That Time We Raised Broilers in the Snow

Today I've got a story for you that's a throwback to our first years of raising pastured poultry. 🐔

That's my dad, David, with us three oldest boys; Rex, Reeves, and myself, from left to right.

Mom took this photo on December 11th, 2013.

The reason we are all smiling in the photo is because this was the last day of (one of) the most difficult batches of pastured broilers we ever raised.

We were not smiling for many of the weeks leading up to this day.

As the demand for our pasture-raised chicken was growing, we were working hard to increase supply so our customers didn't go without. We decided to start a batch of broilers in October, later than we ever had before.

At the time, we raised our broilers—meat chickens—in "chicken tractors", which were floorless coops that we had to move by hand with a dolly. This worked great on pasture in warm temps, but not during that time of year.

The freezing temperatures made for a watering nightmare. Instead of using our gravity-fed bucket waterers, we resorted to water pans which we had to refill daily when they would freeze.

Choring in cold weather isn't fun. The chickens don't enjoy cold either, so moving them also took longer than usual.

And on December 5th, it snowed! Remember what I said about moving the chicken tractors BY HAND? 🤦‍♂️

Thankfully the snow didn't hang around for long, but those few days were ROUGH. We added straw for the broilers to bed in to help them keep warm and dry.

On December 11th, 2013, we loaded and butchered the FIRST and LAST batch of pastured broiler chickens that we have ever raised into December. 😅 Never again.

Part of any endeavor is learning. This was one of our first years of raising pastured broilers, and boy did we learn a lot.

We now only raise our broilers April through October, during the most ideal months of the year. This works out great for both the chickens and us!

If you've got more questions about how we produce the best tasting pasture-raised chicken in Kansas City, comment below!

As you know, transparency is one of our core values (most companies are afraid to share the nitty gritty 🤷‍♂️) so I'm always happy to answer your questions.

Your farmer

Remi Kesten