This blog is part of our Home Farm Stories, about the original family farm in Fairview, NC
Our newest chickens are six weeks old, and they have been exploring the real world from the safety of a mobile coop for the last two weeks. They spend their days roaming, exploring and pecking at anything with six or eight legs they can find in the fresh grass.
Today the chickens will be gently herded to fresh pasture, with the careful assistance of interns Trinity and Savannah – along with Savannah’s dog, Wilson. For the next two weeks, the chickens will continue moving to fresh pasture daily. Chickens provide natural pest control by snacking on flies, mites, ticks and even invasive species like Japanese beetles. By eating bugs, they actually help steward the land.
These pullets also eat plenty of organic, non-GMO feed. We make our chicken feed in-house, using corn, small grains like wheat or barley, expeller-pressed soybean meal, plus vitamins and minerals optimized for their needs.
The regenerative practices we use to care for the chickens keeps them healthy, happy and well-nourished – and it contributes to the cycle that keeps the pasture healthy, too. Chicken manure is a “complete” fertilizer that’s rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Other animals will call the pasture home in the future, nourished by grasses and other plants grown in the soil enriched by the chickens’ waste.
We’re grateful for the nutrition the chickens will ultimately give us – and for the interconnectedness we witness each day on the farm. We treat our animals with respect and dignity from birth to harvest. These old-line Cornish Cross pullets reach maturity at eight weeks of age. Now, and throughout their life cycle, they have ample space to explore and exhibit all their natural behaviors, as they grow strong and healthy.
