Chickens
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We raise Cornish Cross chickens on pasture. We are one of the largest pastured poultry operations in the country. We have forty six acres with chickens in the growing season. Our biggest chicken customer is Frontera Grill in Chicago. We get the day old chicks from a hatchery in Goshen, Indiana about 30 minutes from the farm. They never receive antibiotics, hormones, steroids, etc. Our chickens spend the first 3-4 weeks of their lives in the brooding barn under the care and management of our children. After that, they are moved out to pasture. (The chickens, that is, not the kids.) While being allowed to "day range" on grass and clover pastures, the chickens still receive a mixture of corn, soybeans, and Hubbard's Homestead mineral mix. We'd be happy to raise some certified organic chickens if we had a customer base that was interested.
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We process them in our own on-farm USDA inspected processing plant. We do use bleach to sanitize the facility but do not put chlorine on our chickens. We are one of the only processing plants in the country not using chlorine on poultry or pig carcasses. Bleach is a known carcinogen when mixed with organic material. It requires significantly more management and cost to slaughter without bleach. We do, however, use citric and paracetic acid as antimicrobials. Our chicken (and other products) are more expensive than the "antibiotic free" chicken available because it is raised and slaughtered differently. Eventually, we as a society will figure out that antibiotics should be saved for humans and the only long term way to raise animals without antibiotics and slaughter without toxic chemicals is to have a system with excellent management that cooperates with nature.
We raise a few groups of these red freedom rangers. They are really fun birds!
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