POULTRY Plans

There isn't one correct way to raise chickens, as these two families show.

- BRUCE INGRAM

My daughter, Sarah, and her husband, David, and their two children live across the hollow from me and my wife, Elaine. They have a totally different vision of how to raise chickens than Elaine and I do. And Sarah's concept of keeping chickens versus ours basically covers many of the decisions that people have to make when they decide to rear poultry. Let's look at how those paths differ so that you can determine for yourself which approach to take.

HERITAGE VS. INDUSTRIAL

When Elaine and I first began raising chickens, we went the standard "buy them at the feedsupply store" route. But after four years of industrial birds and doing a great deal of research, we decided to rear heritage Rhode Island Reds. Our industrial RIRS never once tried to brood eggs, and the roosters, without exception, were aggressive toward us. When we learned that many of the traditional chicken breeds were in danger of disappearing and that industrial hens had the broody trait bred out of them, our path was clear.

So we ordered heritage RIR chicks in 2014 and have ever since depended on our hens and roosters to do what comes naturally and instinctively to them: add new members to our flock. We also have added other heritage RIR chicks from breeders and friends that raise them to create genetic diversity within our two runs. And every spring, we look forward to when one or two of our hens go broody, and 21 days later, we never grow tired of hearing the first peeps emitting from the nesting box.

Of course, our excitement peaks when we glimpse several fuzzy heads emerging from beneath the mother hen.

Sarah's approach is entirely different, and she is just as pleased with her game plan as we are with ours. In early spring every year, she orders six to eight pullets of some hybrid breed, usually RIRS or White Leghorns. Within a short time, the birds, especially the Leghorns, are producing huge numbers of eggs.