animals
meat birds
The first batch of pasture-raised, organic meat birds have all sold, sorry, but the second batch are enjoying their time on the farm and growing fast! They will be available fresh July 30 and frozen there-after, while supplies last. To pre-order, give us a call, or send us an email. 250-737-1879 or rfs@shaw.ca You can pick them up at the farm starting July 30, at the Duncan Market, or if quantities are sufficient, we can deliver to Victoria.
The permanent residents of the farm include the Ladies (a mix of Buff Orpington and Sal-Link hens) and Lucky, our Buff Rooster.
Soon we will be adding some Muscovy ducks who will live in our pond.
We have also raised organic meat birds (heritage turkeys and chickens), pigs, and cattle.
These are our young Large Black pigs which will be ready at the end of the year.
We raise our meat chickens in "tractors" in fresh air and sunshine on pasture where they can eat grass and bugs, and generally forage to supplement their feed. These birds are are happy not to be confined to a barn.
These movable pens are shifted to fresh pasture twice each day. The birds learn that when the pen starts to move they will soon have lots of bugs and grass to eat and so they rush to the end with the pulling rope to have the best chance to get the new stuff. Then they drop down in the grass to rest with the breeze blowing through. Their main diet consists of non-GMO and organic feed which costs about twice the price of regular feed. We feel it's worth the extra cost to know we are not eating Roundup and a myriad of other chemicals with our chicken dinner.
It's quite a different life for these chickens than for birds raised on hard floors in barns or cages. These pastured birds taste quite different than supermarket chickens and everyone who tastes them is surprised by how much better they taste. We raise fryers and roasters from 4 - 8 lbs. We will have one more batch of fresh chickens this year, but we will have frozen birds until we have sold as many as we can spare from our own family needs.