Our Meat Chickens
In 2009 we started raising Cornish Cross meat chickens for our customers. These are a fast growing (5-6 weeks to finish) birds that often grow so fast and eat so much they can die of heart failure. Moving the pens 2 to 3 times a day was a challenge as well as very labor intensive. Cornish Cross is a genetically modified breed raised by Perdue and other commercial farms because they grow so fast. They do not act like a chicken normally should. They just eat and poop and then sit down after only 8 or 10 steps.
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In 2011 we switched to Freedom Ranger Chickens. This breeding stock is imported from the regions of Burgundy and Brittany (France). The genetic stock is derived from the American and European old heritage breed of chicken and was developed in the early 1960’s to meet the highest standards of the French Label Rouge Free Range program. Using this breed we are able to open up the portable housing and just let them range and roam free inside portable netting. They act just like a chicken is supposed to act; picking at grass, searching for bugs and roaming free! This breed takes longer to finish, doubling the time to 12-14 weeks, but the labor is cut considerably. Now we move the housing once a day so they have a clean place to sleep. Using our portable feed stations and a netted area of 165 feet by 100 feet the time spent is minimal. We only raise meat chickens during the warm weather. Since we want them to spend most of their life outdoors we start them out every year in late April and raise batches of them through October. They spend the first few weeks of their life, until they grow feathers, in a brood house. Then they are moved out to pasture.
When grain is fed to the chickens it is from a local feed mill owned by Mennonites. The grains are grown locally and the feed mix is made to adjust to the needs of the birds throughout the season. After the chickens are finished the birds are processed by our butcher and then sold whole and frozen!
No antibiotics or growth hormones are given to any of our animals!
When grain is fed to the chickens it is from a local feed mill owned by Mennonites. The grains are grown locally and the feed mix is made to adjust to the needs of the birds throughout the season. After the chickens are finished the birds are processed by our butcher and then sold whole and frozen!
No antibiotics or growth hormones are given to any of our animals!
