Description: Some people consider this poultry healthier because the birds are not confined in cages and are not given antibiotics. Free-range poultry refers to birds that are not confined in cages. Some farmers do a version of that by putting the birds in large pens and moving them around to pasture areas.

Diane Hesterberg, who raises poultry at Sunrise Farms in Penfield, explained that the penned birds, which she has in floorless pens, are correctly called pasture poultry rather than free-range. She said natural means no hormones or antibiotics, and organic means that the birds were fed organic feed. Her birds are sold out for the rest of this year, but may be ordered in the spring by calling 595–5603.

According to the Chicken Feed website, maturing at 5 or 6 months is actually a normal growth rate. This lets the chickens accumulate much more omega-3 from the grasses they eat. Almost every commercial chicken sold today is from a strain that has been deliberately bred to grow extremely fast, and to keep on growing without ever reaching a normal maturity.

For details about free-range chickens and a local source for the chickens, please see the Chickenfeed Website.

The Chickenfeed website gives the following farm as a location for free-range chickens in the Champaign area:

Stone Organic Pastures
Contact: Tim Stone
City: Fisher, Illinois
Phone: (217) 897–6085
Email: Trstone at gmail.com

The Stone Organic Pastures states that, “Our farmland/pasture has never been sprayed with any chemical for over 20 years. Our focus is on the health of the animals without conventional vaccines or chemicals. We are certified Organic by Indiana Certified Organic, LLC. We implement rotational grazing of the animals on the pasture, and we are in the USDA grazing program. We have female broilers which are allowed to roam anywhere on our fenceless pasture. These are a slow growing breed, which is better for taste, as well as allowing their bones and muscles are able to develop correctly. We also have brown eggs from chickens fed USDA certified organic feed.”

Source: Chickenfeed Website
Date Last Revisited: 2/1/07