I am near San Jose, California (about 60 miles south of San Francisco), and I am looking for a source for chicken eggs from chickens that are fed on a Paleo diet. This means that the chickens are being fed large amounts of insects, meat, fish, green vegetables, sprouting seeds, fruits, and other items that are Paleo diet compliant. I am unable to find any commercial farm that raises chickens on these dietary items, and that is obviously because of cost. I am willing to work out an arrangement with a local backyard farmer to share the feed costs, and I get eggs in exchange. Ideally, I would like to find someone who is also on the Paleo diet. That way the person who owns the chickens and I have similar dietary goals, and we can work together on the diet for the chickens as a shared activity with mutually shared goals.
I know that some people here feel chickens need to be fed grains made of wheat, corn, etc. I think that this topic belongs in a different thread. But I think it is worth mentioning that the modern chicken was first domesticated only 7500 years ago, in Asia, using Grey Junglefowl and Red Junglefowl as the starter animal. Junglefowl eat exactly the diet I am describing. They forage for insects, seeds, vegetables, and fruits.
http://animals.pawnation.com/wild-chickens-eat-1958.html
When modern domesticated chickens are released into the wild, they almost immediately revert back to their ancestral diets. That's programmed into them by genes that were set millions of years ago. The changes made 7500 years ago were about breeding for rapid egg laying and captivity, not diet. The reason people feed chickens corn and wheat grains is because it is CHEAP. It is not because the chickens need this. In Winter when it is cold, the chicken will do very well on a rich diet of proteins and vegetables and fruits. And you will spend twice as much money supporting them. People feed chickens these cheap glucose-and-carbohydrate loaded grains for the same reasons that the commercial food industry stuffs nearly all processed foods for humans with the same ingredients: MONEY. Eating well - whether you are a chicken or a human - costs more money than eating poorly.
Assuming that I can find a local group of chickens that the owner is willing to raise as Paleo chickens, I will have you work with a friend who is already very successfully raising her chickens this way. She knows EVERYTHING about how to feed a Paleo chicken successfully and has a lot of experience with it. Unfortunately she is 1500 miles away and I cannot buy her eggs.
Hoping I can find someone close to San Jose, California who is willing to at least discuss this proposal. Thanks to all.
I know that some people here feel chickens need to be fed grains made of wheat, corn, etc. I think that this topic belongs in a different thread. But I think it is worth mentioning that the modern chicken was first domesticated only 7500 years ago, in Asia, using Grey Junglefowl and Red Junglefowl as the starter animal. Junglefowl eat exactly the diet I am describing. They forage for insects, seeds, vegetables, and fruits.
http://animals.pawnation.com/wild-chickens-eat-1958.html
When modern domesticated chickens are released into the wild, they almost immediately revert back to their ancestral diets. That's programmed into them by genes that were set millions of years ago. The changes made 7500 years ago were about breeding for rapid egg laying and captivity, not diet. The reason people feed chickens corn and wheat grains is because it is CHEAP. It is not because the chickens need this. In Winter when it is cold, the chicken will do very well on a rich diet of proteins and vegetables and fruits. And you will spend twice as much money supporting them. People feed chickens these cheap glucose-and-carbohydrate loaded grains for the same reasons that the commercial food industry stuffs nearly all processed foods for humans with the same ingredients: MONEY. Eating well - whether you are a chicken or a human - costs more money than eating poorly.
Assuming that I can find a local group of chickens that the owner is willing to raise as Paleo chickens, I will have you work with a friend who is already very successfully raising her chickens this way. She knows EVERYTHING about how to feed a Paleo chicken successfully and has a lot of experience with it. Unfortunately she is 1500 miles away and I cannot buy her eggs.
Hoping I can find someone close to San Jose, California who is willing to at least discuss this proposal. Thanks to all.
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and Welcome to BYC! You might try posting in the California threads on the Where Am I Where Are You forum for a better chance of finding people in your area for the project you have in mind. 
