Polyface Pastured Broiler Chickens

First, what's a "broiler"? If you're like me, this term doesn't make you think "Oh, a chicken. Obviously". When a farmer talks about a 'broiler', they're not referring to the top burner of an oven specifically made to turn yummy foods black in the time it takes you to blink three times.

Broilers are young meat chickens. These young chickens are selected to be meaty and grow faster than egg-laying type chickens. It's easy to think about the phenotype difference between a basketball player and a lineman in football. That's the difference between an egg-laying chicken and a meat chicken.

Here at Polyface, we purchase our meat (broiler) chicks from an independent hatchery, starting the birds in a brooder for warmth and protection.  They arrive at Polyface completely unmedicated when they're about 1 day old. 

After 3 weeks in our warm brooder, we put them on pasture in floorless 12 ft. X 10 ft. X 2 ft. high portable shelters that we move every day. These shelters have open sides for ventilation.

Each shelter houses about 70 birds. In their 5-6 weeks on pasture, each bird enjoys about 60 cumulative square feet of pasture, given in daily installments.  Think about that. SIXTY square feet PER chicken. A fresh salad bar and a change of bedding each day.  

While chickens only eat 10-15 percent of their diet in forages, those green leaves are like a tonic for health and proper nutritional balance like Omega 3 fatty acids.

Because chickens wake early, we move them at daybreak while the dew is still on the grass and it’s as crisp and succulent as possible.  

The covered shelters protect these vulnerable birds from aerial and ground predators, which are many.  Everything that goes bump in the night likes to eat chicken. 

Half of the shelter over these broilers is shaded. With their white feathers and meaty bodies, broilers like to relax in the shade during the afternoon hours of the day when their bellies are full. 

Depending on growth, we process these birds at 7, 8, or 9 weeks. They eat a non-GMO locally sourced ration that is tested for chemical residues. These birds inhale no fecal particulate like factory birds and always have a fresh place to live.  

Our Polyface broilers get fresh air and sunshine and are in small enough groups to keep from being stressed. Let that sink in for a moment... Folks have wondered why Polyface chicken is so tender, simply falls off the bones, and makes them feel so much better after eating it than commercial counterparts. Our thinking concludes that the same things that are good for people are good for our animals - plenty of fresh air and sunshine, and avoiding stress and 'fight or flight' situations. It just makes sense, doesn't it? 

Our first group of broilers starts in early March and the last bird finishes in late October. We have just one more group of birds on the pasture for 2024! Our entire broiler program is a 6-month on, 6-month off project and we rely on freezers to ensure a year-round supply of these amazing tender chickens.  

Since chickens don’t like snow, the seasonality of our system accommodates the chickens during their most comfortable growing time. It ensures that we have plenty of grass for them to eat. It also ensures that the ground behind them has plenty of time to soak in the nutrients left behind (no need for Polyface to apply fertilizers here!) and strengthen the earth.

Outside of growing and processing broilers for your own family, we're firm believers that choosing Polyface broiler chickens is one of the very best choices you can make for yourself, your family, and the Earth we've been given to live on. I encourage everyone I meet to come to Polyface sometime during summer and see this amazing (yet simple) system for raising the best chicken on earth.

Live well,

Hannah