02/26/2026
We're proud at Flying Rowan Farm to grow a solid 12 week bird for your table. Feed costs are twice as high, but they're worth it!
Walking into a feed store this time of year & every person seems to have a chirping box of anticipation, going out the door. As we grab a mineral block for our cows, I hear a small family excitedly loading their cart while pointing out the birds their littles wanted to choose, one wanting a turkey, while the husband & wife were clearly going over the items they "needed" to build what sounded to be an immaculate & expensive coop. I hear the oldest little ask "what's a pullet" mom saying "I don't know, ask your dad".
I always walk by all the birds & observe. I haven't purchased chicks in a long time, nor would this ever be the place I chose to purchase from but hearing the thrill of picking a box of live animals to go home with, seemingly little idea of how long those birds will take to produce, how not to overfeed a hybrid turkey or how purchasing pullets & fast growing hybrids is not an ethical practice, that Cornish Cross will most likely not lay many eggs let alone live for long.
As time is prepping to "Spring" forward soon & our birds are laying in full force, this is my reminder to be mindful of the systems we support.
When we used to butcher birds for others, I will never forget the day we did a batch of "winning" Cornish Cross birds for the local 4H. Massive birds with chest burn from laying in their own f***s more than foraging, more skin exposed than feathers, due to the swiftness of growth, & legs struggling to stay upright. These "winners" were judged by size & uniform weight across the group, no care to the exposure, to infection from its burns, the bruising & failing limbs, the clear lack of ability to walk far without resting. While processing, these birds have a much stronger, off-putting smell & obvious higher carcass temperature. The pale livers disintegrating in our hands, some hearts even doing the same. The only thing I could take from that experience is 1) if size pays them over quality of an animals life, we are teaching our future farmers to become future CAFO models instead of caring stewards of livestock & nature. 2) I was actually doing those poor birds a favor, but that doesn't make raising them, ethical, sustainable or morally right & I chose never to butcher that breed for anyone again because, I would then be contributing to their purchase.
No bird was meant to grow that massive, that quickly, but these large corporations have convinced most farmers, it is the way. The "norm". Why? So you are dependent on them for birds. You buy the birds to pad their pockets & they use that money to lobby against small farm practices. They use that money to prevent legislation changes that would allow small farmers more rights to process & sell their own chickens to the public. You shoot your fellow farm, and your own, in the foot. People will argue their CX are on grass, or "we only feed 12 hours on" to prevent fast gain, or "mine do fine" excuses. The bottom line is you can't breed them & they will not survive & thrive like a normal chicken would. We must own our roles & not make excuses.
If you are a new chick buyer: 🐥
You should educate yourself on your purchase. Many people accidentally buy these massive birds & those happy children will be crying when fluffy can't walk anymore & his heart explodes. We all know this scenario ends with a chicken in the garbage can because, I'm sorry, judging by the conversation in the store, I know dad & mom aren't prepared to even consider that poor bird should have, at the least been destined for the stew pot. A life wasted.
If you are a consumer: 🍗
It's time to vote with your wallets & request heritage breeds fed a proper diet. Fast food is still fast food, even when purchased directly from your local farmers. Slow food is ethical , sustainable, nourishment & flavor. Hybrid birds fed "fast food" to fatten in 6-8 weeks is not a healthy food, even when put on grass. The Tyson meat on a shelf supports the same travesty as the small farm who purchases the bird from Tyson to sell as "pasture raised".
If you are a "Prepper": 🫙
Cornish Cross should not be an option because you cannot breed them true. There is no constant supply because their immune systems are intentionally lacking in lieu of lighter bone structure for more meat. Heritage breeds can survive & thrive off minimal help from you in a SHTF scenario.
Lastly, if you are a homesteader: 👩🌾
Wanting to raise ethical, sustainable & humanely raised birds, the CX definitely doesn't check any of those boxes. Tyson wants you coming back for more every single year & they make you "feel" like you're supporting small farms or hatcheries who have contracted to sell their eggs & chicks. We never should have been brainwashed to compare size & grow out time, over ability to thrive, breed, hatch & forage. The CX cannot check any of those boxes either.
If you are health conscious. 💪
Cornish Cross & the Tyson Chicken on a store shelf are most often fed subsidized GMO grains. Their feed is almost always corn & soy based making the meat a fast food end product high in polyunsaturated fats. This matters for heart health. If you are trying to avoid seed oils in your diet for diabetes, obesity, autoimmune issues & heart health then consuming chicken (or pork) fed the byproducts (trash) of the seed oil industry, feeds it right back to you via their meat.
None of this will change until subsidies are dropped to allow small farm prices to level out, until consumers demand better quality, until farmers reflect on their practices & domino effect. Change starts in our own backyards. We all must choose to break away from a broken system that only support the big boys & their pockets. 💰
Small farms can feed the world, one community at a time, but the shift must be made for quality & compassion over quantity & size, at any cost.
It all matters. Homestead Healthy.
