About our Pastured Chicken
Broiler Chickens
We raise the beloved Cornish-Cross meat chicken. These birds grow remarkably fast and are tailor-made for your oven, grill, frying pan, smoker, or dinner plate. With large portion sizes of breast and thigh meat these birds are perfect for all your chicken recipes. The meat from our pastured chicken is some of the juiciest, tender, and nutrient dense meat you can buy. We should know because we fill our freezers with them as well!
It all starts by ordering day-old chicks from several Midwest hatcheries. We use Murray McMurray Hatchery, Schlecht Hatchery, Cackle Hatchery, and Mount Healthy Hatchery depending on chick availability and shipping dates.
After receiving the chicks they spend the next several weeks in the brooder where they develop all their feathers and acclimate to their new home. Around 3-4 weeks of age the birds are moved from the brooder out to the pasture where they will live until they are harvested around 8 weeks of age.
Free-Range Pastured Eggs
Although our free-range pastured eggs are not a large potion of our farm, we do still offer eggs as an option for your family. We have chosen several different varieties for our laying flock which consists of the Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock, and Black Austraolorp breeds. All our hens are dual purpose heritage breeds of chickens commonly used on the quintessential small homestead farms of the past.
Eggs from our pastured hens
The hens all lay large brown eggs and have the dark orange yolks you come to expect from your farm-fresh eggs. Combined with our holistic, multi-species pasture management system and you get what we think is the most nutrient dense egg your money can buy. In fact, a study conducted by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences found that “Compared to eggs of commercial hens, eggs from pastured hens eggs had twice as much vitamin E and long-chain omega-3 fats, more than double the total omega-3 fatty acids, and less than half the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.”
Feed
While in the brooder the chicks are fed a strict grain feed ration designed specifically for their early development. This high protein grain ration is entirely GMO-free and contains corn, soybeans, oats, alfalfa, and a poultry nutribalancer vitamin.
Once the birds are moved out to pasture they are still offered a free-choice GMO-free grain ration but also have access to all the insects, grass, clover, and all sunshine they want. The birds can scratch and peck as they were designed to do all within the safe confines of their mobile shelter.
Pasture Management
In order to take advantage of the amazing sanitizing and fertilizing role the chickens play on our farm we rotate them to new grass daily. They are able to scratch and sanitize the pastures after the cows and sheep have grazed. The chickens help distribute manure from the ruminants and also leave behind their own nitrogen-rich fertilizer. The process repeats daily until harvest day. The end result is chicken that is higher in iron, Omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamin E, Vitamin D, and a healthier Omega 6: Omega 3 ratio.
How and Where to Buy
Are you ready to try? You can purchase our pastured chicken and free-range pastured eggs at the on-farm store. The pastured chicken is available by the cut or as a whole bird carcass (dressed and eviscerated). The eggs are available by the dozen and are ungraded and unsized. We also offer our customers the opportunity to purchase chickens in bulk via pre-order before every new group of chicks are ordered.
Other Products
Grass-fed and Grass-finished Lamb
