Most chicken sold in America comes from one type of bird bred for one job, which is converting feed into breast meat as fast as physically possible. That bird is not well suited to a pasture. So we raise something else.
The problem with the standard bird
The Cornish Cross reaches market weight in about six weeks. It is an extraordinary feat of breeding and a poor fit for grass. Those birds often struggle to walk far, prefer sitting by the feeder, and have leg and heart problems if pushed past their window. Putting one on pasture does not make it a pasture bird.
Enter the Grey Broiler
Grey Broilers, sometimes called colored range birds, are bred for slower, more balanced growth. They take a few weeks longer to finish and they spend those weeks doing what chickens do.
What we see in the field
What it means for the meat
A bird that used its legs has more developed dark meat and better texture throughout. The flavor is more distinct than the neutral supermarket bird, and the skin renders better because the fat is different. It is chicken that tastes like something.
The tradeoffs, honestly
Slower growth means more feed days, more pasture moves, and higher cost per bird. Grey Broilers also finish at varied weights rather than a uniform size, which is why we sell in weight tiers from about three pounds up. If you have only bought identical shrink wrapped birds, that variation is new, and it is a feature of real animals.
How we raise them
Our Grey Broilers live on pasture with shelter, get moved regularly to clean ground, and are unvaccinated and raised without routine pharmaceuticals. Birds are processed at a licensed facility and frozen immediately upon processing.
Reserve a bird
Whole, frozen Grey Broilers are sold by preorder in weight tiers on the chicken pre-sale page, with pickup at our farm in Conway, PA.
