Our Cornish Cross chicks are hatched just down the road at Jenks Hatchery in Tangent Oregon. We pick them up usually within hours of being hatched. Our chicks are not mailed like many other operations. They have no unnecessary antibiotics, vaccinations, or stress. The chicks go right into our large Ohio style brooder, only hours after hatching. This brooder gives them the option of being close to heat lamps to warm up or out in the open to cool down. They have an enormous amount of room to move around, certainly as compared to commercial operations and even as compared to most small pastured operations. From day one we feed our chicks a GMO free, Corn free, Soy free feed. The feed is ground and mixed to order at a small operation, Mosaic Farms in Philomath Oregon. Ingredients are as local as possible. While more expensive than most feed we feel good knowing the ingredients were not doused with roundup or other chemicals several times like most commercial feed. At the age of 2-3 weeks the chicks are moved to our custom built tractors. Our 10’ x 12’ tractors are about 5-½’ tall in the center. A heavy duty tarp covers about ¾ of the tractor providing shade and protection from wind and rain. While Joel Salatin recommends about 1.3sqft per bird we nearly double that at about 2.4sqft. The tractors are moved every day providing fresh forage and bugs as well as a clean environment. Our pasture has not seen any chemicals in over 5 years. Graduation day at around 8 weeks. Sixth Day Farms does an excellent job processing the birds as humane as possible on site. The birds are cooled and refrigerated at about 35 degrees for the next four days. This is a critical step before freezing, many skip or are not aware of, to result in a tender chicken.
Fresh (unfrozen) birds are available in late May after processing. Contact us for the exact dates.
Purchasing fresh birds allows for easy breakdown of the parts. We typically break down about half of the birds we keep for our own consumption. Boneless breasts, drumsticks, wings, ect. We also freeze the leftovers and frames for making stock later in the year.
For 2024 our Pastured Chickens are $27 each, 5lb average. If you order multiple birds some may be slightly smaller than 5lbs and some slightly larger but will average 5lbs or more. If you only order a single bird it will be at least 5lbs.