Pastured Chicken
How We Raise and Process Our Chicken
We raise two breeds of meat birds: the standard cornish cross with its signature large breast and the hardier freedom ranger originally bred for the French Label Rouge program. Based on responses to our spring newsletter we order day-old chicks from a variety of hatcheries and bring them up in our brooders to 3-4 weeks of age. At that time they are moved out to pasture in floorless shelters which protect them from non-paying customers such as the resident hawks, owls and other predators. These shelters are moved at least once per day onto fresh grass so the chickens can forage, find bugs and stay away from yesterday’s droppings. As a result we don’t need medicated feed, antibiotics or other unnatural inputs to raise healthy birds. Because of their diet and exercise you’ll find our chicken has a firmer texture and the traditional chicken flavor most of us have forgotten.
Once they reach market weight (about 8 weeks for cornish cross and 12 weeks for freedom rangers) chickens are processed on our farm using equipment from Featherman designed for pastured poultry operations to ensure humane processing and clean preparation. This means less stress for the birds, no transportation requirements and hand-inspected quality by your farmer without all the nasty artifacts of commercial mechanical processing. Feathers and waste are recycled back into pasture nutrients through on-farm composting.
It’s difficult to raise birds on pasture in the winter so we work with the seasons and only sell chicken between May and October.
How We Sell Our Chicken
The license we have from the state of Washington limits us in some material ways: we can only sell whole birds, unfrozen and direct from the farm. In the future we would like to expand our capabilities to offer cuts, sell at farmers markets or restaurants and provide vacuum sealed frozen birds. This isn’t feasible until we’re selling more birds per season as the next level of licensing requires more infrastructure and capital investments.
Like our other products purchasing chicken requires some effort from our customers: you need to have the freezer space, be willing to work with a whole bird and commit to picking up your chicken when they are ready. We know things don’t always work out exactly as planned however and will work with you to hold/freeze your order if you get in a jam and can’t make it to the farm at the scheduled time.
Which bird should you buy? American consumers are accustomed to the cornish cross so if you love white meat and heavier birds you should go with those; they’ll still blow your hair back with better taste and texture than you’re used to. We prefer the freedom rangers for our freezer. They stay on grass longer and develop a richer flavor but aren’t quite as large breasted. They’re also just more fun to raise and more suited to life outdoors. Because of the longer growout we charge a premium for the freedom rangers to match the additional feed and labor requirements.
Benefits of Pastured Chicken
Like other naturally raised products, a chicken raised on pasture in the fresh air and sunshine that is allowed to express its physiological design is more humane, more nutritious, environmentally responsible and better tasting than what you can find in the supermarket.
Is it free-range? How about organic? We like to think of our farm as beyond organic. As consumers flock to all things organic the term and it’s requirements have been usurped by large agribusiness. The labels don’t require humane treatment and don’t require animals to be naturally raised on pasture. For example, one requirement for chickens that they have ‘access to the outdoors’ is usually satisfied by opening a small door in a confinement building for a couple of days which most of the chickens never use. Unlike large commercial operations we encourage our customers to come see how their food is raised and processed with an open door policy that lets you decide for yourself what is humane, safe and responsible food.
Safe Cooking and Handling
When you pick your chicken up at the farm please be prepared to transport it safely using a cooler and promptly getting it home. If you plan to cook your chicken in the first few days it can be safely stored in your refrigerator otherwise it should be frozen immediately. For best results we recommend vacuum sealing or double wrapping chicken that will be frozen for more than a few months. Most customers cut some of their whole chickens into portions and re-package for long-term storage which then defrost quickly and fit recipes easier.
Thawing in the refrigerator will give you the highest quality cooking experience; allow roughly 24 hours for a whole chicken or five hours per pound for chicken pieces. Before cooking it’s a good idea to rinse with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Please also ensure that you properly clean your hands, counters, knifes and cutting boards properly following preparation. These are good practices regardless where you get your chicken.
In addition to the tremendous amount of excellent recipes featuring chicken cuts we also like to roast our birds whole using a vertical roaster or this neat countertop rotisserie. Although lower in fat than conventionally grown birds there’s little variation needed in cooking requirements and most recipes can be followed as written. If you’re looking for new ideas try The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook or The Farmer and the Grill both by Shannon Hayes. Duncan also has a few traditional cajun recipes to share if you’re feeling adventurous.
