08/08/2026
🌱Why We Raise Our Chickens on Pasture🐔
From tiny chicks to pasture-raised chicken in your freezer—here’s the full journey of our broilers at Hilltop Acres Farm!
We choose to raise Freedom Ranger broilers because they are slower-growing, active birds that are well suited to a pasture-based system. They have plenty of opportunity to move around, forage, and enjoy fresh air and sunshine while growing.
So what does being on pasture actually do for the chickens?
They still receive a complete, balanced feed to meet their nutritional needs, but pasture gives them the opportunity to supplement their diet by naturally foraging for grass, plants, and insects. Freedom Rangers are also known for producing tender, succulent meat with a favorable nutritional profile, including higher levels of omega-3 fats and lower levels of saturated fat than some conventional broiler strains. Their diet and access to pasture can influence the types of fats found in the meat.
But we don’t raise chickens on pasture just because it benefits the chicken. It benefits the land, too.🌱
As the chickens scratch, peck, forage, and move across the pasture, they naturally spread their manure behind them. Chicken manure is a valuable source of nutrients—including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—and adds organic matter back to the soil.
By moving the birds regularly, we can spread those nutrients across the pasture instead of concentrating them in one area. The chickens get fresh ground to explore, while the pasture receives nutrients that can help support healthy soil and plant growth.
That’s what we love about pasture-based farming: the animals and the land can benefit each other.🌱🤎
The pasture provides the chickens with space to move and forage, and in return, the chickens help return nutrients to the soil. It creates a cycle where the animals are not simply taking from the land—they’re also giving something back.
Raising broilers this way takes a lot of work: moving chickens twice a day, hauling feed and water, checking birds, and making sure they have fresh pasture throughout the season. But seeing the chickens thrive while watching the pasture benefit from their presence makes it all worth it.
From the day these little chicks arrived, through their time growing on pasture, to processing day and finally into our customers’ freezers—this video shows the whole journey.🐔🌱🍗
Thank you to everyone who supported our broiler project and brought home pasture-raised chicken from Hilltop Acres Farm this year. We’re so grateful for everyone who chooses to support our farm and cares about knowing where their food comes from.❤️
