One of our most frequently asked question is, “What is the difference between your natural poultry and your organic poultry.” All poultry sold at This Old Farm has been pasture raised. To us, this means they have been raised outside on rotating pastures. This is important because chickens are an omnivore. Omnivore?? Yes, that means they are meant to eat a broad range of items in their diets just like you and me. We are omnivores. We all know to eat our fruits and veggies. Yet in the industry we take our poultry meant to eat a wide range of items in their diet and feed them only a grain mix and throw them a vitamin to take care of any dietary needs. Yet, we know that the body needs those greens to detoxify any pollutants we come across on a daily basis. What we find is that the chicken can survive the 8 weeks without good greens but by the time they would get to us for processing their hearts are giving up, their legs are collapsing, and their intestines are falling apart. We learned this once we started processing poultry for the public. There is a big difference between birds raised in confinement and those raised outside with plenty of access to all things green. You see it in their internal organs. They can survive on grains alone for a short life but they are not surviving in health. So the first step to nutrient density and health for your food is to get the chickens outside so they can range and eat their greens (along side the wonderful bugs they find to add protein to their diet.) Now lets look at the words, rotating pasture. These words are selected because getting chickens outside is not the only thing you have to do to make sure they consume greens. They have to be moved to a new location every few days because they are so efficient at eating the grass and scratching for anything under the grass. Check with your pastured poultry producer to make sure the chickens are being rotated to new greens frequently. The next part of the frequently asked question listed above is……. What type of grain are they eating? Once again, chickens are an omnivore just like you and me. We know to eat some grains in our diet (whole grain bread, rice, barley soup, etc) and so should a chicken. The grain mixes that we feed all of our poultry are void of any nasty additives. We don’t use feed with coccidiastats or antibiotics added. We don’t feed any arsenic out (Yes the industry uses low levels of arsenic in chicken feed.) We feed our chicken only non GMO grain and a sea based mineral supplement (kelp is vitamin packed.) In addition, the organically raised chickens are fed a grain mix that is certified organic, meaning it has never been sprayed with any herbicides or pesticides.
The summary answer is, it is first most important to eat pastured poultry for nutrient density. If the budget allows, then choose the organic so you don’t have to worry about pesticide and herbicide use. We are making it easier by giving you 30% off until supplies run out. Don’t wait.
