FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
DO YOU DELIVER?
We offer local delivery within 10 miles of Spencertown. Delivery fee is $1.00 per carton. Please call to arrange.
ARE YOUR EGGS CERTIFIED ORGANIC?
Short answer:
No
Longer answer:
Although our chickens and ducks are fed and raised to organic specifications, we are not eligible for organic certification due to our flock's significant percentage of rescued hens. The USDA Organic Certification stipulates that all hens must be organically fed and raised from time of hatch, and we can not know that with our rescued ladies.
Additionally, Organic certification forbids the use of any traditional medications on any hen. Occasionally, one of our girls requires a life saving medication of this sort. While we hold eggs after medicating for at least double the recommended withdrawal period, we do not kill or remove from the flock for life as USDA Organic standards require.
WHAT ABOUT PREDATORS?
Our humane and no kill approach extends to our wild neighbors.
In any free ranging poultry flock, occasional losses must be expected. However, we do our ultimate best to keep our chickens safe, while respecting lives of the wild animals who were here first, and naturally belong.
Some of our safety practices include:
Secure housing for nighttime.
- Most predator attacks occur at night. Keeping our poultry in predator-proof housing while they sleep ensures their safety.
Fencing.
- Every year in springtime, a family of foxes make their den on our farm. Predictably, as the kits begin to eat solid foods, the parents become braver in their quest for an easy meal to bring to their young, and our flock becomes especially endangered. During this time, our flock is kept secure within nearly an acre of six foot fencing during times that we are away and unable to keep an eye out for them.
Full lock-up.
- Every few years, during migration, we attract a hawk who lingers near our coop. When this occurs, we are forced to keep everybody who is small enough to be taken by a hawk, secured indoors for several days until the bird moves along.
Dogs.
Our dogs understand "chicken". They know the difference between the egg song, earnest complaints, and the cry of alarm. Should the latter occur, they're ready for action in the form of a stern barking at, or short chase of, (to scare, not capture,) the offending creature.
ARE THE EGGS WASHED?
Yes. All of our eating eggs are gently washed in a mild, natural, cleanser.