EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of stories to focus on homesteading being done by local residents in Highlands County. Learn how several people have found a simple, self-sufficient, off-grid style of living.

With no experience in farming or raising animals, Adam and Jane Benham decided to lease some land a year ago to start their homestead called City Chicks Farming in Avon Park.

The Benhams, who actually live in the Sebring Hills residential area with their three girls and another on the way, were feeling uncertain about food shortages and the lack of locally sourced food but had no space to start a farm. After searching around the area, they located a local landowner willing to lease part of 15 acres near the Avon Park Bombing Range area for them to raise animals. 

Jane Benham, originally from Jersey City, N.J., admitted that she is a city girl – hence the name City Chicks Farming. She admitted that she is a “first generation farmer” with no one in her family having knowledge or experience in the field. She also runs a cleaning business and her husband, who grew up on his grandfather’s farm, is a firefighter with the City of Sebring Fire Department.

“I learned everything on YouTube university,” Jane Benham chuckled. 

They originally wanted a farm to raise their own food for their family and make memories with their children – Sophia Mercato, 9, Jolene Benham, 6, and Cypress Benham, 4.  

The Benhams have a limited egg and poultry license through the Florida Department of Agriculture. They can sell eggs and they are able to butcher chickens and sell them whole. “Next season, we hope to sell individual cuts,” Jane Benham said. The closest poultry processing plant is in the Tampa area, according to the Benhams.

Their fresh poultry is 100% all natural, locally raised, farm fresh, no antibiotics and no added hormones. 

They currently slaughter – or harvest as they like to call it – approximately 200 chickens per month but hope to get to 300 soon. They have been butchering for two months. They also have 20 laying hens, including two roosters, that generate about seven to eight dozen eggs a week.

Butchering process

The night before, withhold feed from the birds to make sure they have an empty crop – a small pocket at the bottom of a hen’s neck that stores food after it is swallowed. On butchering day, catch the chicken and make a quick cut to the jugular to completely drain all the blood. Once the bird stops moving, hold the chicken by its feet and dip it into scalding water that is 150-160 degrees for three to four minutes and then begin plucking the feathers.

The Benhams use a mechanical chicken plucker reaching water temperature between 130-180 degrees and the chicken is scalded between 30 seconds to two minutes. Adam Benham demonstrated how his chicken plucker works and explained that the chicken’s body repeatedly comes into contact with the machine’s rubber like fingers allowing it to pluck the animal completely.

“Sometimes I have to use tweezers to get all of the tiny pin feathers out,” Jane Benham said.

Once the feathers are removed, the Benhams start to clean and gut the chicken. Their daughter Jolene equally participates in this process and finds it very educational. 

“I teach her (Jolene) about the anatomy of the chicken,” Jane Benham said. Their other two daughters are not as interested in the harvesting part of farming but do help in caring for the animals.

After the bird is finished, the Benhams place it in a cooler filled with ice to bring the body temperature down to prevent the spread of bacteria.

Most farmers recommend not eating the chicken immediately after butchering but instead let it rest in the refrigerator for a day to allow rigor mortis to fade away. If the chicken is cooked during this time, it will be extremely tough to eat.

Before the chickens are placed in the freezer, Adam Benham takes each bird and places it in a poultry shrink wrap bag. He submerses it in hot water at 180 degrees so the bag will seal around the chicken. They then place their label on the bird and freeze. Since the Benhams have a “Producer/Grower Exemption” they list “Exempted – P.L. 90-492” or commonly referred to as the Poultry Products Inspection Act on their labels which is the public law followed by small poultry producers who raise, slaughter and process their poultry on their farms and sell the poultry directly to customers at the farms or at farmer’s markets. They do have regular inspections.

The butchering process takes about one hour to do 10 birds. “We offer chickens from farm to table,” Jane Benham said.

More than chickens

In addition to broilers and laying hens, the Benhams raise seven Berkshire pigs, four ducks, two heifers and one bull, 12 Nigerian Dwarf goats and just recently added 19 Bourbon Red turkeys to their farm.   

They raise Berkshire pigs to sell pork shares. Their shares are $8.60 per pound hanging weight. To purchase a share, a $100 non refundable deposit is required that will be credited in the end. This fee covers the cost of raising the animal. For more details, contact them at City Chicks Farming on Facebook. The average wait time is eight to nine months to harvest. For the larger animals, the Benhams use a licensed slaughter house.

“It does take longer to get a return back on the larger animals,” Jane Benham said. “I like doing chickens. The chickens have an eight-week turn around time.”

Spreading the word

After posting about their farm on social media, the public wanted to learn more about City Chicks Farming. Local residents wanted to visit the farm and purchase products. The Benhams decided to start producing food not only for their family but for others in the community. They sell chickens and other farm-raised products such as homemade flavored butters at the Highlands Farmers Market in Avon Park.

They plan to educate others on the butchering process starting in July by offering a step-by-step class. Their butchering equipment is completely portable and they can even bring the class to another location. The Benhams will demonstrate how to harvest, butcher and package a chicken to enjoy on the dinner table. 

Source: midfloridanewspapers.com