As of last week, pasture-raised chicken eggs have arrived to our market from our farming partners at Rainbow Meadow Farm and Cozi Farm.   There are distinct differences between pasture-raised chicken farms that operate on a small, local scale and the large factory farms that supply agribusiness corporations.   Governmental regulations have been loosely constructed, allowing industrial egg laying operations (farms that are large enough to supply the chain grocery stores) to label their eggs as "free-range".  But just because the label says "free-range" doesn't necessarily ensure that the chickens are raised outdoors.  "Free-range" labels only ensure that the chickens have an opening to an outdoor environment, but do not ensure that the chickens actually spend a significant amount of time on pasture.  Recently local farms that actually raise chickens naturally in outdoor environments have used the term "pasture-raised" to distinguish their products.  We got a chance to talk to Genell Pridgen of Rainbow Meadow Farms and find out how their family's pasture-raised chicken farm operates differently from conventional chicken house operations.

Maintaining an indoor, industrial, hen house is a very complex process - requiring large amounts of electricity, sanitation to remove waste, constant monitoring of the birds' health, as well as preventative measure such as antibiotics.  By contrast, raising chickens outside on pasture is a much simpler and refreshing process that really makes more sense all around.  At Rainbow Meadow Farm animal production is kept at a sustainable level of production, meaning they take care not to raise more animals than the land can support.  Now that spring is near, all the laying hens at Rainbow Meadow are spending most of the day outdoors, only returning to the hen-house at night when temperatures begin to drop or during adverse weather.  

Rainbow Meadow Farm uses a pasture rotation in which the foraging habits of the each animal compliments that of the proceeding animal.  On Rainbow Meadow Farm, the rotation consists of sheep, cattle, laying hens, and broilers.   Chickens play a very important role in this rotation, and can play a crucial part of any self-sustaining farm.  After the large animals like sheep or cattle have spent a few weeks in a pasture, the chickens are brought in to go to work consuming parasitic insects and roundworm larvae that are left behind.  This is of great benefit to their much larger farm-mates, the sheep and cattle, which can be harmed by these parasites.  The chickens also do a great job of breaking down and cleaning up the land, for the next round of large grazers.  Instead of removing waste from inside a large industrial hen house, the waste from the laying hens (a great source of nitrogen) is naturally spread throughout the pasture as the chickens roam for forage.  

Two times a day, Genell sends her son out to collect eggs.  She says that while most of the hens lay eggs in the morning hours, some hens wait until later in the day.  At night, after the hen houses have been checked twice for eggs, Genell's father and mother, Jeff and Sandra Garner, hand-wash, grade, and pack the eggs for market.  Functioning as a true family farm, there is enough work to keep everyone in the family busy, and everyone living on the family farm participates in some part of the farm business. 

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