Pastoral Poultry, Traditional Farming For A Modern Era

[microburst]

I'm not sure about the "Natural" certification Silkiemomma, as I thought there was just organic, and not organic. I've seen "natural" and "GMO free" products and feed available, just didn't think it was an official label, is it?
I'm looking into growing cover crops in the fall, possibly red clover but I need to check with a few local farmers first.
I did take a sustainable poultry course and the state representative said we were all exempt because of the few number of animals on our farms. Then I spoke with a local produce market owner who told me that one of the small poultry farms (I think it was in Santa Margarita) got shut down by the feds for doing their own processing. I need to find out more about this as there are a lot of details missing here... Just want to make sure all our bases are covered because the last thing I need is an invasion by the Feds (like I read about happening to many small farms) destroying everything I've built! Seems like there are too many confusing laws out there that come between people and their simple, nourishing food...

 

[FROMWHITEDOGHILL]

In Oklahoma we have 'organic' which everyone says is difficult to do because of all the regulations, but we also have 'Free Range' which has far less restrictions.........most of the eggs I see at weekend Farmers Markets are free range.........??

 

[bayocum]

Hey Brice..................just read the whole thread and looked at some webpages. Lots of good information, from some folks that obviously know what they are talking about. I'm kinda a new guy...I got my first White Leghorns in 1957. I too raise Basque Hens. I thought I had seen your screen name before either on The Basque Thread or EOCF. I have breeders that I purchased from James at Skyline and I was able to purchase some of their breeders last year when Greenfire Farms sold out of Basque Hens. Over the years, I have had LOTS of breeds of Chickens, but have never been as happy with any as my BH's. My mature hens all measured well according to COTH measurments for egg numbers. I also raise Buckeyes, Lemon Barred Orphs, Black and White Breese from Greenfire, Blue and Black Breda, and Cottage Hill line of Wheaton Marans. I also have Midget White Turkeys and Regal Red and Harvest Gold Turkeys.............other than that........I just mess around a little with chickens. I am trying to replicate the production of Bresse like the French did. Planting Clover this year and just now hatching lots of birds to feed out....I am curious about the taste to see if it really is different. I KNOW they lay exceptionally well.........I have lots of little blue legged, yellow babies running around!!! Congratulations on your thread........glad to see a thread with dedicated chicken folks.........I know people use BYC sometimes just to vent their gripes.........but it is nice to read about real chicken people with real chicken issues and getting real chicken answers......KEEP IT GOING.........................Mike

Thanks Mike...have you seen our post on "Adventures in American Bresse" on our website? I need to get a third installment on there soon. We are having a great time with our "adapted" French methods. A little over month to go and we will be have Bresse for dinner. Have Black Bresse in the incubator now. I really agree about the BH (or EO's), they are a solid bird, no two ways about it. My roosters have all be less than cordial though, wish they were more like my Buckeye. I really appreciate your thoughts...as a novice (ha ha...I wasn't even a twinkle in 1957). I just wanted to start a thread where all experience levels were welcome, where you can learn without being ridiculed, and where people can talk about promoting heritage chickens for practical use, including their local markets. Can't wait to learn more from you Mike!

 

[bayocum]

I'm not sure about the "Natural" certification Silkiemomma, as I thought there was just organic, and not organic. I've seen "natural" and "GMO free" products and feed available, just didn't think it was an official label, is it?
I'm looking into growing cover crops in the fall, possibly red clover but I need to check with a few local farmers first.
I did take a sustainable poultry course and the state representative said we were all exempt because of the few number of animals on our farms. Then I spoke with a local produce market owner who told me that one of the small poultry farms (I think it was in Santa Margarita) got shut down by the feds for doing their own processing. I need to find out more about this as there are a lot of details missing here... Just want to make sure all our bases are covered because the last thing I need is an invasion by the Feds (like I read about happening to many small farms) destroying everything I've built! Seems like there are too many confusing laws out there that come between people and their simple, nourishing food...

We have grown crimson clover from Peaceful Valley with a lot of success on this side of the valley. It's beautiful, the birds love it, and so do the bees...which is great for gardeners.

 

[FROMWHITEDOGHILL]

Great! Tanks for the info on Clover.................I read smewhere about Crimson and it looked good. You are right about the Bresse...particulary the Black, my Rooster is an onery sucker. I wish he was more like my EO Roosters. I've always liked RIR's and the auto-sexing thing interested me so I bought 2 batches of Rodebars and some Cream Legbars...they all have just begun to lay along with my EO pullets.......eggs, eggs everywhere! Just added your thread to my favorites so I'll stay tuned........Mike

 

[Partyfowl]

We have grown crimson clover from Peaceful Valley with a lot of success on this side of the valley.  It's beautiful, the birds love it, and so do the bees...which is great for gardeners.  

LOVE peaceful valley. The have great varieties of all kinds of cover crops. And you get free garden seeds with your purchase. Everybody loves free!

 

[silkiemomma42]

We usually do a clover, a legume and a tuber cover crop to ensure that all different depths of soil are affected by the different root lengths. We also amended with lime last year. In Tennessee my husband worked for the local co-op and was friends with a lot of the farmers that came through. Most were certified natural instead of organic because while meaning roughly the same thing it was much easier to obtain. They actually could certify one another. I can ask him.more about how it works. His friend from New market Tennessee certifies farms. I'm not sure if that's isolated geographically or not. good luck my friend!

 

[alisar]

My Bresse cockerel was very nice. He didn't like to be petted, but calmed down and only grumbled a little once picked up. The guy I got him from has culled heavily for personality though. No naughty birds allowed.

I'll be trying to grow a "Chicken Salad" area for the birds so I can throw greens in their pen. Where we keep the birds is prime coyote land, along with hawks and eagles galore so I can't have them free range safely.

 

[CC Lefty]

Well, here I am. Nice work on the thread, Brice. Seems that there are a number of people interested in poultry in the proper way. As for the conversation pertaining to Delawares, I wish I could be of more use. I originally purchased a small flock from Whitmore Farms a little over a year ago just to see half taken away by the local coyote crew at about 13 weeks. I did butcher a few of the roosters at 16-18 weeks and found the carcass to be well proportioned and of reasonable weight (4 lbs. roughly).

I still have four hens from that crew and their laying is second to none. I noticed someone on here offering up a spreadsheet that would help me make more sense of my production, but I can assure you that the Delaware's don't really miss a beat. The did shut off and molt this past winter for about six weeks, but once they came back on, they were on. I now have them in the hog pasture with the BCM rooster that Brice gave me, and am interested to see what kind of hybrid meat project I can play with. I did notice that someone on this thread has played with this hybrid before; I'd love to hear the details. Anyway, I'll do my best to keep engaged with this thread. I've been with Backyard Chickens for a few years now and have mostly been uninterested with the ongoing discussions. Now that this thread has started, it's nice to have a place to share thoughts with like minded individuals.

One final thought on cover crop / forage pasture. Over the past few years, I've paid a small fortune to Peaceful Valley (love them, this is not a disparaging comment on them) on cover crop and have been quite happy with the results. The only problem was, I was paying a small fortune each season. This past fall I decided to try and experiment and purchased a few pounds of pigeon feed and spread it out in my garden beds to see what would happen. It was in a white bag under the label "Breeder's Cup," if I'm not mistaken. It contained a hodgepodge of whole grains and legumes (wheat, triticale, milo, field peas, vetch, safflower) and in just under two weeks, I had a gorgeous patch of cover crop growing. Coolest thing is that it is an all season blend with wheat, peas, vetch dominating in the cooler months, and triticale, milo, and safflower dominating as the month begin to warm. Cooler still, it was only 50 cents a pound as opposed to the $3-4 per pound that I was spending. The chickens go absolutely crazy for it as well. Keep on keeping it on!

Cheers,

Seth

 

[bayocum]

Great! Tanks for the info on Clover.................I read smewhere about Crimson and it looked good. You are right about the Bresse...particulary the Black, my Rooster is an onery sucker. I wish he was more like my EO Roosters. I've always liked RIR's and the auto-sexing thing interested me so I bought 2 batches of Rodebars and some Cream Legbars...they all have just begun to lay along with my EO pullets.......eggs, eggs everywhere! Just added your thread to my favorites so I'll stay tuned........Mike

Actually Mike I was referring to my Basque Hen roosters...I've eaten one because he was really agressive...it looks like more will be going to the pot as soon as I can get some replacements going

. My Bresse roos have been great, but they're only 13 weeks right now, so we will see how they get during breeding season...at least the ones that make it that long. Thanks for adding us to your favorites...that's great!