We at Willoway Farm currently are raising about 70 chickens. The chickens have what we call the Poultry barn to live in with large south side windows allowing adequate natural light in the barn. The chickens have the ability to move freely with the opportunity to roam outdoors. The chickens are not free range for if they were the garden would be their daily treat and there would be nothing but damaged goods in the garden. Instead of free range we have temporary fencing we rotate to give the chicken’s access to fresh grass. The temporary fence is an electric one which has no current. The chickens since the first days of their life have been fed Certified Organic feed which does not have any added hormones, antibiotics, or animal by products (you find animal byproducts in chicken feed from many other chicken feed providers). In addition during the growing season they are given various food wastes from harvest from greens to cucumbers, etc. They also get a helping of non-toxic weeds such as grasses. When giving the chickens these additional materials they are also getting any bugs or worms that may be on the plant material, such as a cabbage worm that may have been on an exterior cabbage leaf. Even in the winter we give them vegetable scraps we know they enjoy.

We raise a variety of chickens such as, Auracaunas (green egg layers), Buff Orpingtons, Black Astrolops, Wynadottes, and Black Sex Links. We do not give the chickens extra light to force more egg lying. The chickens follow the natural rhythm of the sun at Willoway Farm. Last year we did offer the eggs in the CSA but because of the cooler weather and some chickens molting the production was lower then expected. Therefore this year we will only offer the eggs on a daily availability basis.
The reality is when you purchase certified organic feed it is expensive and our goal is to grow our own feed for the chickens. To do so we need to acquire more land. To begin we are planning to rent some land this year. This land was also farmed conventionally so this year we will plant crops to build the soil before growing grains for the chickens.

Eggs

We normally have lots of eggs in May; as the days get longer the chickens lay more. Last year we had a ton of eggs to sell. We do travel to Grafton and Milwaukee at times and could bring someone eggs at a meeting location perhaps.
If you have any other questions regarding the chickens feel free to contact us. Our contact information is listed on the contact page.