Healthy chickens are omnivores. They eat a lot of bugs and grubs and nibble at pasture plants. “Vegetarian fed” chickens which aren’t able to forage on their own are unnatural and unhealthy. Our chickens are not vegetarians. In fact, our flocks are a key component in our no-pesticide pest-control program.

All of our meat chickens range freely on the pasture all day after they are old enough to spend the night outdoors. They have safe, secure mobile coops to sleep in at night to protect them from predators. If you want the coop plans, send a few bucks to this guy. For predator protection in our area we substitute 1/2 inch hardware cloth for all of the chicken wire, plus some added reinforcement.

In the morning we open the coops and feed the chickens outside so that they all go out of the coops. They have access to the coops for safety but they almost always choose to stay out and forage much of the day except to get out of the rain or into the shade. Some corporate chicken farms advertise “free range” chickens that really just have limited “access” to a tiny strip of dirt. We move our mobile coops regularly so the chickens always have new forage.

After a while the green grass growing in the wake of the chickens each year is so lush and dense, it’s amazing. In addition to pasture forage, we provide the chickens a locally-made, non-GMO chicken feed.

Click to find out how to pre-order our meat chickens at a discount.

Monthly meat CSA subscribers receive free range, pasture-raised chickens in their shares during the summer and fall. Click here to find out about our CSA.

We also raise Pekin meat ducks, the same way we raise our chickens.

To order duck, click here.

Besides our meat birds, we keep a free-ranging layer flock year round including a mix of heritage and modern breeds. While we do sell eggs, our layers are for pest control and we are not “in the egg business”.

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