Is the Chick Local?
How Nigel Walker of Eatwell Farm has set out to #SaveBabyChicks
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This ancient dilemma of causality may have found a modern philosophical followup.
But is it local?
Rightfully so, we’ve become more and more obsessed about where our food comes from and how it’s raised. Surely by now most of us have seen the famous Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein Portlandia skit poking fun at this phenomenon. Is the chicken local?
Carrie: I guess I do have a question about the chicken… could you just tell us a little more about it?
Waitress: The chicken is a heritage breed, woodland raised chicken, that is fed a diet of sheeps milk, soy, and hazelnuts.
Fred: And this is local?
The better question may be, where did the chick come from? Easy…the egg, right?
Like most things these days, it’s not that simple.
Most chicks are raised in a large hatcheries all over the country, where the males are destroyed right away. This is standard practice. But Nigel Walker of Eatwell Farm in Dixon, California aims to change that. For 30 years, he has been farming in a way that is good for the people, good for the soil, good for the animals, and good for the environment. Eatwell has been at the forefront of sustainable poultry and farming, raising organic, pasture-raised birds for many years.
Right now, Nigel raises healthy chickens that lay healthy eggs.
“They get to live outside, express their chicken-ness – pecking, scratching and eating bugs.”
But that’s not enough. He wants to breed a TRULY LOCAL FLOCK.
For 10,000 years farmers have selected the very best animals from which to breed. Nigel wants to reclaim that right, for both the health of his farm and the well-being of his animals. He wants to be able to select the chickens that do the very best on his farm. His goal is to establish a breeding flock of heritage chickens exclusive to Eatwell Farm. The males will get to live on the farm and produce fabulous meat along side the hens.
By eliminating the need to buy from hatcheries where hatchling destruction is practiced, Eatwell will subsequently set an example to their community for how to transition to a more humane and sustainable system.
Buying a top-notch heritage breeding flock, then selecting and breeding the best dual-purpose birds will enable Eatwell Farm to be more humane while producing better quality, more flavorful chicken and eggs for families across the greater Bay Area.
“We’ve already raised a few chicks for ourselves, but this is where we have to step up and raise every single chick here on the farm.”
Doing so will make their operation among the most humane in the nation, Nigel lays down the clear benefits bred (quite literally) by this endeavor in this video.
“We need your help so we can produce a truly local flock that is good for the environment, humane, and produces healthy food for us all.”
And this is where you can help out.
Support the cause by donating just a few dollars and/or sharing his project using the hashtag #SaveBabyChicks.
