Pastured Poultry | Fresh Eggs | French Hens | Roasting Chickens

Chickens come in two kinds: those that lay eggs and those that cook up as tasty meat birds (either roasters, broilers or fryers). A laying hen is NOT a meat bird, though after two to three years of laying nice eggs, it can be used as a stewing chicken. There just isn't enough meat on their bones to qualify for Sunday dinner and all the breeding that has gone into laying hens is toward egg production, not toward making a fleshier bird.

Meat birds, on the other hand, are bred to put on weight fast and bulk out sufficiently to look nice on the dinner table. The standard for the poultry industry — and it is an industry — is the Cornish Cross, which is bred to come to market in eight weeks. All it does is sit around and eat, and after 9 weeks, its legs can't even support it. This is the chicken you get at the supermarket, with large breasts and very soft flesh.

The chickens raised at So'Journey Farm are a French breed (pictured above) out of Canada that accounts for one-third of all the chicken sold in France. It is slower growing, taking at least 4 months to come to market, and has enormous leg and thigh and smaller breast. It is utterly delicious and brings back all the old-time flavor of chicken to your cooking and eating experience.

We also grow the Cornish Roaster chicken (not to be confused with the Cornish Cross), which has more white meat and dresses out at over 7 pounds — very nice for a large Sunday dinner when you want leftovers for meals later in the week.

Both of these chickens are raised completely free-range, which means they get to chase bugs, scratch for seeds and eat grass in the fresh air and sunshine. For the laying hens it means the eggs are hard-shelled and almost orange yolked, and for the meat birds it means the tastiest of meat available. Both varieties of meat birds are best cooked slowly.

Chickens sell for $2.50 per pound, dressed, and if you contact me at , I will put your name on the waiting list for these birds.

Eggs sell for $3 per dozen.

Deliveries are occasionally made to the Pittsburgh area for large orders.

•  

  Sandra Brown
  So'Journey Farm
  1841 Bristoria Road
  Holbrook, PA 15341
  724-499-5680