The Rabbit Revolution Goes to the Birds

Two Gold Sex Link and one Red Broiler chicks

The Rabbit Revolution has taken on some new little birdy friends. I sent Joy to the feed store for four Red Broiler (a medium growth meat chicken) chicks, and she came home with one Red Broiler and two Gold Sex Links. Something about that being the last Red Broiler and they’d throw it in for free if she bought the two Gold Sex Links. At any rate, now we’re growing our first meat chicken and two replacement layers.

I’m anticipating a very tasty bird indeed. From what I have read, the Red Broiler is a slower-grower than the convential Cornish Cross chicken. This more natural growth leads to a bird with a smaller breast, but more flavorful meat. In case you haven’t seen Super Size Me or Food, Inc., Cornish Cross are the chickens who grow at such incredible rates that their legs often collapse and/or their hearts explode. I’m not kidding.

All this leg collapsing and heart exploding leads to birds who don’t really like to move around a whole lot. They’d really rather just lay there by the water and feed than scratch around, eating bugs and greens like a normal chicken. Not our idea of a healthy, happy, edible creature.

Also, we will know for sure that our chicken does not contain arsenic. Yes, arsenic. Poisonous, poisonous arsenic. A common additive to conventional meat chicken feed are arsenic derivitives (they go by many names) which prevent coccidiosis. Coccidiosis, a disease caused by protozoa, occurs when birds are kept in crowded, unsanitary conditions. So, if a farmer maintains good hygiene and does not overcrowd and stress his/her birds, coccidiosis can be prevented. But that’s not the way it works in large-scale agriculture, because that doesn’t benefit the profit margins. So birds are fed poison as medicine, even if they’re not sick.

A 2006 study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy found that 55% of the chicken meat the researchers bought in the grocery store contained arsenic at detectable levels. Their sample included USDA  organic chicken, which is not allowed to be fed arsenic-containing food additives.

Not all large producers feed their chickens arsenic. Both Tyson and Perdue have stopped using it in their feed. Foster Farms also says that they do not use it. The only way to really know that your chicken is safe to eat is to either know your farmer or raise it yourself. We’re doing both.

We recently acquired a fancy schmancy chicken tractor from Rois at Hrafinstaad Suburban Homestead. I need to replace the way-too-big-for-juveniles welded wire mesh with chicken wire and bleach the crap out it, and it’ll be set to go! Meaty Bird and her little layer friends will go out there in a week or two, in time for us to receive the 6 Freedom Ranger chicks we ordered through our good friend Chris Musser at Lost Arts Kitchen. From my reading, the Freedom Rangers are very similar to, if not the same as, the Red Broilers. Guess we’ll find out!

I’m excited to start on this new project. It’s all part of our training to be real farmers!