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Who Needs Chickens?
Posted 6/22/2011 11:19pm by Heather Redden.
Happy Summer Friends!
The longest day of the year has come and gone and it wasn't exactly a bright start to summer. Dark skies and torrential downpours made it hard to enjoy the solstice. The rain is helping our gardens and our late plantings of squash, cucumbers, and basil seeds are all coming up. A reminder that we are having a work day on Sunday June 26. The project of the day is rescuing the perrenial garden from the weeds. Please contact me if you can attend by Friday night so that I can plan the food.
Now on to business. It's the much awaited newsletter about chicken ordering. If you aren't interested in laying hens or meat chickens then turn back now. This is a long explanation. I hope it won't get too confusing but I'm going to be taking orders for both meat chickens and laying hens at the same time. I'll try to explain this as clearly as possible. First though, a bit of information on the breed of chicken I've chosen to raise for meat this year and why. I will be raising the white laced red Cornish. This is a heritage breed that is in need of conservation. Please check out the wonderful website of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancey to learn about endangered breeds of livestock and the reasons for saving them. http://www.albc-usa.org/ Also, the link to the description of the Cornish. As you'll see, they are the source of the large amount of breast meat in the commercial meat chickens. http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/cornish.html
I am no longer interested in raising any commercial hybrid chickens for meat. The cornish/rock cross and the Freedom Ranger are both 4 way crosses. It takes two particular line crosses at the grandparent level and then a cross of those offspring at the parent level to result in the chick that is raised for meat. These birds are only produced by a small number of hatcheries that maintain all the proprietary lines and must be shipped through the mail to farmers like me. A farm that uses a heritage breed chicken for meat can breed their own stock and provide food for the farmer and the community even if hatcheries stop servicing small farmers or USPS stops shipping live chicks. I see this as a more sustainable farming model.
Heritage breed birds grow more slowly, forage more, produce a smaller but more flavorful carcass, and do not have any of the health problems such as bad legs and hearts that the commercial birds can have. The downside to this is that they are much more expensive to raise. This is why most pastured poultry producers stick with commercial crosses. Here is where the sticker shock comes. The price will be $8 to $9 per pound. The chickens will weigh 1.5 to 2.5 lbs (this is the true cornish game hen). I will take advance orders until July 3. If you order in advance, you will need to make a deposit of $6 per chicken and your price will be $8 per pound. Any extra chickens not preordered will be $9 per pound. The chickens will be processed at a USDA inspected facility and available for pick up in late October.
If you are interested in laying hens and our brooding service then now is also the time to order. Go to Privett Hatchery http://www.privetthatchery.com/home/default.aspx and pick out the breeds you want. Let me know your order by July 3 and I will brood the chicks for you until they are ready to be off heat lamps and go into your backyard (usually around 6 weeks). The cost is $9 per chick with a $4.50 per chick deposit required at the time of the order. The chicks will arrive at the farm in mid July and be ready to come home in early September.
This is a lot of information to digest and please let me know what questions you have. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
The longest day of the year has come and gone and it wasn't exactly a bright start to summer. Dark skies and torrential downpours made it hard to enjoy the solstice. The rain is helping our gardens and our late plantings of squash, cucumbers, and basil seeds are all coming up. A reminder that we are having a work day on Sunday June 26. The project of the day is rescuing the perrenial garden from the weeds. Please contact me if you can attend by Friday night so that I can plan the food.
Now on to business. It's the much awaited newsletter about chicken ordering. If you aren't interested in laying hens or meat chickens then turn back now. This is a long explanation. I hope it won't get too confusing but I'm going to be taking orders for both meat chickens and laying hens at the same time. I'll try to explain this as clearly as possible. First though, a bit of information on the breed of chicken I've chosen to raise for meat this year and why. I will be raising the white laced red Cornish. This is a heritage breed that is in need of conservation. Please check out the wonderful website of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancey to learn about endangered breeds of livestock and the reasons for saving them. http://www.albc-usa.org/ Also, the link to the description of the Cornish. As you'll see, they are the source of the large amount of breast meat in the commercial meat chickens. http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/cornish.html
I am no longer interested in raising any commercial hybrid chickens for meat. The cornish/rock cross and the Freedom Ranger are both 4 way crosses. It takes two particular line crosses at the grandparent level and then a cross of those offspring at the parent level to result in the chick that is raised for meat. These birds are only produced by a small number of hatcheries that maintain all the proprietary lines and must be shipped through the mail to farmers like me. A farm that uses a heritage breed chicken for meat can breed their own stock and provide food for the farmer and the community even if hatcheries stop servicing small farmers or USPS stops shipping live chicks. I see this as a more sustainable farming model.
Heritage breed birds grow more slowly, forage more, produce a smaller but more flavorful carcass, and do not have any of the health problems such as bad legs and hearts that the commercial birds can have. The downside to this is that they are much more expensive to raise. This is why most pastured poultry producers stick with commercial crosses. Here is where the sticker shock comes. The price will be $8 to $9 per pound. The chickens will weigh 1.5 to 2.5 lbs (this is the true cornish game hen). I will take advance orders until July 3. If you order in advance, you will need to make a deposit of $6 per chicken and your price will be $8 per pound. Any extra chickens not preordered will be $9 per pound. The chickens will be processed at a USDA inspected facility and available for pick up in late October.
If you are interested in laying hens and our brooding service then now is also the time to order. Go to Privett Hatchery http://www.privetthatchery.com/home/default.aspx and pick out the breeds you want. Let me know your order by July 3 and I will brood the chicks for you until they are ready to be off heat lamps and go into your backyard (usually around 6 weeks). The cost is $9 per chick with a $4.50 per chick deposit required at the time of the order. The chicks will arrive at the farm in mid July and be ready to come home in early September.
This is a lot of information to digest and please let me know what questions you have. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
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