Frequently asked questions
Pasture raised poultry means that the chickens spend most of their life outside on pasture. Our chickens are put into a brooder from day 2 of life up to week 3 of life. This allows them to get feathered out and big enough to walk around on pasture. Then they are moved from the brooder to outside floorless shelters. These shelters are moved every day to a fresh spot of pasture. There the chickens can forage for bugs and eat a diverse diet of different grasses. They also are given a high quality NON-GMO ration.
Conventional chicken is raised in a CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) These are the big chicken houses you see on different farms. These houses will have up to 20,000 or 30,000 chickens in them. Overcrowding and air quality are big issues. In these houses the chickens are not given access to the outdoors. They stay in the chicken house from day 2 of life until slaughter date. Even the "Free range" and "Organic" chickens are raised in these types of houses. With the exception that they give the chickens "access" to the outdoors. But this doesn't mean that every chicken got outside. It just means that they were given "access".
Pasture raised means the chickens really are outside, in moveable floorless shelters for most of their life. And those shelters are moved every day to a fresh spot of pasture. They are in smaller numbered groups. Where they get a diverse diet, fresh water, fresh air, natural sunlight, and room to move around for exercise.
Some farms say their chickens are pasture raised but in reality, they are using the CAFO (chicken house) model with "access" to the outdoors.
We really are raising chickens on pasture. We believe that animals are a gift from God. They should be loved and respected as such. They should be allowed to act with natural instincts. And they should be moved or migrated every day to fresh pasture. As they would naturally.
We raise our chickens humanely, with love and care. We respect the chickens for the gift that they are. We don't want our chickens to be a science experiment. We believe that a chicken should be allowed to be what God created them to be.
A Chicken!
Nothing more nothing less.