Chook Me!

How can I find a list of companies that sell free-range/pasture-raised whole chickens? I've tried searching the web, but I haven't found anything like a comprehensive list of such companies. Does such a thing even exit?

Where can I find pasture raised free range chicken and eggs in the Milwaukee area?

What do I need for Free Range chickens? I am thinking about starting free range chickens. i'm looking to have about 150 in my 100 acre cow pasture. I'm wondering what I need. I know I need some type of shelter for them and nesting boxes. I was thinking about doing three groups of 50 hens spread through the pasture. also what do I need to wash and grade the eggs I collect? any info is greatly appreciated!

raiseing meat chickens for people and selling free range pastured eggs on farm, how much should I charge? I do not have a weight scale, so I would charge $3.00 base price per chicken, plus a cost per week that the chicken was on the farm. These will be cornish giants and Rhode Island Reds, and will be raised on fresh green grass free to run on pastures at our farm. The chickens will be picked up at the farm as live birds at what ever age the buyer decides. I live in alberta canada and would need to charge a premium price for a premium animal. It will cost at least $.28/week to grow these chickens. The hens are raised the same as the meat chickens, and live a very happy and healthy life! Egg yolks are orange from their diet and rich in flavour. I am not a company, I am a stay at home mother of three that would like to turn her love of chickens into some money to fix up the family farm and help hubby stay home from work a little more. Any suggestions? These will no be organic chickens or eggs, but they are fed on grass, and grains, and free to eat as much as they can find in the open pastures. I cant charge as much as organic and wont give it away for the same as factory raised. Would you pay 2.50/dozen would you pay $8.50 $7.75 Or $7.00 for live Fryer Would you pay $10.00 $6.50 Or $8.00 for live Roaster

Can you raise free-range pigs, sheep, goats and chickens all together? Can they all inhabit the same pasture? Of course you would need a coop adjacent to the pasture for the chickens only, but the shelters for the other animals could also be integrated. Is this done?

Can you raise chickens and hogs in the same "free range" area? I have an area of pasture where I am going to raise 3 hogs. I am getting a new group of pullets and want to put the older hens in with the hogs. Are there any health issues I need to be concerned about? Has anybody tried this? If so, do you have any suggestions?

Where can I buy a pasture-raised whole chicken for roasting in Chicago? I'm especially looking for local sources of food, within a hundred or two hundred miles. I loved Marin Sun Farms in San Francisco and would like to find a similar farm now that I live in Chicago. Grocery stores have "natural" and "free-range" chickens that don't necessarily live in pastures and barns except in a very broad definition of those words. Any tips on a good farm? Bonus points if they sometimes sell within the city limits, but if I have to travel to outer regions every few months that might work, too.

I need help figuring out what has killed my chickens. The chickens were free range, though they did have a? pen they could go into at night (pen was open at top). We had 8, 3 month old broiler chickens and two adult roosters. Got up in the morning and ALL the chickens were gone, there were a few piles of feathers here and there but no big mess anywhere. Also inside the pasture area are three horses and one small goat and they were all fine. The perimeter pasture fencing is field fence and dog proof. Yesterday a friend brought over 4 adult chickens, we went left the house for 4 hours and came back to only one chicken. I suspect a hawk but find it hard to believe that one hawk would attack and carry off 11 chickens in one period... Any other ideas out there???

Do I have to be concerned about spraying? I want to spray a pasture infested with Tansy Wart with Roundup and I have free range chickens. Will the spray affect the chickens' health if they get into the field?

will chickens bother horses? i want to free range my chickens when they are old enough and i was wondering if they would bother horses if they went into the horse pasture bc my whole property is pretty much for they horses since its only 5 acres.

Will spraying cause any problems? I have a pasture infested with Tansy Wart and I want to spray with Roundup. I also have free range chickens, will the chickens be affected if they get into the pasture?

What killed my chicken? She was missing last night, gone without a trace when she never strays far from her friends. This morning I looked outside to see my dog carrying gizzards around. In the side yard (an area not accessible to the chickens) there were feathers scattered all around. The only things left were a bit of the gizzards and feathers. I have seen hawks and cats around the property. If it were my dog who did the deed, would there have been more evidence of this? He had no blood on him or anything at all. Do hawks normally leave gizzards? Wierd question, I just want some closure. The chickens are all free range in the pasture with the goats and horses.

why do many veggies insist on chickens being fed on a veggie diet? To me, a vegetarian chooses that particular diet because they don't want to eat animals. I would have thought the same reason of concern would extend to not impacting hens in order to get the eggs. Hens are naturally not veggies, they eat worms, grubs, frogs and even scavenge on dead animals like mice, rabbits and rats. So, only eating eggs from chickens fed a vegetarian diet is impacting the animal. Why choose to impose this on them ? Surely the path of least impact is to buy eggs from freerange hens....real free range, none of this supermarket nonsense. And, ask yourself...isn't "Free Range hens fed on a vegetarian diet" an oxymoron ? If they were really freerange, they would have access to open pasture and eat grubs. I guess that label is saying the hens live on a concrete field or something. Veggie is a great diet choice, but please, leave my hens alone to eat what they like. Thank you. (I'm a chicken and need to expose the treatment my mates get ) Chillopoe...you have no idea how wrong you are ! Have you ever seen a chicken ???? We have 200 of then, how about you ? check out this TESCOS label from thier Columbus FreeRange Eggs :"Naturally rich in Omega 3 from hens fed a vegetarian diet" I don't mind being corrected, but at least be accurate about it. Matt H, i can assure you are chickens are free to do what they like, they have 7 acres to roam as they please. If they choose to not lay eggs, its entirely up to them. I understand vegans don't eat eggs, but you can hardly say i've created a conflict or abuse chickens. lillyian, good answer, thanks, now i'm starting to understand. Christy, so when 4 chickens each pick up a frogs leg and pull it until it stretched apart , then run off with the meat and eat it, which part of "naturally herbivorous" is that ? your experience of 64,000 chicken sin a shed can hardly be used when describing natural behaviour.

What made you want to be a vegetarian? Let me start by saying I am not vegetarian, however some of my family is/was. I know that some people just don't want to support 'factory food', but does that mean if there was pastured pork, grass fed beef or free-range chickens you would buy it to support the farmer? I don't want to make this a war, but I am honestly curious. Thank you for all your answers. I wanted to know because I am going to raise my own animals to feed myself and my community. I know they will be treated humanely, and that is what best correlates to my beliefs, morals, and religion. On a separate note, I feel bad for the Vegetarians and Vegans in my school, because we were forced to dissect pigs.

Does certified organic meat mean that the cow, pig, chicken, turkey has BY DEFINITION been raised humanely? Is the label connected to how meat is raised? Is all organic meat raised free-range or pasture, no gestation crates?

Do I have a case for small claims? Hello, I own chickens in my urban area backyard. One day I was mopping the floor and my neighbor yelled my name and I ran to the patio. Two large breed dogs, one a pitbull, were in my yard and had killed 5 of my chickens. My neighbor was crucial in helping 1st identify that there were dogs in my yard and 2nd, who owns them. I contact the owners and have asked them to pay the value of the pastured, organically fed chickens (the value would include any eggs, meat, feathers, and any feed and other care they took to raise). As you can see, it would be a small fortune to add all that up as they are organic and pastured (free-range in daytime) birds, times 5 that were killed. The owner and I initiated a contact to get this resolved, but he never pulled through with any compensation. I have since seen and taken a picture of one of the dogs in his van, I talked to him that day and he said his wife was supposed to take care of the situation. After that day, I contacted him 2-3 times without a response. I have waited for a resolution for quite a few months. With my neighbor as a witness, does it seem I have a strong enough case to take to small claims court? Furthermore, should I warn him that I am going to and see if he pulls through, or just proceed with the court filing? Remember, I have a witness, have picture of one of the dogs in his vehicle, and can provide quotes from local farmers or stores as to the value that the chickens and their eggs/meat/feathers represent.

what breeds of chickens should i get? we live on a little over 5 acres with a barn and horse pasture. we have strong feelings about factory farming and would like to not be supporting this and raising our own chickens for eggs. not meat. we would probably get a coop good for 6-8 hens (no roosters). i want a varitety so here is what i think that i would like to get. 3 rhode island reds, 2 barred rocks, 1 or 2 easter eggers (or the name that starts withan a that i forgot to spell), and i really want a silkie as a pet. we know where we can buy 1-3 day old chicks locally with out them having to be shipped but do you know of a hatchery or breeder (not expensive, that breeds black or blue or splashed colored silkies in the dallas fort worth area of texas or if it is a hatchery that shipps them, they wold let us only buy one or two? also, what are your thoughts on the breeds that i have chosen. our chickens would not stay in the coop all the time, but would be free range but at night go into the coop. they would always have the freedom to go back into it during the day. i am a first time owner. yes i know that silkies are not good egg producers but i love their beauty and have heard great things about them being like dogs and i want one just as a pet.

thinking of becoming a vegetarian /vegan. dairy and cheese question.? So after finding out how horrible animals raised for food are I have decided not to eat meat anymore. (no cow, pig, chicken, fish.. ect) I feel ok about still eat eggs since my co worker has "pet chickens" (she likes them and the noise they make, as do I. I have always wanted pet chickens they are SO cute I think.) that are free range and wont ever be killed for food. She allows some chicks to hatch every other year or so but doesn't want to get overpopulated with them on her small farm. -I will never again buy eggs from the grocery store though after seeing how they live and are literally thrown/rammed into their transport cages. :( I know that milk cows are treated horribly as well and given growth hormones to make their udders and milk production WAY more than is normal/healthy for them, as well as being cruel to their calves. My question is whether there is such thing as dairy/cheese products out there that do NOT: #1 treat the mother cow and her calves cruelly (allows babies to stay with mom till weaned) #2 no hormones for more milk production are given (RBGH free I think they are called, I know that RBGH milk is out there but how about other dairy products) #3 are free range cows allowed to pasture in normal size herds I don't see a problem without milk (almost all grocery stores have soy/almond milk now) but I cant find any "vegan cheese" or like products in my small town grocery store. If I buy in bulk and go to a bigger town once a month would i need a separate fridge just for non dairy "dairy" products? Or do some not need refrigeration? I have found lots of vegan/vegetarian websites so I think I will be good on how and what to make but if you have some favorites feel free to share them! No I wont need cow's milk. I can buy almond and soy milk. I was asking more cheese and those kind of products..

I'd like some yummy vegetarian recipes please? Looking to expand my menu. I'm a meat and potatoes kinda girl, my love gets an upset stomach when he eats meat. I'm definitely open to trying new things when it comes to the kitchen lol. We both like spinach, I like hummus *he's never tried it!* We both like veggies and potatoes...um, I hate eggplant and spaghetti squash *they both have made me ill prepared different ways* so...um, if you have any recipes I can print or a website I can go to *and a few suggestions of 'try this recipe* from the websites I would really appreciate it Please no one tell me how terrible the conditions are that meat animals are raised in and tell me why it's wrong to eat meat, because we only eat free range, naturally **organically fed** pasture raised meats and eggs. **my family raises them so I KNOW what they eat and how they are treated** and we get our eggs/chicken from local farmers... No hormone pumped factory raised food for us!

How can I find/buy beef and pork from animals that were raised humanely? Over the last year and a half I have been intentionally shaping myself into a better and more moral person. This not only includes how I treat people but how I treat all living things. This being the case, I essentially can't allow myself to eat any meat that wasn't humanely raised. I don't believe it's wrong for one animal (including humans) to kill another to eat it, but I do believe it's wrong to torture and mutilate it beforehand - e.g. debeaking and the way veal is treated. This is pretty new to me, as I am pretty jaded and not much of a bleeding heart. Culturally I feel pretty uncomfortable with being "vegetarian." Still, I believe a man has to be square with himself and his ideas of right and wrong. I have already located a place to buy chickens that were humanely raised (unfortunately, "free-range" is often pretty barbaric) so that's no problem. It's difficult to be cruel to a fish in any way they can comprehend so that's no problem either. However, I can't seem to figure out a standard for beef and pork. Halal and kashrut (kosher) laws don't include provisions on how the animals are raised (please observant Muslims and Jews correct me if this is wrong) so I can't use those as a bearing. I think if a cow is allowed to feed in a pasture on grass and then slaughtered that is pretty humane, and if a pig is allowed to mill around as it normally would that is also humane. Is there a way to source meat and see how the farms operate or something? Any advice would be helpful. However I am not going to be a strict vegetarian so don't tell me that all meat is cruel. I also am not going to ignore my moral compass so don't tell me "you're a fag go eat a hamburger." I've already decided my beliefs. I'm looking for help to enforce them, not to be converted to something totally different. I thank anybody for their advice (While my current address is Illinois, I will be living in Grand Rapids Michigan by the end of the week, if the location is relevant)

How much land does it take to support one person? I was wondering, how many acres of land would it take to... 1] Support one person with a good deal of food [enough to provide enough food to fill up a farmer who was getting A LOT of exercise], assuming that the food that was grown was varied [enough different types of food so that the food grown would NEVER get boring], with at LEAST several types of fruits, vegetables, grains, and other crops; as well as a medium-sized amount of fish, beef, milk, eggs, and chicken meat [with free-range animals]? 2] Provide enough of a forested area to provide enough wood to heat a 4,500 square foot home [with good insulation], year-round, sustainably, in -80 degree [F] winters and -50 degree [F] summers [just ASSUME that you could grow trees in temperatures that cold], without ever running out of wood [i.e- the forest could be used for decades and would never run out of wood]? 3] How many acres would be required in order for the farmer to grow enough pounds of cash crops in order to make a moderate/moderate-large profit? 4] Finally, how much land would be required to build a 4,500 square foot farm house, a few grain silos, enough room to keep one person from becoming cramped or encroached inside their farmland, and several barns. Assume that the land in question is in a VERY rainy area, with EXTREMELY fertile soil and silt. Also, assume that the land is improved and irrigated [even the pastures for the animals]. Also, assume that the crops and animals were COMPLETELY organic [i.e- are not using any increased yield chemicals, herbicides, fertilizers, pesticides, or growth hormones].

Overweight Golden!? My 4 year old female Golden Retriever is overweight. It gets really annoying because everyone comments about her weight and we even named her Chunk. Right now they have free range to their food and we've tried feeding them smaller amounts certain times a day but it doesn't matter because she will go outside and eat the duck/chicken feed or go out in our horse pasture and eat the manure! How can we make her lose weight?

*** CHICKEN HELP ***? i have 7 chickens (6 white leghorns and 1 brown small chicken) and i want to know about how many i should get/keep to maintain a good yard and for eggs. we live on 6 acres, 2.5 is mostly woods, 2 is pasture, and the rest is yard, so how many would be good for my size yard, but wouldn't cost to much, and there going to be free ranged by the way. also is there such thing as overfeeding a chicken, like giving it to much bread or to much food, because i heard that you could overfeed a chicken and it would build up fat around their organs. Also what are some good things to feed my chickens. (scraps)

What are the healthiest meats? I don't mean the healthiest types like pork or chicken persay, I mean like I know the healthiest beef/bison/lamb/dairy is organic free range grass fed/ grass finished and the healthiest poultry is organic free range soy-free and the healthiest fish is wild caught/ low pcb/ low omega 6 high omega 3. What about pork? Organic obviously, but what about how it's fed? There's forrested pork, pastured pork, apple fed pork, etc. Also, does liver from younger animals contain less toxine? like veal liver vs beef or lamb liver vs mutton? I do a homemade raw diet for my dog-that's why I care so much. Thanks!

Finally going to homemade BARF? For the 100th time, I'm tightening my restrictions on Oreo's food. Instead of poultry needing to be organic and free range, I now want it produced with soy-free feed as well. No commercial raw poultry dog food fits my specifications any more, so I'm taking the final plunge and doing homemade. Besides that my dog hated Paw Naturaw chicken and turkey patties and didn't do well on it. I'm ordering from herehttp://www.grassfedtraditions.com/pastured_poultry.htm If she doesn't do well on this raw poultry either, I'll cook it since she did quite nicely on a homemade cooked chicken and veggie diet. Her diet will be made up of chickens, turkeys, and eggs from them, as well as several types of high omega 3 low mercury seafood (generally, I will cook the seafood) plus Raw Advantage Beef recipe and Paw Naturaw Bison rolls and assorted steamed, purreed veggies with digestive enzymes blended in. She'll be getting wild venison (cooked as well) seasonally as well as other protein sources such as lamb, etc when possible. Can someone please walk me through a bit with amounts and logistics? I plan to remove as many bones as possible (she's only 7.4 lbs) as well as the fat and skin. She gains and loses weight very easily and it''s a very fine line between too much and too little. We also do tricks every day (she prefers learning over toys) and she gets Onesta Organics dehydrated chicken and turkey organs plus Jump Your Bones wild dehydrated kangaroo treats as rewards. She gets a supplement cocktail with a pump of Lifespan wild salmon oil with co10, Organic Pet Superfood Immunity powder, 200 mg l carnatine, 100 mg taurine (poms are prone to heart issues) 0.25 cc b complex, (my cats take it due to their age and she had a spurt of energy after getting theirs once so now I give it to her too) 1 ml organic apple cider vinegar (to get rid of tearstaining), and gets 1/8 tsp per meal of organic milk thistle for a week after heartgard. I'm also adding organic chia seeds and possibly Resveratrol, RNA, kelp, and/or montmorillonite clay. She's bar none my heart dog and I'm very committed to keeping her here as long as possible, so I don't mind a lot of work and hassle. What's the absolute best way to go about adding whole poultry? Is it really safe as far as salmonella? Is chicken or turkey safer? Should I just carve off a wing and let her go at it? I'm even more nervous to be doing it myself than I was starting raw to begin with...

How do people eat meat meat? Even knowing this:? Meat’s Just Not What It Used To Be Many people think that meat is really good for them and that you need it and the protein can’t be lived without….not true at all. You can ward off disease, live longer, avoid toxic chemicals – like, oh, I don’t know, the swine Flu?! – and help reduce famine. Meat’s hormones are also causing puberty way too early. And sure meat is really good for you but it can be easily replaced with tofu, soy, beans, and vitamins. And, if you prepare it just right, it’s delicious! And by not eating meat, you can save about ten percent of your annual spendings – about 4 thousand dollars. Meat and poultry is also bad for the environment. Livestock activities and slaughter houses are the leading cause for over one hundred and seventy three thousand miles of river’s and stream’s pollution. Some other agricultural activities that cause pollution include plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing, and harvesting, and confined animal facilities. Plus, about 75% of grains being fed to animals being prepared for your dinner, could be fed to the over one million registered homeless. David Pimentel. Professor of ecology at Cornell University, says, “If all grain currently being fed to livestock is consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed could be nearly eight hundred million.” And unlike yesteryear, when animals roamed freely most animals are factory farmed- crammed into cages where they cannot turn around, let alone sit or lie down. And Environmental Defense says if every American skipped just one meal of chicken per week and replaced it with vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than taking more than a half million cars off the United States’ roads. Animals get fed on a diet of pesticides and antibiotics. Animals being prepared for your dinner are not protected by law. In fact, most state anticruelty laws specifiacally exempt farm animals from basic humane protection. Seventy percent of all grain produced in the US is fed to animals getting prepared for your dinner. And the seven billion livestock animals in America consume five times as much grain as directly by the American population. All livestock sectors create more pollution than all the cars, trucks, planes, trains, and ships in the world. They also create the largest sources of carbon dioxide and the single largetst sours of both methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Nitrous oxide is considerably more potent as a green house gas than carbon dioxide. Meat, egg and dairy industries account for 65% of nitrous oxide emissions. Chris Weber, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, says that not eating meat products is equivalent to not driving eight thousand one hundred miles in a car that gets twenty five miles a gallon. And that buying local meats won’t help because only 5% of food related emissions come from transportation. It takes more than four thousand gallons of water to produce a meat based diet, but only three hundred gallons of water a day is needed for a totally vegetarian diet. Animal factories pollute our waterways more than all the industries combined. Cows , pigs, chickens and other animals raised for produce, produce approximately 30 times as much excrement or corpse waste as the entire human population. The people of Okinawa, Japan have the longest lives of any Japanese and likely the longest life expectancy of anyone in the world, says the thirty year old research of more than 600 Okinawan centenarians. Centenarians are people who have lived a longer life than one hundred years. Their secret: a low calorie diet of unrefined complex carbohydrates, fiber rich fruits and vegetables, and soy. As human become more alert of the absolute horrors of factory farming, companies are reacting by adding labels to their products with relieving words such as “organic”, “free range”, “cage free”, and “natural”. These labels may conjure up images of animals roaming freely in green pastures, but the truth of life and death of animals on organic and range free farms is very contrary. In fact, free range and organic animals are usually sent to the same slaughter houses, starved and thirsty of course, as factory farm animals. Many companies like to trick customers by saying they treat animals well. Two of the most heavily marketed “animal welfare programs” are “Swine Welfare Assurance Program” (SWAP), and “United Egg Producers (UEP) Certified.” These labels are simply fancy names for factory farming – both were created by meat and egg lobbying groups, and both simply serve to put a happy face on the absolute worst practices in today’s factory farms. Dont leave a snide comment saying you dont have the time to read this please. BTW i have NOTHING agaisnt meat eaters. my BESTEST friend couldnt LIVE without hash. its ok. please, dont be affended.