Our hens are raised on pasture and are free to scratch for bugs, graze on grass, preen and lie down in the warmth of the sun with plenty of room to spread their wings.
Because chickens cannot survive on pasture alone, we provide a grain based layer food. However, pastured chickens will get up to 30 percent of their nutritional needs from insects, grass, clover and other greens. As a result of this kind of diet, their eggs have higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, vitamin A, folic acid and carotenoids and half the cholesterol.
Eggs are picked, hand-washed, boxed and labeled daily.
Next year Coulee View Family Farm plan to experiment with raising some rare dual-purpose breeds of chickens. The roosters will be raised as broilers and the hens would be saved as layers. We are considering Delaware, Buckeye and Chantecler all of which are listed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) as "Critical".
We hope to play a role in the dedication to the preservation of genetic resources by supporting breeders of these varieties.