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We will be sharing updates, what's growing this week, and farm recipes
We'd also love to share your recipes! Reach out anywhere- social media, email, or at the market- and share what you made with your Bandana Pond produce & meat.
A big part of our family's love for farming comes from the care and keeping of chickens. This year we expanded our layer flock from 13 to 39 hens (and maybe one rooster.. stay tuned) and began our venture of keeping meat birds.
The decision to do pasture-raised broiler chicken was not arrived at lightly. The idea of eating birds that we had raised with love was both comforting and.. not. Knowing that we would continue to eat chicken as a family led us to our decision. We would give our meat birds the best possible life and know that they will return that with the best possible nutrition for our family and yours.
The conversation started; what breed chicken should we raise? A common meat breed is Cornish Cross, bred for extremely fast growth. The health problems associated with their quick growth didn’t sit right with us. These birds grow so unnaturally fast that their health and comfort suffer. While we understand why a lot of folks who raise broilers would choose the Cornish Cross, we decided that a more slow-growing chicken breed would better align with our philosophy.
After much research, we decided to purchase a slower-growing breed from Freedom Ranger Hatcheries. It turns out, these breeds not only live healthier lives, they produce healthier meat! They are known for producing more yellow omega-3 fat and less saturated fat.
With the chicks ordered, Jett got to work building a chicken tractor. If you’re wondering what the heck a chicken tractor is, let me explain. It’s a shelter structure built onto wheels that can be moved daily, providing fresh pasture.
Once our first batch of 30 rangers got here, they stayed in our brooder in the shed with the heat lamp while we waited on the weather to warm up. Here they are all moved out to the chicken tractor enjoying the sunshine and fresh pasture
That brings us to today: chick day.. again! With our first batch of rangers out to pasture, we ordered the second. This morning we picked up our day-old chicks from our local post office and brought them home to the brooder. We will make the second chicken tractor and move them out to pasture once they’re old enough.
If you’re interested in pre-ordering one of our pasture-raised broiler chickens, meet us at the Ashland Farmer’s Market on Saturdays or fill out an order form on bandanapondfarm.com. The first batch will be available mid-June for pickup at the Farmer’s Market.
If you're unfamiliar, substack is an online platform and app that allows you to subscribe to newsletters. It's blog-style, meaning we're able to add a lot more info to our pictures than you see on our other social media.
