Pasture Raised Poultry
Here at Country Thyme Farm good poultry husbandry is one of our passions. The varied personalities and endless enjoyment that our birds give us are their own reward. We also recognize the increased awareness that the public has of the way many farms raise poultry, and we want to be able to provide our community with poultry products raised in a truly sustainable and compassionate way. We make sure that all of our birds have constant access to open air all year long and to fresh pasture throughout the growing season. They only get locked up at night to protect them from predators while they're sleeping. We do our best to grow all of their food ourselves while making sure they have a varied and balanced diet.
We never use medicated feeds, believing that the key to a healthy, vigorous flock is good hygiene and a normal level of exposure to pathogens. We are also working toward having all our new birds hatched and raised by hens, allowing nature to take care of things through the immunity to diseases given to young by their mothers. If any of our birds do get sick, we prefer to treat them with homeopathic or herbal treatments, but will give them antibiotics if absolutely necessary. However, we will identify any birds we have had to give antibiotics to so that we can offer truly chemical free eggs and meat to our customers who need that assurance.
We hope to hear from you soon, and we encourage you to get in touch with us or come visit our farm to learn more about how we raise our animals.
We never use medicated feeds, believing that the key to a healthy, vigorous flock is good hygiene and a normal level of exposure to pathogens. We are also working toward having all our new birds hatched and raised by hens, allowing nature to take care of things through the immunity to diseases given to young by their mothers. If any of our birds do get sick, we prefer to treat them with homeopathic or herbal treatments, but will give them antibiotics if absolutely necessary. However, we will identify any birds we have had to give antibiotics to so that we can offer truly chemical free eggs and meat to our customers who need that assurance.
We hope to hear from you soon, and we encourage you to get in touch with us or come visit our farm to learn more about how we raise our animals.
Heritage Breeds
Our farm is committed to raising only heritage type breeds of chickens. We find the heritage birds to be far more interesting and fun to raise than commercial hybrid birds.
Raising birds from publicly owned genetic stock keeps the control of the food system with us, the farmer, and since we can only keep birds that satisfy our customers needs, in a way it also keeps control of the food system with our customers. Commercial hybrids are created by raising two or four extremely inbred lines of different varieties and mating them together, resulting in very predictable birds that take advantage of something known as "hybrid vigour". This is where the sudden introduction of diversity into the gene pool gives extra strength and vigour to the animal, giving it a competitive advantage over other animals. This works the same way in plants, which is why most commercial varieties of plant food are hybridized. The only problem is that hybrid vigour is a one-off phenomenon, meaning that breeders have to re-cross the breeds every year to get the same results. The result is a gene pool with only a couple of variations and a farmer that has no way to raise their own chicks of almost any commercial breed of poultry today. Finally, maybe one of the biggest reasons we raise heritage birds is that we never again want to raise a bird that grows so fast its legs and heart can't keep up, or whose reproductive system works so hard it's ovaries give up after just a year.
Heritage breeds, on the other hand, come in a vast array of colours, shapes and personalities. And since they haven't all been selected for perfect feed conversion, most of them like to wander around the farm-yard looking for tasty treats rather than just sitting around the feeding troughs all day. We have some birds that will come right up to us to peck snow off our boots whenever we're around, others that bob their heads at each-other in a secret conversation and some that even stand still for us to give them a pet.
Raising birds from publicly owned genetic stock keeps the control of the food system with us, the farmer, and since we can only keep birds that satisfy our customers needs, in a way it also keeps control of the food system with our customers. Commercial hybrids are created by raising two or four extremely inbred lines of different varieties and mating them together, resulting in very predictable birds that take advantage of something known as "hybrid vigour". This is where the sudden introduction of diversity into the gene pool gives extra strength and vigour to the animal, giving it a competitive advantage over other animals. This works the same way in plants, which is why most commercial varieties of plant food are hybridized. The only problem is that hybrid vigour is a one-off phenomenon, meaning that breeders have to re-cross the breeds every year to get the same results. The result is a gene pool with only a couple of variations and a farmer that has no way to raise their own chicks of almost any commercial breed of poultry today. Finally, maybe one of the biggest reasons we raise heritage birds is that we never again want to raise a bird that grows so fast its legs and heart can't keep up, or whose reproductive system works so hard it's ovaries give up after just a year.
Heritage breeds, on the other hand, come in a vast array of colours, shapes and personalities. And since they haven't all been selected for perfect feed conversion, most of them like to wander around the farm-yard looking for tasty treats rather than just sitting around the feeding troughs all day. We have some birds that will come right up to us to peck snow off our boots whenever we're around, others that bob their heads at each-other in a secret conversation and some that even stand still for us to give them a pet.
Day-Range Management
It only takes a quick Google search to realize how controversial the term "free-range" is these days. Since there isn't much of a legal framework in North America for the term, there is an abundance of horror stories about the free-range bird you buy in the store having to share 10 square feet of "range" space with 50,000 other birds. To avoid confusion, we're using the term "day-range." In order to feel comfortable saying that our birds were completely free-range, we'd have to have all of our birds wandering freely throughout the farm wherever they please. While we would be happy to be able to provide this level of freedom for our birds, it is not always practical or safe.
That's not to say that our birds don't have ample space outside! It just means that we do use fences on our farm. Turkeys especially are notorious for ranging far and wide, and we can't have turkeys wandering around on the nearby highway. We also have several predators in our area, including coyotes and foxes, and need to keep them out of our poultry runs. We also need to make sure we are taking good care of the land that our birds are living on.
The only time that we completely fence in the birds for the day and night is during breeding season in late winter and early spring. Since we raise multiple breeds and need to ensure breed purity, we need to keep each breed in their own pen for those few months of the year when we are hatching lots of eggs. We also pen birds completely when the chicks are still so young even our cats would eat them, let alone hawks and foxes. We do ensure that the runs are more than big enough to provide enough outdoor exercise and sunshine for all the birds.
That's not to say that our birds don't have ample space outside! It just means that we do use fences on our farm. Turkeys especially are notorious for ranging far and wide, and we can't have turkeys wandering around on the nearby highway. We also have several predators in our area, including coyotes and foxes, and need to keep them out of our poultry runs. We also need to make sure we are taking good care of the land that our birds are living on.
The only time that we completely fence in the birds for the day and night is during breeding season in late winter and early spring. Since we raise multiple breeds and need to ensure breed purity, we need to keep each breed in their own pen for those few months of the year when we are hatching lots of eggs. We also pen birds completely when the chicks are still so young even our cats would eat them, let alone hawks and foxes. We do ensure that the runs are more than big enough to provide enough outdoor exercise and sunshine for all the birds.
