8 Weeks to Grow Out a Chicken
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Did you know there is a season for chicken? At least, when you raise them the way we do there is.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”16731″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][vc_column_text] 1-Week Old Peeps like to keep nice and toasty– about 80 degrees. They flock near the heat lamps in the early spring to stay warm. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]
First, let’s talk about the life of most commercial poultry: quick, confined, and indoors.
Commercially-grown chickens have only about 1 sq. foot of space inside a large tin-sided building, a “Chicken Barn,” that has vents and fans to blow fresh air in and stale air out. The birds may be “cage free” or even “free range,” which means they have access to some outdoor space even if they never use it, but they definitely live inside. If they’re never taught or encouraged to go outside, they probably won’t. Another reality of life for the commercial broiler chicken (a chicken harvested for meat as opposed to a laying hen) is that life is short: they are carefully managed to grow rapidly enough that they can be harvested (sent to the slaughter facility) at 4 to 5 weeks of age. The farmer then quickly cleans his barn before new chicks arrive and the aggressive cycle starts again. The poultry company owns the chicks, provides the feed, and guarantees the sale. The farmer is paid around $0.40 per bird for his work and attempts to turn 100,000 birds per batch. That’s a lot of chicken in tight quarters.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”16732″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][vc_column_text] These Peeps are now 2 weeks old, and they are starting to stretch their legs and get a little curious about the camera. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]
Our farmers take a different approach to raising chickens, and it’s a lot slower.
It takes us on average 8 weeks to finish out a broiler chicken. Why so much longer? It boils down to different genetics and lifestyle, and that we value the health and flavor of the chicken over the quantity, scale and cost.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”16734″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][vc_column_text] New Chicken Tractor Structures– these chicken “mobile homes” will provide shelter for the chicks as they roam and forage. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]
Our birds live outside their entire lives in large mobile pens called Chicken Tractors.
The Chicken Tractor is essentially a mobile shelter without a floor. Each allows about 35 chickens (5.6 sq ft per bird) access to fresh grass, seeds and bugs in the soil. It is moved daily to provide fresh grass to the birds and promote healthy pastures (for the beef later).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”16729″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][vc_column_text] These 3-week old peeps have moved into their new tractor-home, which is insulated with plastic to keep them warm as they hunt for food. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]
Our birds receive only certified non-GMO feed and never any hormones or antibiotics.
Chickens, turkeys, and other domesticated fowl are considered “non-ruminant,” which means they have a relatively simple stomach and cannot live entirely off of grass. In addition to the forage they find at pasture, they must receive some small grains in their diet. All of these grains are non-GMO and locally grown. (As a comparison point, according to the May 2016 issue of Consumer Reports, “A Safer Food Future Now” by Eric Schlosser, more than three quarters of all antibiotics sold in this country are fed to livestock at conventional and factory farms to “prevent disease but also promote growth.”) Because our chickens do live entirely outside all the time, there is a season for chicken. We start our first chicks on pasture in early April, just in time for harvest for the first week of our Summer Season (early June). In the fall when the weather turns cold, the birds spend more energy staying warm and we see a difference in quality. As a result, we harvest the last of our broilers in early November to store away for our winter program. We do keep laying hens year-round (more on them in another article!)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”15354″ alignment=”center” animation=”Fade In” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][vc_column_text] As the chickens grow and need more pasture, they are moved up and down the fields daily for fresh pickings. This “rotation” style of animal husbandry is an essential part of sustainable farming– the chickens follow the cows around the farm (picking at what they, ahem, leave behind), and then now that the soil is aerated and fertilized, it’s left alone for enough time for new grasses to grow. These grasses then feed the next round of cows, and it just keeps on going and growing. Healthy soil, healthy animals, healthy us. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]