Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
three
Currently the organic production of poultry requires the use of day-old chicks that have been
managed organically from their arrival on-farm. Unlike in the UK, organic growers in the Un-
ited States are not required to purchase certified organic chicks. As a consequence there are
currently no commercially available organic chicks, poults, goslings, or ducklings. Organic
producers in the United States are also surprisingly limited in their choice of genetics to match
with their type of system. Vertically integrated poultry companies primarily control the devel-
opment of breeding stock in this country. Most of the independent hatcheries that organic pro-
ducers deal with do not keep their own flocks to produce hatching eggs. Therefore the majority
of chicks available from hatcheries throughout North America are the same strains used by
commercial producers. There has recently been some interest in the development of new
strains.
Organic producers use the Cornish Cross chicken not because it is ideally suited to rearing on
pasture, but because it is readily available. No other type of chicken widely available in North
America produces as much meat as economically as the Cornish Crosses. Some hatcheries of-
fer slower-growing strains of Cornish Crosses, which may be useful to free-range organic
growers because they may have fewer leg and heart problems. A publication by Anne Fanatico
and Skip Polson, “Which Bird Shall I Raise?” covers the development and availability of al-
ted in
table 5
.
Table 5. Meat Chicken Birds
Availability
(see ap-
pendix 3)
Average
price per
100 chicks
Breed
Characteristics
Reich
Hoffman
Marti
Jumbo White Cornish
Cross × Rock
Fast growing, heavy-breasted bird with excellent feed efficiency. Prone
to leg problems, ascites (water belly possibly caused by inadequate de-
$0.63-$0.95
each
