What is Pastured Chicken?

Pastured chickens are raised outside in fresh air and sunshine on fresh green growing pasture, in small groups, protected by large bottomless pens which are moved daily onto new ground.

 Also see our FAQ on Eggs from Free Range (Pastured) Hens

A bit of history...

Long ago...in the days before there were refrigerators and freezers, most poultry was raised on pasture.  Most farms raised a small backdoor or kitchen yard flock for eggs and meat.  Production followed nature in that the birds hatched their young in the spring, raised them through summer into autumn and the excess was harvested and stored for winter or sold as a cash crop.  Only a few young laying hens and a rooster or two were over wintered for the next year's cycle.  This system was efficient enough for the birds to perpetuate themselves and there was extra enough to encourage some use of limited resources for their husbandry; but not much! A chicken dinner was cause for celebration.

Around the turn of the last century things began to change.  Steam, electric and combustion engine power came to the farm.  Man power and horse power were replaced by machines and men moved to town. Birds began to be raised inside for year-round production, and men began to think in terms of "conquering" nature. On the farm, things got bigger and bigger.  By the end of the twentieth century one man could grow not hundreds, or thousands, but tens or hundreds of thousands of confined birds with very little labor. Economies of scale allowed large fortunes to be made. Chickens made it into bologna, fast food restaurants and gas stations.

But where there were advances, there were also setbacks. Things had gotten bigger and faster, but often not better. Living conditions inside crowded chicken houses became marginal because the waste matter from so many birds was also being concentrated. Ammonia caused respiratory problems and fecal dust coated everything. All sorts of things were added to feed to try to overcome problems caused by the unnatural conditions. Whole regions in which poultry operations surrounded huge vertically integrated chicken factories began to smell. Once beautiful byways became littered with feathers, and dangerously high levels of nutrients began to show up in streams and ground water. Farmers no longer controlled the birds they grew and lost touch with local markets. Meanwhile, consumers understandably lost track of those who grew their food, since on average, it had changed hands six times and traveled eighteen hundred miles getting to them. Along the way, chicken became a commodity that lost not only its identity but also its quality and flavor.
 

What is the difference between "free ranged" and "pastured poultry?

We pastured poultry growers do not wish to contribute to the local fox population, so our small flocks are moved daily in large bottomless shelters to graze fresh growing pasture. The shelters protect chickens from predators, while allowing all the advantages of exercise, small groupings, fresh air and green forage. Unlike "free range" our pastured birds are never allowed back onto their own droppings, thus naturally breaking parasitic cycles without the use of drugs or dangerous chemicals.  Some commercial "free range" chickens only "have access" to pasture, but because of crowding, may actually never get outside.
 

What are the  benefits of pastured poultry?

Small natural sized groupings, constant access to fresh, green growing pasture and fresh air and sunshine reduce stress on chickens allowing them to mature naturally. No residue from pesticides, drugs or other chemicals is possible since none are needed or ever used. All this, coupled with exercise and greens in the diet, substantially increase the nutritional value of pasture poultry, particularly in Omega-3 Fatty Acids and in Vitamin A, with a significant reduction of total fat content. Best of all, these chickens have excellent texture and taste. Those who say that anything without much flavor "tastes sort of like chicken" have forgotten what real chicken is like.
 

What is the difference between pastured chicken and factory birds?

Please see Values vs Costs!, which contrasts many of the values of pastured chickens against the costs of the mass produced factory fowl. It takes extra time, extra labor and extra feed to produce meat on pasture, but the resulting better nutrition and delicious flavor are well worth the cost.
 

Is Pastured Poultry "organic"?

The "organic" label is now a legal word game of government and big agri-business. USDA even allows old frozen birds to be called "fresh" so long as they haven't been frozen below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Likewise, birds raised in high stress factory houses, but fed politically correct rations, may use the "organic" moniker (upon payment of the proper fee).

By closely mimicking nature, by paying careful attention to the source and quality of our feed and by keeping small flocks moving outside on grass, we produce chicken far superior in flavor, texture and healthfulness to birds with fancier names.
 

Why is fresh pastured chicken only available seasonally?

We are blessed to have four good seasons. In the northern hemisphere the shortest days of the year occur late in December. During January, chickens raised outside react to lengthening daylight by starting up their reproductive cycles in anticipation of the season to come. By February they are laying fertile eggs which begin hatching in March, right in time for the first green grass of spring. From the living earth, grasshoppers, crickets, earthworms and myriad other organisms emerge to brighten the table of the hen and her chicks. The chickens scratch the sod and move on, leaving behind a rich natural fertilizer which is immediately taken up by growing vegetation. As springtime advances the chicks continue to grow with the earliest hatches reaching market weight just as summer arrives. In the warm months we have long days and weather amenable to harvesting and processing this natural abundance.  This is the time for us to be stocking up for winter!

If we were to try to buck nature by growing birds out of season we would be faced with all manner of (unnecessary) problems.  Water lines would freeze, our hands would chap and we would have to get up to tend chickens before dawn in the wind and snow. Artificial light and heat would have to be supplied and we would be forced to forgo the many natural advantages which make our birds so superior to the supermarket's factory chickens.
 

A bit of philosophy...

Our aim is to work with nature, not against it, to produce the healthiest and tastiest birds possible. We believe that we all profit from a close relationship with the land, with our neighbors (who are our friends and customers) and with future generations who should not be asked to clean up our mess. This runs one hundred eighty degrees counter to an industry whose only goal is to maximize profits.
 

How can I procure a supply of this home grown fresh pastured chicken?

Small family farm pastured poultry operations exist in many regions. Ask at your local farmer's market. If someone is selling local "free ranged" or "organic" eggs they may know of a supplier near you. You want to find a grower who is close enough for you to become friends. You usually save money by picking up your birds at the farm.  Expect to see how your food is raised and processed. Ask questions. Get involved. It's your food supply!

If you live near or regularly visit Harrisonburg or Rockingham County, Virginia, or nearby Shenandoah or Page County, then we may be your best source for fresh pastured chicken and we encourage you to try our birds. You are invited to contact us by telephone, by letter or by e-mail. Please reserve your chickens as early as possible. We sold out the last two seasons and expect to do so again.

Warning, work area beyond this point!

Ideas & things to do & to add to website:

Link to a page of instructions for cutting up a whole chicken (with photos)...(I may have to do this myself).
Link to favorite recipes pages
Recipes:
    Roast chicken (basic)
    Roast chicken (dutch oven)
    Roast chicken with stuffing (dressing)
        bread based stuffing
        rice based stuffing
    Brined chicken
    Roast chicken in broth
    Roast chicken (crockpot)
    Beer Can Chicken
    Fried chicken livers
    Dirty rice
    Creamy chicken livers (Where is that recipe? Foodwise maybe?)
    Chicken pot pie
    Chicken and dumplings
    Pollo adobo  How to spell chicken?  Ragtime Joe has a song about that!  Other chicken songs & tunes.
    Stewed chicken
    Chicken soup
    Chicken noodle soup
    Chicken stock
        Freezing stock as ice cubes
    Bean soup
    Spoon bread
    Lemon Sauce Pudding, aka Lemon Pudding Cake or Lemon Sponge Pudding

Background image or static menu to help tie pages together?
    At least better flow through site

Links to other sites

Plans and materials list for shelters

How to get started growing your own pastured chickens
    This in response to letters and phone calls from readers
    Find & incorporate e-mail Q & A

Why we do not ship interstate commerce
    Already selling total production fresh locally
    Don't need extra red tape due to federal requlations

Plasson drinkers (refurbished) for sale @ $10.00 (Sorry, No Longer Available)

Tub Feather Picker

cobbnotes

dhnotes

Contrasting photos similar to the Values vs Costs table?

Photo of commercial chicken feathers that litter and pollute roadway (done)

Photo of nasty mess along road near commercial processing plant (done)

Photo of dead birds fallen from commercial chicken transport truck (done)

Essay on Virginia's response to summer 2002 AI epizoodic
    Why? The AI was mild form. No good reason for depopulating flocks. It could have been allowed to run its course.
    I suspect this was an exercise in anti-terror (germ warefare) response.

Discussion of intensive monoculture and related disease problems

    Discuss agri-business' response to above
        more chemicals
        more drugs
        mechamical ventelation
        ground water depletion
            vs
                less concentration
                less crowding
                fresh air & sunshine

Discuss groundwater depletion by factory farmers who evaporatively cool over-crowded factory houses

Follow Virginia Tech Study on contamination of groundwater from Arsenic fed to commodity chickens

Discuss bioterrorism and foods as commodities vs foods from known and trusted sources

Photo of birds packed into transport trucks for the long haul to processing plant

Photo of the "keep out" signs at commercial poultry farms & processing plants

Photo of dust accumulation outside a commercial broiler house

Photo of pasture after chickens have fertilized it properly