Chickens
Did you know that if you eat chicken in a restaurant then there is every chance it has been imported (the recent Avian Flu scare in Italy resulted in thousands of tonnes of Italian chicken finding its way into the UK)? Or were yo uaware that nealy 100% of the chicken in frozen products in supermarkets is foreign, predominately Brazilian and Thai?
We believe that traceability is extremely important and for that reason our chicken can be traced back to the parents. Our parent flock is bred by a specialist company in France (where taste rather than growth rate is the key factor). The birds are imported as day-old chicks and reared at Lowther in organic conditions (organic feed, free to roam etc). In due course (at around 20 weeks of age) they start producing fertile eggs which we hatch in our specially-built on-farm hatcher. The resulting chicks are then transferred to their ark, in batches of 650, where they will stay for the whole of their lives.
During the first 3 or 4 weeks the temperature within the arks if maintained by the use of gas-powered heat lamps. The initial temperature is around 30°C but this is gradually reduced until eventually, at around 4 weeks of age, the birds are strong enough to be allowed outside. From this time they have constant daytime access to unlimited organic pasture. The birds particularly enjoy long summer evenings and it is virtually impossible to convince them that they should retire inside before dusk (we do not erect electric fences to deter foxes, preferring the birds to have complete freedom; but the birds have to be shut-in at night to prevent predation). Consequently in mid-summer it can be 10 p.m. before the birds are housed.
The arks are insulated, draught-proof and well-bedded, and the birds have 24 hour access to feed and water.
Intensive poultry operations rely on minimal exposure to disease – a disease entering a shed of 50,000 birds can cause a disaster. A fundamental difference with our chickens is that the birds have regular exposure to older birds (there will be several different age groups in the same field and they will wander between the different groups!). This exposure ensures that the immune systems of the birds are challenged and therefore active and the birds will stay healthy (mostly) without recourse to antibiotics.
Over the past 30 years intensively-reared birds have been selected primarily for growth rate, and the majority of these birds will be killed at less than 40 days of age. Our birds are much slower growing and will be nearly twice as old at slaughter (and yet will yield the same carcase weight). This, combined with the daily exercise and intake of grass and clover (and insects!) from being allowed to range, result (in our opinion and that of many of our customers) in a far superior quality of meat – if you don’t believe me then try one of our chickens – if you do not notice a difference we will return your money.
Chickens can be purchased through various outlets including Booths’ Supermarkets. Click here for the complete list , or direct via our online shop.
Our chickens are reared on certified organic land for a minimum of 73 days. The carcases are hung to mature before being packaged, labelled and delivered to select local retailers, sold at Farmers Markets, sold direct from the farm or sold over our website.
We believe that traceability is extremely important and for that reason our chicken can be traced back to the parents. Our parent flock is bred by a specialist company in France (where taste rather than growth rate is the key factor). The birds are imported as day-old chicks and reared at Lowther in organic conditions (organic feed, free to roam etc). In due course (at around 20 weeks of age) they start producing fertile eggs which we hatch in our specially-built on-farm hatcher. The resulting chicks are then transferred to their ark, in batches of 650, where they will stay for the whole of their lives.
During the first 3 or 4 weeks the temperature within the arks if maintained by the use of gas-powered heat lamps. The initial temperature is around 30°C but this is gradually reduced until eventually, at around 4 weeks of age, the birds are strong enough to be allowed outside. From this time they have constant daytime access to unlimited organic pasture. The birds particularly enjoy long summer evenings and it is virtually impossible to convince them that they should retire inside before dusk (we do not erect electric fences to deter foxes, preferring the birds to have complete freedom; but the birds have to be shut-in at night to prevent predation). Consequently in mid-summer it can be 10 p.m. before the birds are housed.
The arks are insulated, draught-proof and well-bedded, and the birds have 24 hour access to feed and water.
Intensive poultry operations rely on minimal exposure to disease – a disease entering a shed of 50,000 birds can cause a disaster. A fundamental difference with our chickens is that the birds have regular exposure to older birds (there will be several different age groups in the same field and they will wander between the different groups!). This exposure ensures that the immune systems of the birds are challenged and therefore active and the birds will stay healthy (mostly) without recourse to antibiotics.
Over the past 30 years intensively-reared birds have been selected primarily for growth rate, and the majority of these birds will be killed at less than 40 days of age. Our birds are much slower growing and will be nearly twice as old at slaughter (and yet will yield the same carcase weight). This, combined with the daily exercise and intake of grass and clover (and insects!) from being allowed to range, result (in our opinion and that of many of our customers) in a far superior quality of meat – if you don’t believe me then try one of our chickens – if you do not notice a difference we will return your money.
Chickens can be purchased through various outlets including Booths’ Supermarkets. Click here for the complete list , or direct via our online shop.
Our chickens are reared on certified organic land for a minimum of 73 days. The carcases are hung to mature before being packaged, labelled and delivered to select local retailers, sold at Farmers Markets, sold direct from the farm or sold over our website.