Home Use
The kind of chickens you want will depend on whether you want meat, eggs or exhibition stock. Most people keep chicken for home use. Hens from breeds and varieties such as Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire Red, and Single Comb White Leghorn can be used for egg production, but for maximum egg production and the best investment for your use, commercial stock would be the best.
Pastured Poultry
A niche market you can tap
Pastured poultry is a niche market in which some consumers are willing to pay more for what many of them consider to be tastier, healthier and more humanely grown chicken. The poultry industry in the U.S. was pasture based until the 1950s when confinement housing became the norm. Small, independent producers have been replaced by highly integrated companies.
Today there are many consumers interested in "natural" poultry products. Consumers have different interpretations of the term "natural" but it usually includes flocks of chickens that roam on grassy pasture and eat only non-medicated feeds that do not contain unappealing by-products. Some consumers want certified organic products or gourmet products, believing that pastured poultry delivers better nutrition and taste.
Pastured poultry is a niche market in which some consumers are willing to pay more for what many of them consider to be tastier, healthier and more humanely grown chicken. The poultry industry in the U.S. was pasture based until the 1950s when confinement housing became the norm. Small, independent producers have been replaced by highly integrated companies.
Today there are many consumers interested in "natural" poultry products. Consumers have different interpretations of the term "natural" but it usually includes flocks of chickens that roam on grassy pasture and eat only non-medicated feeds that do not contain unappealing by-products. Some consumers want certified organic products or gourmet products, believing that pastured poultry delivers better nutrition and taste.
Some are motivated by nostalgia and look for that Sunday fried chicken they enjoyed on Grandma's farm. Some consumers are interested in range poultry for welfare or aesthetic reasons, or because they think it is an environmentally sound way to produce poultry. Other distinctions made by consumers and retailers have to do more with processing than production. Some consumers are attracted to the concept of on-farm processing, while others demand government inspected processing. Some consumers also make marketing distinctions. For example, they may prefer to buy direct from the farmer to support local food production and strengthen rural communities.
