There is simply no
substitute for pasture raised chicken and eggs. These birds are raised
in portable pens that allow total access to green grass and fresh air.
Wild forages and insects make up to 30% of our birds diets. Whole
grains fill the balance. Healthy animals do not get sick! Therefore
our birds do not need the routine constant use of antibiotic laced feed
and water, and anti parasite medications. It is the stress of
overcrowding and lack of access to sunshine and fresh greens that make
the factory raised bird such an inferior product to our grass raised
birds.
~ Pre-Orders ONLY - VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES! ~
We only accept pre-orders and pre-payments for these birds as we won't grow enough of them to keep up with demand. We raise these chickens by hand and simply don't have the space or the time to grow thousands - it would not be good for them or for you - we only raise a few hundred, but we take care with each animal to make sure it has the kind of life we can be proud of.
You will receive these birds with your delivery in the first week of August, or, if you are expecting delivery through the mail, you will receive them the second week of August.
Because of the way these birds are raised, we are charging $4.95 per pound. That may seem like a lot, but look at it a little closer. If you go to a grocery store and get their 'Organic' chicken, you will pay between $14 and $16 dollars for the product - and the bird will weight between 2 and 3 pounds. This comes out to between $7 and $8 per pound! Even if they state 'Free Range' on the package, you can be assured that the bird that you are buying probably never saw the sun or was permitted outside.
The chicken you buy from us is guaranteed to be in excess of 5 pounds - many birds dress out to over 8 pounds in weight - and no, we don't charge more for the big ones...They are all the same price because our birds are TRULY FREE RANGE - they eat bugs, they scratch and they walk around - just like chickens should.
Pastured Poultry Get
a Bounty of Vitamin E from Grass
Standard poultry feed is supplemented with
small amounts of vitamin E. But as you can see by the graph below,
it doesn't come close to the bounty of vitamin E that chickens
glean from fresh pasture. This vitamin E gets passed on to the
consumer. An egg from a pastured hen has 30 percent more vitamin
E than the kind you buy in the supermarket.
(Lopez-Bote et al, "Effect
of free-range feeding on omega-3 fatty acids and alpha-tocopherol
content and oxidative stability of eggs." Animal
Feed Science and Technology, 1998. 72:33-40.)
Eggs from free-range hens
are higher in folic acid
and vitamin B12
Now there's another good reason to purchase
eggs from pastured poultry farmers: you may be getting more folic
acid and vitamin B12, two very important vitamins. This information
comes from a British study published in 1974. At the time, British
consumers were concerned about the trend toward factory farming.
Specifically, they thought factory eggs might not be as nutritious
as eggs from free-ranging birds. An elaborate study confirmed their
suspicions. The eggs from free-range hens contained significantly
more folic acid and vitamin B12, as you can see by the graph below.
The researchers also looked for differences
in the fatty acid content of the eggs but did not find any. Now
we know why. In the 1970s, little was known about the benefits
of omega-3 fatty acids, so the researchers didn't even bother to
look for them in the eggs.
(A. Tolan et al, "Studies
on the Composition of Food, The chemical composition of eggs
produced under battery, deep litter and free-range conditions." Br.
J. Nutrition, (1974) 31:185.)
Consumers are searching
for healthier eggs
Pastured poultry producers take heart: Consumers
are finally getting the message that some eggs are better than
others. In 1999, sales were up 50% for "all natural" eggs
and 37.5% for
"organic" eggs, according to Alan Andrews, an industry
analyst. The fact that specialty eggs cost about twice as much
as ordinary eggs ($2.20 versus $1.09 a dozen) has not been a deterrent.
Andrews predicts that "this segment will see accelerated growth
in 2000 and may hit 50MM units."
Egg yolks are the
richest known source of lutein and zeaxanthin, essential vitamins
not found in your multi-vitamin tablet
Eggs are gaining new respect from nutritionists,
partly for their abundance of two carotenes --- lutein and zeaxanthin.
These antioxidant vitamins are essential for the protection of
the macula, an area of the retina that provides our best central
vision. Eggs are the richest known source. "Macular degeneration," the
term for damage to this area of the retina, is the leading cause
of blindness in people over 55 years of age. Lutein and zeaxanthin
protect the macula from the destructive effects of light. The deeper
the yellow-orange color of yolks, the more lutein and zeaxanthin
they contain and the more eye-protection they offer.
There is also new evidence linking lutein and
zeaxanthin with a lower risk of colon cancer. According to a recent
study, "Of all the carotenoids investigated, only lutein and
zeaxanthin showed a protective effect against colon cancer, with
an enhanced effect in younger people."
(Slattery, M. L., Benson,
J., Curtin, K., Ma, K. N., Schaeffer, D., and Potter, J. D. (2000). Am
J Clin Nutr 71, 575-82.)
Eggs from pastured
layers are higher in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E
In a recent study, one group of chickens was
confined indoors (the conventional system) and another was allowed
to free-range. Both groups were fed the same commercial mixed diet.
The chickens that were able to add grass to the menu produced eggs
that that were higher in omega-3s and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin
E.) Both omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E have been linked with
lower rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease in humans. (Lopez-Bote et
al, "Effect of free-range feeding on omega-3 fatty acids
and alpha-tocopherol content and oxidative stability of eggs." Animal
Feed Science and Technology, 1998. 72:33-40.)
Eating eggs does
not appear to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke
Cutting back on egg consumption has been widely
recommended as a way to lower blood cholesterol levels and prevent
coronary heart disease. Is this valid advice? Recently, researchers
took a close look at the egg-eating habits and heart health of
118,000 men and women. The scientists reported that "we found
no evidence of an overall significant association between egg consumption
and risk of CHD [coronary heart disease] in either men or women." In
fact, they found that people who ate from 5 to 6 eggs per week
had a lower risk of heart disease than those who ate less than
one egg per week.
One wonders what the scientists would find
if they looked at the heart health of those lucky people who eat
eggs from pastured hens?
(Hu, F. B., M. J. Stampfer, et
al. (1999). "A prospective study of egg consumption
and risk of cardiovascular disease in men and women." JAMA
281(15): 1387-94.) Turkeys make CLA,
too
CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) is highest in
products from grazing animals on a diet of fresh pasture, and it
is very low in non-ruminants such as chickens and pigs. But turkeys
appear to be an exception, having about 2.5 mg of CLA per gram
of fat. (For comparison, chickens have 0.9 and pigs 0.6 mg. per
gram of fat.) To date, no one has tested the CLA content of turkeys
raised on pasture rather than in confinement, an experiment that
begs to be done. It is possible that turkeys with a significant
amount of greens in their diet will have even more CLA.
(Chin, S. F. et al. (1992)).
"Dietary Sources of Conjugated Dienoic Isomers of Linoleic
Acid, a Newly Recognized Class of Anticarcinogens)
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