Before you know it, spring will be just around the corner – prime time for growing food, including broiler chickens. Once again, we are raising meat chickens at Heart Arrow Ranch. Sign up for our chicken CSA by March 15.
Because we raise less than 10,000 chickens a year, we (Adam & Paula) are able to process and sell fresh chicken directly to customers. These birds are delicious! They are raised on organic feed, pasture, fresh air, and sunshine!
broiler chicks
The day-old chicks arrive in Redwood Valley via FedEx and go right into the brooder where they stay warm and sheltered for about 4 weeks. Right from the beginning, we feed them certified-organic crushed grain from Sonoma County.
We are dedicated to sustainable farming practices, and while organic feed is more expensive, we need to support all organic farmers. More importantly, what goes in the chicken goes into your body when you eat it. Would you rather eat GMO grain or organic grain?
The chickens leave the brooder and move to the garden at 4 weeks.
At about 4-weeks old, we move the chickens to the fallow part of the garden. There, they do their thing – nibbling bugs and grass and depositing their valuable manure on the soil. (We also compost their manure from the brooder.) Many vegetables we grow require a lot of nutrients, and along with compost and cover crops, we need the poultry manure to put fertility back into the soil. Our livestock guardian dogs live with the chickens in their fenced pasture to protect the birds from foxes, bobcats, vultures, and any other predator.
When the chickens are 9 weeks-old, we process the birds ourselves and hand them off to their eaters.
With the chicken CSA, we raise 6 batches of chickens from spring through early fall. One chicken CSA share is equivalent to receiving 1 chicken at each batch, or 6 chickens total. The price for a share remains the same from last year: $108.
Visit our Chicken CSA page, and sign up for a chicken share! We order the first batch of chicks at the end of February, so please do it soon!
