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WHAT IS A FREE RANGE CHICKEN?

There are minimum standards set down by which a chicken must be kept to be called a free range chicken. These are pretty minimal and are basically.

"The birds have had during at least half their lifetime continuous daytime access to open-air runs, comprising an area mainly covered by vegetation, of not less than 1m² per chicken.

The birds should also be a minimum of 56 days old at slaughter and be fed a diet of a minimum 70% cereals during the fattening stage".

These are the minimum standards for free range chickens but as often happens for some big businesses have become the maximum specification. These standards are ruthlessly exploited, the birds have access  to the open air but are definitely not encouraged to roam. The birds are in large sheds with feeders and drinkers inside and a large warm comfy area which means there is no need to go outside if they do not want to. They are usually fed pellets because these are more convenient for us humans to handle and which, unless it states to the contrary, will contain GM soya and/or maize. It is surprising how few do venture out especially if they have been brooded in those sheds and the pop holes opened suddenly one day. At 56 days they are killed ( most having suffered a journey in crates to some large abattoir) and arrive on a shelf near you as free range chickens.

We believe that this exploitation is wrong and the standards we set are much higher.   For more than half their life (which is a minimum of 77 days) our chickens have no option but to go outside as that is where  feeders and drinkers are. The sheds are designed as shelter only not a luxury pad for lazy chickens, they have 24hr access to the outside. Their feed is not some homogenised pellet but a more natural mix of whole grain and ground food that is 85% home grown and GM and ANTIBIOTIC free. When they are killed they are killed on farm without the stress of an often long journey or the indignity of being put live in shackles on a production line. When dead they are then hung to mature to give a better table bird. This is our holistic approach which our customers agree produces a superb table bird and a genuine free range chicken.

The best way to assure that you get a top notch free range chicken is, of course, to buy a Brookland White. However this may not always be possible so here are some useful tips on selecting your chicken. Below are some photographs showing a very fat 'Farm Fresh' chicken from another producer compared to a Brookland White.

Skin

The skin should show good colour which will be more yellow in the summer and autumn when the grass is good. A grazing chicken will eat plenty of grass and will get colouring from the keratin that the grass contains. There may be blemishes on the skin from the plucking  procedure these will not affect the taste. The legs should be well skinned and good colour. The presence of dark discolouration on the hock is, contrary to popular opinion, no indication of the system by which the bird was reared. These hock "burns" are caused by the fact that the birds do not perch but sit on the ground. Mud can stick to the skin and cause this discolouration which is no problem for the chicken. The mistake made by some is to associate this with lameness, hock "burn" does not cause lameness but a lame bird will get chronic hock "burn" as it spends all the time on its hock. When a chicken is grown too fast the bones will not develop quickly enough to support its weight and they will collapse onto their hocks. Growing the birds more slowly allows the bones to develop at the right pace to keep up with weight gain. 

Shape

Have a good look at the shape of the bird. If it is similar to the mass produced birds in having a huge breast and puny legs then the odds are it has done very little walking. Huge breasted birds (ha ha) are usually a sign of a pellet fed shed bird and should be avoided, good birds have a well developed leg and firm well finished breast that is no more than slightly heart shaped definitely not oval and hiding the wings.

Fat

The bird should have a taught firm feeling and not soft and floppy. Over fat birds are softer to touch and fat can be seen under the breast skin, some fat is necessary to facilitate cooking but excess is a waste. Internal fat is harder to judge as a bird can carry gut fat without being too fat (?). The larger a bird is usually the more fat it will carry.

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