10/20/2026
People ask us why our chicken costs more than the chicken at the store. It is a fair question, and the honest answer is that it costs more to raise a bird this way.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says a whole fresh chicken at the grocery store averaged about $2.06 a pound across the country in September. To hit that price, the big poultry companies raise birds fast and close together. National Chicken Council numbers show the average bird goes to market in about 47 days, and the industry's own welfare guidelines allow up to 8.5 pounds of live chicken per square foot of barn for birds that size. That works out to less than one square foot per bird. Federal rules let the big plants run up to 140 birds a minute down the processing line, and USDA has proposed raising that to 175.
Our birds live outside in fresh air and sunlight. We move the chicken tractors onto fresh grass so they always have clean ground to scratch and peck at, and that takes land, time, and a lot of walking. Their feed is real whole grain. Cracked corn, roasted soybeans, oats, and kelp meal, mixed by Miller-Bowie Feed from local farmers' non-GMO crops, plus Fertrell Nutri-Balancer, which is basically a full multivitamin so the birds never come up short. And when it is time, every bird is processed by hand right here on the farm. Our birds take about eight weeks to grow out, a little longer than the big companies, because we let them grow at their own pace on grass and grain.
So when you buy a chicken from us, you are paying for the space, the grass, the good feed, and the hands that took care of it from start to finish. You are also keeping a small family farm going here in Cass County. We think you can taste the difference, and we would love for you to try one.
Order at rifefamilyfarm.com
