Why pasture raised?
When we discussed what was important to us as farmers, the biggest thing that we agreed on was animal welfare and quality of life. Pasture raised really resonated with us and aligned with the direction we wanted to head as farmers.
Pasture raised poultry are raised the way that poultry are naturally meant to be raised, foraging on pasture, pecking and scratching for their food, and eating a diet full of insects, worms, seeds, and grasses that not only provide them with the nutrients they need to be healthy, but make their meat healthier for human consumption as well.
Our birds
We raise primary Pekin ducks for meat and Cornish Cross chickens for meat. We have found that they get to market weight in the best time, and this allows them to spend a majority of their lives out on our amazing New England pastures. We have a few fun breeds for our chicken egg layers to allow for some color variation but primarily raise production red chickens for eggs.
Chicks and ducklings (both meat and new egg layers) arrive on the farm at just days old
* Brooders provides warmth while the babies grow their feathers. Until they have their feathering, they are unable to regulate their body temperature, which makes them susceptible to death if their temperature drops too low.
The new babies are placed in brooders*
along with fresh water, crumbled grain and fresh bedding. The babies will stay in the brooder spaces for between 3-5 weeks. When they leave for pasture depends on the daytime and nighttime temperature and how feathered the birds are. We want to ensure they are able to maintain their temperature properly without brooder lights
Meat Birds
Once feathered sufficiently, the meat birds are placed in crates and driven down the road approximately a mile to a certified organic pasture. Our farm works together with the different field's owner, so when their produce fields need a soil break, our birds move in. By moving their Salatin style pens daily, the birds have fresh access to new pasture land, are leaving behind nutrient rich manure and are aerating the soil with their scratching and foraging.
Between all of the birds we raise, the field we use for the meat birds is typically hayed after the birds finish moving through the first half, and then once more once the birds are moved through the second half. You can see in the picture above the hay windrows formed on the first side of the field the birds began on.
Egg
Layers
Our egg layers have a pretty cushy life we think. The babies are brooder identical to the meat birds, however once they are sufficiently feathered, they are introduced to the new flocks they will be joining.
From late spring to late fall the chickens head to a nearby field we lease where they are moved around periodically to fresh grass in what we call the "Egg-Mobile". Poultry netting surrounds the mobile co-op to allow for max roaming capability. In the winter months the Egg-Mobile is brought back to the farm and parked inside a more permanent fencing around our original stationary co-op. The birds over winter here while still having access to scratching on forest floor or snow.
The layer ducks always have access to the inside of the of the barn where the nest boxes are. In an effort to try and keep the duck eggs clean we allow them outside the permanent fence into the poultry netting after most of the eggs are laid. During late spring to late fall, movable poultry netting is rotated outside the permanent fencing in a hub and spoke pattern to allow foraging on what is considered silvopasture*. During the winter months due to the snow and frozen ground, the ducks are limited to their large outside fenced in section 24/7, as well as the large cozy inside of the barn.
*Silvopasture integrates trees, pasture and forage into a single system, also known as the practice of agroforestry, to help improve land health, increase carbon sequestration and provide aerial predator protection, sun and heat protection, biodiversity and pollinator habitats, forage from fruit and nuts and increased insect activities.
