Fresh Poultry Processed on Farm

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• Freshly processed poultry must be arranged at least one day in advance 

• Availability is seasonal, not all options are available at all time

• We recommend waiting at least 24 hours after processing to cook your chicken

We offer various types of free-range poultry. We regularly take chicken to state or federally-licensed processors for sale at farmer's markets and online sales; chicken processed by licensed butchers is available frozen in our online store. Additionally, we offer chicken processed on-farm, that customers can pick up within hours of processing. You MUST contact us at least one day before you want to pick up, so that we can catch the chicken and withdraw feed ahead of time.

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We sell the following types of chickens; we may not have all options available at all times, please contact us to inquire.​

• American Bresse Heritage Chickens: These chickens are a slow-growing breed originally developed in France, and are famed for their extremely rich and juicy meat. Like all non-industrial chicken breeds, they have a small breast compared to grocery store chicken. Most of our Bresse chicken is hatched here on the farm, and takes 16-20 weeks to reach a market size of 2-4 lbs dressed. When we take multiple Bresse to a processor, we usually keep them in captivity for about 10 days before slaughter and feed them a rich diet of grain soaked in milk so their meat is rich and more tender. These chickens have the juiciest breast meat we have ever eaten. They are best suited for roasting and braising; if you would like to cook your chicken using high, dry heat, we recommend that you try a small "broiler" age bird (1-2.5 lbs processed) which is younger and thus more tender.

• Heritage Breed Stewing Chickens: These are various breeds of hens and roosters, at least 6 months old for roosters and 2 years for hens. After that age, the amount of eggs a hen lays declines, making them less desirable to keep for egg production. After a happy life of running around, these chickens have tough meat that must be stewed for several hours in order to become soft, due to the large amount of connective tissue. However, they yield extremely tasty broth and are ideal for soups and stews. We will occasionally sell younger hens for meat, but if they are still young and producing eggs, expect to pay $30 each for them!

• Other Poultry: At certain times of the year, we have young (4-5 months) heritage cockerels available as we wait for our Bresse to mature. We sometimes have young Pekin duck, and more frequently have young Muscovy duck. We regularly raise heritage breed turkeys for Thanksgiving, although we limit sales of young birds/live birds over the summer to ensure that we have enough stock to fill our requests for Thanksgivng/Christmas. Should our guinea fowl ever figure out how to reproduce, we would have some of those on offer too.

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Poultry Cost

• HOW ON FARM PROCESSING WORKS: We are technically (and in the eyes of the USDA) selling you a live chicken, and then assessing an additional fee for processing. Poultry processed on farm under federal exemption must be picked ip on farm in a face-to-face transaction (i.e., no online ordering.)

• Price per pound. ("Live" means you are buying a live chicken and taking it away with you; "killed and plucked" means your chicken is deceased and defeathered but the guts are still in there; "processed" means that we kill, pluck, and eviscerate your chicken for you.)

  • American Bresse fryers, 14-20 weeks old, 2-4 lbs butchered: $3.5/lb live weight, plus $2 for killed and plucked; $7/lb fully processed*

  • American Bresse broilers, 7-12 weeks old, 1-2.5 lbs butchered: $4.5/lb live weight, plus $2 for killed and plucked; $9/lb fully processed*

  • Stewing Hen/Rooster (1 year or older, 1.5-6 lbs butchered): $2/lb live weight, plus $2 for killed and plucked; $5 for fully processed*

  • Young Ducks (3-4 months old, hens 3-4 lbs, drakes 6-7 lbs butchered): $3.5/lb live weight, plus $12 for killed and plucked; $8/lb fully processed*

  • Heritage Turkeys (5-7 months old, 8-12 lbs butchered): $5/lb live weight, plus $7 for killed and plucked; $8/lb fully  processed*

  • *Fully processed includes cost of live bird, killing, plucking, evisceration, and packaging in a shrink wrap bag suitable for storage in freezer. Giblets, neck, feet, and/or head returned upon request, charged at same price per lb as above.

• Processing options

  • Standard (whole chicken, without head, neck, feet)

  • Traditional (whole chicken with head, neck, and feet attached; also known as "Buddhist style" under USDA guidelines)

• Extras​

  • Return giblets (liver, gizzard, and heart): Charged at same price per pound

  • Return neck, head, or pair of feet: Charged at same price per pound as fully processed

IMPORTANT NOTE: Unless you are going to cook your chicken within 1 hour of slaughter, we recommend that you let your chicken rest for a minimum of 24 hours after slaughter -- for best results, let your chicken rest in the refrigerator for 1-2 days before eating. This is to let rigor mortis pass and allow the chicken to become more tender.

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At this time, we do not provide processing services for chickens raised off our farm, or rent out our processing equipment.

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