Laurel Ridge Grass Fed beef is pleased to announce a Pastured Poultry CSA for delivery of birds this year from around Memorial Day through the end of September. 

Bird Rearing Practice:  We will be raising a variety of chickens-typically Cornish Cross chickens, but we will be experimenting with other heritage breeds in an effort to find the combination of best tasting and most tender broilers.  We receive the chickens as day-old chicks from hatcheries in Pennsylvania and raise them indoors for three weeks in heated brooding pens.  When they are old enough and have sufficient feathering to withstand cooler outdoor temperatures, we move them to 10’ by 10’ outdoors pens.  These pens are 50% covered on top to shelter the birds from the rain and are open on 2 sides.  The bottom of the pen is open to the grass, allowing the chickens access to fresh grass and all the bugs they can find.  We move the pens daily and supplement the grass and bugs with a ration of grain that is organically grown.  We typically harvest the birds at 8 weeks, but that can vary by a week or two depending on growing conditions.

Slaughter and Dressing:  Because there are no USDA or State of Connecticut supervised poultry slaughterhouses within 200 miles of our farm, we have to do the slaughtering and dressing of the birds ourselves.  We operate under an exemption approved by the USDA and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture that restricts us to producing no more than 1000 birds a year.  Under this exemption we are not allowed to charge customers for slaughtering and dressing, nor are we allowed to sell dressed birds.  We are only allowed to contract to sell live birds to our customers.  Once you have contracted to buy a bird from us, we are allowed to offer to slaughter and dress it for free as an accommodation. (You are welcome to pick up the live birds, too.)  For this reason you need to order your bird(s) in advance and choose a time to pick up the dressed bird, and we need to have a deposit for the bird.  If you fail to pick up a bird we are not allowed to sell it to anyone else, and in fact, under the law, you are not allowed to sell it to anyone else either.

Pricing:  Our price for the 2010 season is $5.25/lb of dressed weight.  Birds will likely weigh between 3.5 to 5 lbs, depending on the breed of bird and the time of year.  If you contract for 10 or more birds to be delivered over the season, the price will be $5.00/lb.  For 20 or more birds the price will be $4.75/lb.  Our Beef and Pork CSA customers can add birds to their CSA order for the month and receive the same percent discount they receive for their meat.

Ordering:  If you would like to order, please print and fill out the PDF form and either fax it to: 866-861-5213 or mail it to Laurel Ridge Farm, 164 Wigwam Road, Litchfield, CT  06759.  We will need a deposit (see form to calculate needed deposit) which you can include with the form or deposit with us at the Litchfield Farmer’s Market or at the Windmill on Sundays between 12 and 2 PM. For our Beef and Pork CSA customers, please fill out the appropriate form and fax it to us.

Pick Up:  If you would like your bird(s) fresh, you will need to pick them up on slaughter day, which will typically be on Friday between 4 and 6 PM at our Main Barn at 201 Wigwam Road, Litchfield.  Otherwise we will deliver the birds at the Litchfield Farmer’s Market on the scheduled delivery date.  You will owe us for the full price of the bird whether or not you are able to pick it up. 

Payment:  Payment for the bird(s) will be due in full at the time of delivery in cash or by check.  Deposits will be deducted from the price of the final birds delivered under the order.

If you are interested in ordering chickens, please fill out the attached form and fax it to us at: 866-861-5213 or mail it to us at Laurel Ridge Farm, 164 Wigwam Road, Litchfield, CT  06759 with your deposit. 

We will sign customers up on a first-come basis, and we look forward to hearing from you.  We apologize for the complexity of the ordering details, but due to the complexity of slaughter, the requirement that sales be pre-ordered, the absolute lack of our ability to sell a bird that one person orders to another customer, and the limits of our storage space for dressed birds, we have to make sure that orders are firm orders.   We are sure that despite the ordering process, you will enjoy this chicken as much as we do.

If you have questions please email us at john@lrgfb.com or call us at 860 567 8122