While appreciative of our recent winter sunshine, early mornings in late summer just hit different!
The sunlight is rich instead of thin, the pasture is dense and growing, and our chicken tractors are full of pasture raised chickens!
We pay so much attention to sunshine because it’s an essential component of distinguishing pasture raised chicken from the rest!
Most birds, including chickens, have a uropygial gland at the base of their tail that makes the oily coating that birds use to preen their feathers. It’s also called a preening gland. And the oily substance used for preening has precursors to Vitamin D, which convert to active vitamin D when exposed to sunshine! ☀️☀️☀️
Because birds use their beaks to preen, they ingest some of the preening fluid, and in the case of pasture raised chickens, that means higher levels of vitamin D!
Trust us, if there weren’t benefits to pasture raising chickens, we wouldn’t do it. But pasture raising is better for the chickens, the land, and you!
So here we are, in late January. Metaphorically tapping our toes until we can really get going again!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken #pasturedpoultry #regenerativeagriculture #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud #vitaminD #sunshinevitamin #uropygialgland
Why do we move our chicken tractors every day?
✔️ Cleaner environent for our pastured chickens
✔️ Fresh vegetation and bugs for foraging
✔️ Wider distributon of soil amendments (aka chicken poop)
✔️ Lighter impact on the pasture for faster recovery
Oh, and see that line attached to the wall of the tractor? That’s part of our watering system that Ben the Infrastructure Guy designed to make it easier to keep our chickens watered 24/7! Prior to that, Steven was filling buckets four times/day.
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken #pasturedchicken #regenerativeagriculture #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud #chickenwater #chickenpoop #fertilizer
Today’s blue skies have us anticipating the coming raising season despite the cold!
We’re also excitedly waiting to see how the pasture has changed since last year!
Chicken tractors give our flock 24/7 access to the pasture, which means that foraging and soil amendments (aka chicken poop!) are also happening constantly!
As a result, the vegetation gets greener and denser, and seeds get spread! All while our chickens soak up some sunshine and add healthful variety to their diet to ultimately become a better chicken for you!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken#pasturedchicken #regenerativefarming #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud
A late summer morning on our pasture last year. ☀️
Even though our mobile coops, aka chicken tractors, have a sturdy metal construction, the bottoms are open on to the pasture! This gives the chickens the ability to forage for bugs and their favorite plants, while also allowing the chickens to improve the soil by their normal activities.
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken #pasturedpoultry #regenerativeagriculture #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud
Did you know that one of our favorite features of our chicken tractors is that they’re able to be lifted off the ground when moving?
A cable-lever mechanism engages the back wheels, the front is lifted up by the handle, and the whole chicken tractor rolls along the pasture with no actual dragging of the frame!
Which means when our pasture raised chickens are small (and not yet trained to follow the tractor’s path), there’s enough space for them to escape!
That’s why the first several moves on the pasture, it’s a two person job to watch and move the chickens!
Then all the escapees get scooped up and returned to their shelters to start foraging and amending their daily fresh patch of pasture!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken #pasturedchicken #regenerativeagriculture #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud
🗓️ Days until Spring? 🗓️
🌱☀️🌸🐥 61 🐥🌸☀️🌱
We don’t start brooding our first set of pastured chickens until a couple of weeks into Spring, but we are so ready to get back to raising the best pastured chicken in Kentucky!
At Lakewatcher Farms, we know that our quality of care directly affects your quality at the table! That’s why we raise your chicken with:
🌱 Daily fresh pasture
☀️ Sunshine & fresh air
🪲 Freedom to forage
🙅♂️ Non-GMO feed
🏃 Plenty of movement
🐎 Pride in being KY Proud
And we finish off your pasture raised chicken with air chilled processing to deliver all of that sunshine and care to you undiluted!
Thank you all for your continued support of Lakewatcher Farms, pastured poultry, local food, and regenerative agriculture!
We can’t wait to start raising your chicken again!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken#pasturedchicken #regenerativefarming #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud #springcountdown #airchilledprocessing #localfood #kentuckyfood
Looking at next week’s frigid weather forecast has us dreaming of the warm and sunny months to come!
Did you know that sunshine is one of the many reasons to choose pastured poultry?
☀️ Sunshine + the uropygial gland (aka preening gland) = Vitamin D! ☀️
That’s why pastured poultry has been shown to have higher Vitamin D levels than barn-raised poultry!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken#pasturedchicken #regenerativefarming #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud #vitamind #sunshinevitamin #pasturelifebestlife
What’s it like inside our chicken tractors (aka, mobile coops)?
Besides the sounds of well-treated chickens, our chicken tractors have:
🌱 Access to our pasture on the entire bottom 🪲
🕶️ Tarps to give shade and rain protection ☔️
💨 Open grid sides to let in fresh air and sunshine ☀️
💧Continuously replenished water 💧
🦊 Protection from predatory animals 🦊
At Lakewatcher Farms, we believe in a high quality of care for our pastured chickens! That means we’re continually evaluating our practices to maximize the quality of life they enjoy which in turn, maximizes the quality of meat you’ll enjoy!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken #pasturedchicken #regenerativeagriculture #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud #localfood
I’ll take shining feathers on the pasture over snow 24/7/365!
Pasture raising chickens in a temperate area like Kentucky means that we can’t raise year round, so we have several months of waiting, planning, and support projects!
These little beauties are from 2023, which is the year we switched to our bigger metal tractors!
We really do love pasture raising chickens, and we’re constantly reevaluating our practices to make sure our chickens and customers are getting the very best!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken#pasturedchicken #regenerativefarming #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud
How about a colorful recipe for a snowy day?
🌶️ Lakewatcher Farms Citrus Harissa Chicken Breasts 🌶️
2-3 lbs Lakewatcher Farms pasture raised chicken breasts
2 T oil (we used melted ghee)
1/2 cup harissa, mild or spicy
1/4 cup honey
Juice from 1/2 orange
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp coriander
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Take the chicken breasts and cut in half horizontally or pound to desired thickness.
Mix harissa through pepper together.
Combine 1/4 cup of harissa mixture with breasts and oil in a dish; marinate for 2+ hours.
To cook, heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Cook marinated breasts for 3-5 minutes. Flip. Cook 5+ minutes, until the internal temperature is 165F.
Top with reserved harissa sauce and serve.
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken #pasturedpoultry #regenerativefarming #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud #lakewatcherfarmsrecipes #harissa
Soon enough, we’ll be back on our daily chicken grind!
Once our feathered charges graduate from the brooder to the pasture, we move them to a fresh patch of pasture every single day!
Not only does this ensure a clean living environment, but it also ensures access to fresh forage! Seeds and leaves, bugs and grubs- lots of variety gets added to their non-GMO feed while they work their muscles scratching and foraging.
Yes, raising chickens this way can be a lot of extra work, but the quality of life that Lakewatcher Farms chickens enjoy translates directly to the quality they bring to your table.
And that’s why we do what we do!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken #pasturedpoultry #regenerativefarming #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud
Movement is so important for a healthy life, and pasturing chickens gives them that opportunity!
Not only does a less dense living space allow for more movement, but the pasture itself encourages movement because there are seeds and leaves and bugs to be foraged!
And what does more movement do? It gives our chickens a better life and you a better chicken for your table!
Just another reason that Lakewatcher Farms chooses to do what we do!
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#lakewatcherfarms #pastureraisedchicken #pasturedpoultry #regenerativeagriculture #chickentractor #smallfarms #kentuckyfarms #kentuckyag #kyproud
Our Pasture Perfect Promise guarantees our Kentucky pasture and quality of care make better chicken!
