been such a valuable experience, even if one of the biggest lessons is that we probably won’t raise them again. They’re messy, surprisingly delicate, and they just aren’t built to explore or enjoy the world like a well-bred, sustainable chicken. These birds are genetically wired to eat—constantly. Some of them are already so heavy that they have to flap their wings just to walk faster. We’re doing everything we can to give them a great life: they’ve got plenty of room to roam and favorite hangout spots—but beyond waddling between those and their coop at night, that’s about it.

That said, we’re absolutely still planning to raise our own meat—if you’ve been following along, you might’ve seen that the roosters have arrived, and Greg of course! But more on that soon. For now, processing day is fast approaching, and we’re excited to close out this chapter and start planning what’s next.

04/20/2025

Happy Easter from our urban farm’s very own Easter bunny—Greg the Californian! 🐇🥳

This handsome buck has fathered twelve healthy litters in his previous home and is now living his best bachelor life while we search for the perfect lady friends to join him.

With the potential to provide over 200 pounds of meat a year, Greg represents just one of the many ways we’re learning to grow more self-sufficient—even in the heart of the city. It turns out, with some hard work and a little imagination, the possibilities are nearly endless.

We can’t wait to see where this new adventure takes us!

04/19/2025

I don’t usually post selfies—especially not on the homestead page—but today’s an exception.

This little guy is one of our two Ayam Cemani roosters, a breed I’ve had my eye on since the beginning. Known for their jet-black feathers, skin, combs, and even bones, they’re one of the rarest and most striking breeds in the world. In Indonesia, they’re often considered sacred.

He’s only about a month old, but already acting like a little guardian. We’ve got chicks in the brooder ranging from just a few days to a few weeks old, plus one same-age pullet, and he’s been sticking close to them—like he knows it’s his job to keep watch.

Here’s to raising rare breeds, future flock leaders, and crossing goals off the homestead list—one black beauty at a time.

04/10/2025

Raisin and Obi are partners in (very slow) crime 🐢🐥🤣

04/06/2025

We're outside! ☀️🐥

The Mcnuggets are growing so fast (as the Cornish cross breed does), and today was a great sunny day to get outside!

This is the goal. This is the why, right here. Yes, in just a few weeks, these little guys will be butchered. They live incredibly short lives, and we decided when we chose to do meat birds that we wanted to give them a really good 9 weeks. So we played today, and cuddled, and sunbathed. They foraged. They took dust baths. They stretched out in the sun and fell asleep in a big pile of babies.

There's a sort of separation that comes with livestock like this- you can't get attached, people always say. And it's true, but that doesn't mean we should shove them in battery cages and hide them from the outside world the way factory farms do, either.

Just because they have to die doesn't mean they shouldn't live.

I remind myself daily (usually many times), that honoring a life that will be given for me and my family is not "getting too attached", it's exactly the way it's meant to be.

(Ps, scroll to the end for a non-chicken surprise 🐢)

Address

Fort Dodge, IA
50501

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Urban Hatch Homestead posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.