Customers Seek Artisanal Chicken

If you are an Artisanal Chicken Farmer, or a Small Flocker, I have waiting customers for your live chickens. Call or email me, and I will put you in touch with these eager customers.

Enter your info for free into SFPFC's  Artisanal Chicken Farm Database so your prospective customers can more easily find you. 

Sometimes it takes a while for the rain to soak in.  That's why we have things called puddles and wetlands, to hold the excess water until it can be handled.  Puddles and wetlands form when there is too much rain, or it rains too quickly.

Similar to rain and puddles, in the chicken business, we use on-farm inventory of live birds, delaying the trip to the abattoir, and large freezer capacity all help absorb and hold any imbalances in supply and demand.

The prospective chicken customers who contacted me say they want to buy all of my live chickens currently on farm, and all of my production for 2017.  I am licensed for 3,000 Artisanal birds, but they need more than that.

You may have already received an email from me about this opportunity.  Either way, I await your response if you have chicken for sale.

These prospective chicken buyers asked me to notify all other prospective Artisanal chicken farmers in Ontario, asking them to put their hand up if they would like to sell some or all of their current & future production.

Most of these eager customers tell me they have special slaughter and further processing requirements, so they want live birds that they can get processed to their exacting specifications.  Therefore, most of these customers are not interested in fresh never frozen meat, nor are they interested in your frozen birds awaiting sale.  However, other customers may come along who want already frozen birds, so everybody can put their name forward.

These prospective customers do not have any CFO quota for buying/marketing chicken, or do not have sufficient quota, but have a need for more chicken for their hungry customers.

In case you didn't realize, Canada has a quota system on growing chicken, and a separate quota system for buying chicken.  You need a license, and must pay a fee to buy chicken in Canada.  Some think this is extortion when you have to pay to enter a business.  Others realize this is Canada's crazy Supply Management system.  The buyers who want Artisanal Chicken are willing to pay the $/kg to the farmer, but don't want to pay the supply management quota fee for buying chicken.

In this case, these prospective customers would rather buy from Artisanal Chicken Farmers, where no chicken buying quota is required, rather than purchasing quota so they can buy chicken from the CAFO chicken factory Supply Management system.

If you are Artisanal or Small Flocker, feel free to place all your info and particulars in the comments below, so everybody can find you, or send it to me by phone, fax, or email.

If you'd like, I will create a free database of Ontario's Artisanal Chicken Farmers, with all their particulars, so prospective customers can find their nearest or best supplier of this non-SM chicken

Artisanal Chicken: Is it Working?

I have been contacted by a number of people, curious to know my experiences with raising chickens under the Artisanal Chicken program of Chicken Farmers of Ontario ("CFO").

Application deadline for new entrants for chicken farmers to join the Artisanal Chicken program for January 2017 closed as of 2016/09/09.  However, true to form, CFO has changed the rules at the last minute, and has extended the CFO Artisanal Chicken deadline to 2016/09/30.

Therefore if you are an Ontario chicken farmer (or wanna be), there is still time to join the Artisanal Chicken pioneers.  CFO doesn't share all of the details, but I will.  Here is the info you need to make a great decision.

1. In short, as an Artisanal Chicken farmer, CFO has treated me in a friendly, respectful, and reasonable manner.  Lord knows they had reasons to do otherwise to me due to this Blog.  More or less, CFO has left me alone to grow my chickens. If they have treated me well, they will likely do the same for you and other Artisanal Chicken applicants.  Of course, all that can rapidly change whenever CFO unilaterally decides.  Trust takes along time.
2. CFO reserves the right to terminate the program any time they feel like it.  Of course, if CFO did that (or some other big player in the Supply Management system forces CFO's hand for their self-serving monopolistic, crony capitalism reasons), that would leave me and most other Artisanal Chicken farmers financially stranded with no recourse.  I doubt I could scream "Unfair" loud enough to make a difference within a reasonable time.  If you borrow money to do Artisanal Chicken, you will be at suicidal (or significant) risk until you get the loan paid off, likely losing everything if CFO harpoons you, you become a beached whale, and the bank come to collect its pound of flesh.  Knowing (or fearing) CFO, I would recommend against borrowing money to enter the Artisanal Chicken system.
3. After you apply, CFO will come to your farm to interview you and view your farm, barn(s), and infrastructure (eg. water supply, barn yards, pasture, etc.).  My audit was very low key and accepting of where I was staring from.  CFO currently seems to accept you where you are currently at, and makes allowances for you to learn and grow into the program.  You are not expected to be perfect, nor to have everything already in place (eg. your barn doesn't have to be already built before applying).  Of course, CFO could change that approach tomorrow, so be ready.  You should have a reasonable plan for each step that you will have to achieve for your entire first year as an Artisanal Chicken farmer.  I would suggest it would be frowned upon to tell CFO "If approved, I will buy 500 day-old chicks, and once they arrive, I'll figure out what I'll do next", and you likely won't be approved by CFO with this half-baked plan.
4. CFO will likely approve your reasonable plan and application, as there is more quota available than farmers available to fill it. I base that upon CFO extending the application deadline.
5. CFO has a tendency to notify tour acceptance at the last minute, which put me at great disadvantage, requiring me to start construction on January 1st.  It wasn't easy.  Be prepared for that.
6. Once approved, CFO will send you a bill for immediate payment of CFO's fees & levy & license for the entire 2017 year.  Your cash flow for capital purchases will be stretched even thinner by this, but that is CFO's desire to make sure they get their pound of flesh.
7. You may not be able to get the chicks you want, when you want them.  Call your hatchery before you apply to find out the details and get a tentative commitment (eg. if you get approved by CFO, the hatchery will guarantee to supply you the chicks you need).  You may have to order chicks 6 to 8 weeks in advance.
   
    
8. Once you start, be prepared to continue along your plan, assuming all goes according to plan.  If you hesitate at each step, awaiting proof that each step works as you hoped before you move forward to the next step, you will be lost before you get once through.  Plan well, think about all of the things that could go wrong, what is the earliest point you can detect plan failure, and have remedial plans ready for each of those major risks.  Once you have your plan perfected, put the accelerator to the floor and go for it full speed.  You can re-assess further at the end of your first year.
9. Abattoir capacity is likely even more constrained than hatchery supply.  OMAFRA has admitted that they nearly killed all of Ontario's small local abattoirs 5 to 10 years ago, and we're still recovering from their bureaucratic mistakes.  I suggest you have a primary abattoir who will process 66% to 90% of all your chickens, and a backup abattoir who will do 10% to 33% of your chickens.  That way, you have a foot in the door if your primary abattoir has a problem and can't serve you as you need.
10. Due to the long trip to the nearest abattoir, economics said I must raise flocks of 500 birds to keep costs down.  Therefore, I needed a brooder that could handle 500 day-old chicks, and maybe some turkeys and ducks.  I chose a 40 ft. decommissioned sea container.  I made the necessary customizations to create a state-of-the-art brooder.  A

    

    Inside a brooder compartment with 100
    chick who are 2 days old, maintained
    at 35 deg C, 2 drinkers and feed trough.
    An electric radiant heater is shown at
    the bottom of the photo, added to
    each compartment for the first 48 hrs.
    for those chicks who need extra heat.

    
    

    

    Roof vent cut into steel roof of sea container

    
    

    

    Inside the brooder, showing the 6 compartments (4' x 6' each),
    with a 2' wide aisle on the right, and sheets of Silverboard
    foam wall insulation as lids, 3 LED lights in each
    compartment, and fresh air makeup distributed to each
    compartment via a 4" diameter pipe (5 compartments
    currently in use @ 100 chicks per compartment)

    
    

    

    Propane fired hot water heater (from travel trailer),
    and hydronic heating system for brooder.  Each brooder
    compartment has a separate radiant floor heating zone

    
    
    
    

    

    Fresh air inlet to brooder, with hot water heating coil to
    pre-heat air to 35 degC

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. You will need to do some CFO training via watching 1 or more video.  While this is a mandatory requirement, CFO still doesn't have this set up so it can be accomplished, so I have not yet been able to accomplish this step 10 months after CFO approval.
12. You will need to prepare a written farm manual saying how you will meet all of the mandatory requirements of the CFO and Chicken Farmers of Canada ("CFC").  Fortunately, CFO has a template manual as a Adobe Acrobat pdf form.  You can fill in the form on your computer and print it off, or print the blank form and fill it in via pen & ink.  The CFO form is a little flakey (ie. the form has limited space in the fields, and won't print properly if you have a long answer).
13. CFO will do an on-farm audit to see if you are in compliance with your stated methods described in your farm manual.  For example, your manual says what you plan to do, the on-farm audit ensures you are doing what you said you would be doing.
    
     
14. You will need to keep documentation on a daily basis to support and prove that you are following your plan (eg. brooder temperatures, mortality, treatments, chicken feed retention samples or Lot Code numbers, etc.).
15. I have a 17 to 23 hr day when I go to the abattoir, starting at midnight to catch and crate the birds.  You will likely need some help.
16. Your vehicle will likely be contaminated by the live birds on their way to the abattoir, and want a clean vehicle before loading your eviscerated meat so it doesn't get cross contaminated.  I have limited vehicle space, and can't afford to make 2 trips to the abattoir (ie. one trip to take live birds to the abattoir, a second trip to pick up the cold, eviscerated meat).  To solve this problem, I had to design a insulated 4' x 8' x 4' cooler box that is stored in pieces in the back of my pickup truck while I travel to the abattoir with my live birds in crates in my trailer.  Once I have offloaded the birds at the abattoir, I go to a truck wash to clean the empty crates and trailer, offload the crates, build the cooler box in the trailer, reload the crates in the pickup truck box, then await the cooled meat from the abattoir.  I load the cold, eviscerated meat in the insulated cooler box, throw a temperature recorder in with the chicken so that I can prove I kept the chicken at the proper temperatures, throw on the ice to keep the chicken cool for twice the expected travel time (in case of a flat tire or other travel emergency), close up the cooler box, and head home.  A long, hard day!  If you have other animals on farm, you still have to do farm chores before you go, and after you get back.  Think about that and get the help you need.  Don't plan on being Superman.
17. I haven't figured out how to get 500 customers to rendezvous with my trailer full of cold fresh never frozen meat when I return home.  I sell some of it fresh, but am forced to freeze most of it.  Freezing isn't as simple as throwing 300 chickens into a standard home chest freezer.  The typical chest freezer has a limited freezing capacity, and will take up to 2 weeks to freeze the chickens in the middle of the freezer if you load it full of cold chicken.  The chicken in the middle of the freezer will be cold but spoiled (ie. rotten smellly meat unfit for human consumption) by the time it starts to freeze.  To solve this problem, I tightly pack about 30 chickens into the bottom of a large chest freezer.  I then spread 25 kg. of dry ice (-90 deg C) on top of those chickens, then place another layer of 30 or so chickens on top of the dry ice layer.  I continue to add layers of chicken and dry ice until the freezer is full.  I close the lid, and the cold CO2 gas comes blowing out of the freezer as the chickens are rapidly frozen (you need adequate ventilation of the CO2 gas escaping).  Within 12 to 24 hours, the 300 chickens are frozen solid, and the chest freezer's compressor can take over the job to keep the frozen chicken at -18 deg C.  Dry ice is expensive, so I charge 16.9% more for frozen chickens vs. fresh never frozen chickens to help pay for the dry ice.
18. Growing your chickens is probably the easy part.  The hard part will be marketing.  You will have long days at Farmer's Markets, and costs for advertising and marketing.  Be sure to keep those $/hr labor and marketing costs allowances in your planned selling prices.
19. Artisanal chicken can sell at a premium price over the crap CAFO chicken that is sold in the grocery store.  I raise grass pastured, free range, no drug, no antibiotic, no chemicals, no hormone, all natural chicken and sell it at $3.85 per pound fresh never frozen, and $4.50 per lb frozen.  I make more profit when the birds are heavy (eg. 7 lb chickens at $31.50 per bird), but most consumers get sticker shock when the birds are too heavy.  You may find it an easier sell at 4 lb birds at $18 per bird.
20. I will be applying to do Artisanal Chickens for 2017.
21. There will be some people who need the high quality Artisanal Chickens, but can't afford them.  Please consider:
    
    
    •  A discount price to sell some of your chickens to your local Foodbank; or
       
    • Donating some of your chickens to your local Foodbank; or
       

    

    My insulated wood box, 4' x 8' x 4', disassembled, awaiting
    my next trip to the abattoir.  One person can pick up each
    piece, and assemble the box.  Add eviscerated chicken and
    ice, and off you go.  The box is re-assembled with about
    20 screws and a 25' long cargo web strapping around the
    middle.

    • Donate a part of your gross sales or profits to the Foodbank so that those who can afford your chickens help subsidize affordable food for those who can't.

I hope this helps you decide if CFO's Artisanal Chicken is for you.  Please add your comments and experiences, tips, and questions to the Comments section below.

Free Training: Poultry Farming in Northern Ontario

Attention Poultry Producers:

Interested in learning about the challenges and opportunities of growing poultry in the North? 

Join OMAFRA Specialists (including our Provincial Poultry Specialist, Al Dam), as we discuss the F.L.A.W.S. principles of poultry management.

Other topics will include: poultry production and nutrition, husbandry, disease and biosecurity, rodent and predation control, barn structure and ventilation, loading and transport and more. 

These workshops are aimed at the small flock and Artisanal and Niche Market farmers.  Come with your questions and be prepared to take home plenty of material. These are free workshops, so don’t miss out on this unique learning opportunity!

Schedule and location of Workshops:

Manitoulin

Spring Bay Hall, 9298 Hwy #542, Spring Bay,  7:00 PM-10:00 PM, Wednesday June 8

Sudbury

Massey Arena,  455 Government Rd, Massey, 10:00 AM-1:00 PM, Thursday, June 9

Algoma

Johnson Township Community Centre, 1 Cameron Road, (upstairs in the Desbarats Arena), Desbarats, 7:30 PM-10:00 PM, Thursday June 9

Nipissing

Caldwell Township Hall, 11790 Hwy #64, Verner, 7:00 PM-10:00 PM, Friday June 10

Nipissing/Parry Sound

Chisholm United Church Hall, 1469 Chiswick Line, Powassan, 10:00 AM- 1:00 PM, Saturday, June 11. 

For questions regarding these upcoming workshops please contact Brian Bell, ADA, OMAFRA at 705-282-1638 or Mobile 705-690-5020 or email brian.bell2@ontario.ca  

Brian Bell, Agriculture Development Advisor
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

35 Meredith Street, P.O Box 328
Gore Bay, Ont. P0P 1H0
brian.bell2@ontario.ca

www.ontario.ca/omafra

1-877-424-1300/1-705-282-1638
Fax: 1-705-282-2792

Cell:1-705-690-5020
For information on upcoming meetings and events, go to OMAFRA Dateline at:  http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/rural/edr/events-training.htm

Death by Sea Container

My 20 ft. de-commissioned sea container, used to store
animal feed and farm equipment

I built a state-of-the art brooder inside a 40 ft. sea container that handles up to 600 day-old chicks for the first 3 weeks of their life.  It works great.  However, that sea container-brooder could now be the death of my farm, and my dream of supplying safe, nutritious, locally grown chicken for my small community.

For the forth time, my municipality wants to pass a By-law to ban sea containers.  After the first 3 attempts to pass a banning By-law were all failures, I thought the municipality had finally given up due to their repeated problems with the By-law's wording, and the public backlash.

Not so.

In baseball, three strikes you're out.  Apparently, that doesn't count for municipalities.

Attacking sea containers for the forth time, the Municipality certainly demonstrates their perseverance, bordering on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Maybe I do too, as I continue to defend these de-commissioned steel boxes that are both affordable and useful on my farm (and elsewhere).

So why is the Municipality so insistent to get rid of sea containers?

We don't really know for sure, except for the cryptic statement in the draft By-law, claiming it’s “in the public’s best interest to control the placement and use of sea containers”.

I don't believe that window dressing explanation of the municipality's motivations.

Excellent municipalities deliver sustainable services at minimum cost. This challenging goal is aided by sea containers.

If a sea container isn’t on concrete foundations, it’s neither a permanent structure, nor a building, nor MPAC assessed, nor property taxed.

Mediocre municipalities think sea containers are a loophole in their quest for maximum tax revenue and maximum spending.

The Roman orator and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero frequently asked "Cui bono" [latin phrase meaning "Who benefits?"].

Special Interest Groups (ie. home & apartment builders, U-store developers, and others) sometime conspire with mediocre municipalities to ban sea containers. If banned, the next best alternative will likely benefit a Special Interest Group.

So if sea containers are banned, mediocre municipalities and their Special Interest Groups both likely benefit.  A devil's pact against the citizens.  Fascism at its worst.

It is unknown if these motivations are the root causes of the 4th attempt at a sea container banning By-law in my case, but it may be true in your case.

Has your municipality banned sea containers?  If so, let everybody know what happened & how you coped by posting a comment below.

My newly minted family farm uses sea containers in an extensive way:

• to store animal feed and seeds,
• on-farm storage;
• as a brooder for our day-old baby chicks, and
• for storing the fresh and frozen meats produced by our farm. 

 We customized a 40 ft. sea container to be a world-class brooder.  Without that brooder, we can no longer raise pastured poultry.  Without the income from our poultry operations, our farm cannot survive.

After a sea container has had 5 to 10 years of strenuous use on the high seas, it is forced to retire to its second career. The environmental 6R Rule (Refuse, Reduce, Re-use, Repair, Re-purpose, Recycle) tells us to re-purpose sea containers, rather than recycle them as scrap steel.

By acting in a sustainable, environmentally sound manner, I have backed my farm into a dangerous corner with my municipality.

The proposed By-law specifically prohibits using a sea container to house animals (or people, also eliminating sea containers as a source of affordable housing for all).

Besides my farm, I am also concerned about current farms that have no sea container but could soon realize a need for one, or future farms that might need sea containers if they are to be a viable farm startup.  What do they do after this By-law is passed?

While I might get "grandfathered in" (ie. become legal non-conforming), others likely will not be entitled to grandfathering.

I am aware of the Ontario law "Farming and Food Production Protection Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, CHAPTER 1 (see https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/98f01 ) which states:

Normal farm practice preserved
6. (1) No municipal by-law applies to restrict a normal farm practice carried on as part of an agricultural operation. 1998,
c. 1, s. 6 (1).

My brooder-sea container is quite innovative, so it likely meets the definition of innovative farm practices that are protected by the Act.  The other sea containers have pretty standard farm uses, so I assume they would meet the definition of "normal farm practices".

So why isn't my farm, and all other farms excempt from this encroaching By-law?

I have proposed the following amendment to the Municipality's draft By-law:

"All farm lands, farms, farmers, farming operations, and farm processes are expressly exempted from this Bylaw, irregardless of what Zone they happen to be located in, and notwithstanding anything else in this By-law, and notwithstanding anything else in the latest amendment of By-law 2002-07 Zoning."

So far, no comment from them on my "reasonable" suggestion..

I told the Municipality that if the municipality proceeds with this draft By-law as it is currently written, I plan to apply to the Normal Farm Practices Protection Board under this law to strike down the Bylaw as ultra vires the Municipality's authority under this Act so as to better protect my farm and all other farms in Central Manitoulin from this ill advised By-law.

When a Municipality does a frontal assault onto a small, local, family farm, it truly is:

 "biting the hand that feeds you"

My farm's LGD's (Livestock Guardian Dogs) know better, and have better manners than this.

Artisanal Chicken Brooder

In the spirit of Blog 3.0, this post will share my ideas and plans for a low cost, effective brooder for use under CFO's Artisanal Chicken program to produce 3,0000 birds per year.

I have previously posted numerous descriptions about the evils of the CAFO chicken factory. I believe in pastured poultry.  However, that's kind of tough to do when the grass is under 3 feet of snow.  Even in the short Canadian summers, the chicks can't be tossed out into the pasture on they day they are hatched; they must spend time under Mama's wing, or in a brooder.  After 2 weeks, they will be ready for the great outdoors.

It's 17 hours round trip to the nearest abattoir that slaughters poultry.  It's 2 years in jail if I try to do it on-farm.  That regulation isn't for any particular health or safety reason, as it has been repeatedly shown that a farmer with a sharp knife can produce eviscerated chicken with 97% less bacterial contamination that the government approved Chicken Mafia system.  The mandatory abattoir visit is due to regulatory capture by the Chicken Mafia, helping to enforce their monopoly.

Due to the high travel costs, I must max. out the abattoir on every trip.  My nearest abattoir can process 500 birds in one day, so my Artisanal Chicken system must learn how to produce flocks of 500 birds.

Joel Salatin says the poults are ready to go to pasture on the first nice day after they are 2 weeks old.  CFO sets a maximum density of 2.88 kg/sq. ft of barn space.  Using the curve in Figure 1 below, we can design the brooder.

Figure 1:  Chick growth curve for Frey's Whiterock meat birds.  I assumed the
chick was 40 grams when hatched, then used Frey's data, fitted by
Richard's (1959) generic chicken growth equation using 4 parameters (A, b, k, and n),
showing the birds have an ultimate weight of 3.233 kg.

Figure 2:   GFQ's 5 tier brooder
can do 500 chicks for about a
week or less, requires a warm
draft free room, electricity, and a
fat wallet.

GFQ makes a 5 tier stacking brooder at a cost of US$1,130.00 plus shipping, exchange, and taxes, which equates to about CDN$1,850.00 for Canada.

With GFQ's system, I still have to do something different after the first week.  GFQ takes 15 amps to run the 5 electric heaters (one on each level).  That much electricity on a 34/7 basis is close to impossible for my off-grid solar-wind power system to power.  In addition, I have to supply a warm, draft free building.  The living room of our house won't go over well every 8 weeks with my patient spouse.

After scratching my head for a while, and a few back of the envelope calculations, I decided the only available solution was a 40 ft. used sea container.  You can do it in a 20 ft. sea container (about $2,500 delivered, about $15.60 per sq. ft. vs. $75 per sq. ft. to build your own barn, or $150/sq. ft. to have a contractor build it.

I decided to buy a 40 ft. can, as I have other plans for the rest of the space, and a 40 ft can is cheaper than two 20 ft. cans.  I got my 40 ft. can for about $4,000 delivered to the farm and put in place.  Under Ontario Building Code, a sea container sitting on the ground (or 6" x 6" sleepers) is not a building and doesn't require a building permit, and doesn't add to your assessed property value.  Sweet!

Figure 3:   Interior plan view of sea container brooder for 500 chicks.  There are 5 brooders, and a central hallway
for wheelbarrow access.  If you have terrible weather and can't go to pasture after 2 weeks of age, you can throw
a few bales of wood shavings onto the hallway floor, and legally extend the brooder time to a maximum of 3 weeks.

The central hallway has to be 3 ft. wide to accommodate my wheelbarrow.  Double door keep out drafts, and open fully for easy loading, unloading, and cleaning.  Each brooder is designed to hold 100 chicks, from day old to 2 weeks of age, then its out to the pasture for them.  At 2 weeks old, the poults should be 0.412 kg, so at a stocking density of 2.88 kg/sq.ft., we need 14.30 sq. ft. which is exactly what we have in Brooders 2 -->5 (#1 is slightly larger).

Sometimes bad weather, or a delay at the abattoir could cause a backup, where the poults can't go to pasture on the planned date.  In that case, you can throw a few bales of wood shavings or hay down on the central hallway, and depopulate each brooder by 67 birds each, and place 338 poults in the hallway for an additional week, or the emergency has resolved.

At 75 birds per pasture pen (10' wide x 12' long  x 2' high), the birds start at a density of 9.6% of CFO's maximum, and grow to 70% of CFO's maximum density; thereby ensuring no overcrowding.

To protect the brooding birds from winter cold, 1.5" of thermal insulation, covered by 1/2" plywood is between the sea container's cold steel wall and the warm birds.  The floor will have 1" of thermal insulation, then 1/2" PEX tubing carrying 50/50 mixture of heated propylene glycol-water.  When a brooder is cold, the thermostat turns on the small DC recirculation pump for that zone, and sends hot fluid through the PEX to warm the chicks.  I tried getting a used propane fired water heater from a travel trailer for $100, but my supplier was out of supply, so I had to buy a new one for $600

The 2 ft. high 2x4 walls between each brooder keep the chicks isolated, carry the PEX lines to and from each brooder, are internally insulated to conserve heat, then skinned with plywood..  Hockey puck LED or halogen lights will light each brooder.  A sheet of 2" insulation board will be used for a roof.

Ventilation of the individual brooders is by propping up the brooder's insulation board as needed.  Overall, the sea container interior is ventilated by grated air inlets cut into the floor (predator proof), and multiple roof vents.

Minimal cost, maximum energy efficiency, and maximum comfort for the birds.  With Small Flockers, everybody wins.

SFPFC has made arrangements with the owner of this design as an aid to our members.  Anybody who is a member of SFPFC is hereby welcomed and automatically licensed to use this design.  All others must refrain from using our registered design.  The design owner is not vengeful, but can be provoked to attack mis-use or unauthorized use of this design.

Any questions, or suggestions to further improve the design, please comment below or by private email.

Shifting Gears: Blog 3.0

I believe it's time to shift gears on the Blog for Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada ("SFPFC"), moving toward Blog 3.0

Readers of SFPFC's Blog are now from 161
countries, including Antarctica.

This Blog was started  on Feb.28, 2013 (coming up on 3 years old), has posted 444 entries, and attracted a total of 187,723 visits from people in 161 countries around the world. (USA, Canada, Russia, France, Ukraine, Germany, China, and UK leading the way in visitors).

We shifted gears in May 2015 to a non-daily posting, as Blog 2.0

Today, we shift gears to Blog 3.0, where our primary focus will now be to help non-quota poultry farmers, cheerleading their successes, and providing helpful hints to do sustainable, worthy poultry farming that can produce safe, nutritious, affordable, locally produced poultry for our local communities.  This will include non-CAFO poultry farming, small flock, Artisanal Chicken, Family Food exemption, and all similar non-quota poultry farming.

Up until now, our primary focus has been on investigating and describing the plight of non-quota chicken farmers in Ontario Canada, as a proxy and worst case scenario for all Small Flockers across Canada.

Small Flockers in Ontario have historically been the most abused, mistreated, and persecuted of all Small Flockers across Canada.  Our theory was that if we cannot make our case for relief and respect for Small Flockers in Ontario, we would not be able to do any good for anybody else across Canada.

Since starting our crusade 3 years ago, Ontario's Chicken Mafia, as embodied and lead by the Chicken Farmers of Ontario, has introduced "Artisanal Chicken", where a Small Flocker can raise up to 3,000 birds per year; 10 times more than the previous draconian rules by CFO against both Small Flockers and Canadians.

For those who shout "Too little, too late", I agree.

However, these changes forced upon the Chicken Mafia by public opinion and their government masters are a good start.

As the Canadian and world economies continues to tailspin down, out of control, the unfairness and unacceptable cost of Supply Management ("SM") will become more and more apparent to the public.  Soon the public will start shouting for urgent changes for more affordable food that isn't contaminated or depleted of nutrition.  Those additional changes to SM will suddenly start to appear.  We need to be patient.

The Chicken Mafia will think that each concession granted will be sufficient to satisfy the complaints against them and their wicked, dysfunctional system.  The Chicken Mafia think that throwing one last bone to the wolves at the Chicken Mafia's door, they will escape the bite of the ravenous wolves.  The Chicken Mafia think they can then resume their raping, pillaging, and abuse of Canadians and Small Flockers.

However, each changed forced upon the Chicken Mafia will be too little, too late.  It will quench the thirst for change only momentarily.  The grudgingly created concession will help show that change for the better is possible, and show the chronic unfairness that has been imposed for decades by the Chicken Mafia.  Each change will fuel and spread the need for more change.

That doesn't mean that the Chicken Mafia can escape by refusing all change, sending forth their lobbyists with more money and propaganda to quell the growing disturbance.  The Chicken Mafia can no longer delay, deny, destroy, defend, distract, deride, and deflect.  Refusing to change for the better will quickly end their tinpot monopoly.

For those who are interested, the evidence of the Chicken Mafia's dirty deeds is collected together and fully explained here.  For those interested, the Internet will spread the message.  For those who wish to stay dumb and blind, nothing written here will change anything for them.

Also, there is little to be gained from re-hashing the same crimes and misdemeanors of the Chicken Mafia over and over again.  It's now time to move on.  However, if the Chicken Mafia commit another unique and grisly offense against Small Flockers or the Canadian public, you will likely hear about it here first.

Now  we will build our own Small Flocker community.  We will share and support each other.  We will build the policies and best practices of Small Flockers, so that this becomes the nexus of sharing and celebrating everything Small Flocker.

I therefore call upon all our readers around the world for what they have done to improve their flocks and better serve their local communities.  You are all requested and invited to share your stories, pictures, and other successes here.

The dysfunctional CAFO chicken factories and their quota monopolies, lies, cheating, and incest are hereby abandoned, out of the spotlight, and can wallow in their own filth as long as they want, slowly rotting, rusting and inbreeding to their heart's content.  We are done with them.  Good-bye.

Your Chicken Choice Is Clear

We now have scientific evidence that pastured chicken is more nutritious than the CAFO chicken factory meat sold in the typical grocery store.  Your choice in chicken is now clear.

The Choice in Chicken is Now Clear

I have previously posted comments made by a number of sources that free range and/or pastured chicken was better, but I was never able to find hard scientific numbers to back it up.  Fortunately, courtesy of our American neighbours, we now have those science-based data to support the former anecdotal testimonies.

I have previous posted about the good fats and other benefits of pastured and free-range chicken (see Blog postings Animal Fat in our Diets, Vegetable Oils, Food Quality & Nutrition: Factory Chicken Vs. Alternatives, Pastured Poultry and Mental Health).

Figure 1:   Comparison of chicken fats from CAFO chicken factories Vs.
Pastured Poultry.  As can be easily seen here, pastured poultry is better
in at least 10 out of 12 categories.  Recent research shows dietary
cholesterol is no longer seen as a problem, and is essential for building
healthy membranes within all cells,  so that would make pastured chicken
better in 11 out of 12 categories (no data exists in the 12th category, so no
comparison can be made in the final category.   Source: APPPA

American Pastured Poultry Producers Association ("APPPA") conducted the research "Pasture and Feed Affect Broiler Carcass Nutrition", on the nutritional difference between pastured chicken and the CAFO factory chicken that is ubiquitously available in all Canadian grocery stores.  The APPPA's summary report was written by Mike  Badger, revised 4/22/2015.

As compared to CAFO factory farm chicken, pastured chicken has been found to have:

• 33% less of the bad Omega-6 fat;
• 91% more of the good Omega-3 fat,
• 47% to 80% better Omega-6:Omega-3 ratio (depending on the supplemental feed used);
• 407% more Vitamin E;
• 52% less Saturated Fat
• 53% less Monosaturated fat;
• 32% less polyunsaturated fat;
• 50% less fat (all types).
  

All About Fats

Trans fats are the worst, often created by the chemical factory processing of vegetable oils via high temperature oil extraction (often using petroleum based solvents such as hexane), deodorization, or hydrogenation. Because they have been deodorized, we can no longer detect when the oil has gone rancid, enabling us to unwittingly consume rancid oils.  Deodorizing these oils is the same as a car manufacturer purposefully not installing the LOW OIL PRESSURE switch on your car's engine, perhaps with the purpose that you will destroy your engine, and they can sell you a new car sooner.

Next worst after trans fats are PUFA's (Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids).  PUFA's are an essential fat (ie. we need it but our bodies can't produce our own, so we must consume it from our food), but we only need a tiny bit that is naturally occurring in many foods.  PUFA's are unstable due their unsaturated double bond, are easily oxidized, and quickly go rancid.  When eaten in excess, PUFA's have a terrible effect on our liver, pancreas, thyroid, and obesity.  Eating PUFA's at the same time as fructose maximizes the harm, as these interact to form AGE's (Advanced Glycation Endproducts).  Omega-6 (eg. Linoleic acid such as corn oil, canola oil, and most other liquid oils, salad dressings, margarines, etc.) is a PUFA which is one of the worst, clearly shown to cause or contribute to coronary heart disease.  Omega-6 fats also tend to cause or contribute to systemic inflammation in our bodies (eg. irritable bowel, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.).  In North America, we consume way too much Omega-6 PUFA fat; 8 times more than historically.  The rest of the world has followed us down this swampy path to PUFA hell, hurting their health too.

Omega-3 ( α-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) obtained from foods such as flax seed, cold water fish, etc.) is also a PUFA.  Omega-3 tends to counteract many of the negative consequences of Omega-6.  Omega-3 is best consumed as food rather than as a pill or other supplements (eg. fish oil), as too much Omega-3 is not good for you, and pills are of questionable quality and freshness (ie. likely they are contaminated or denatured by the extraction process, and likely oxidized or rancid due to sitting too long on the shelf).  The ALA type of Omega-3, primarily from flax seeds and other vegetable sources, can't be metabolized directly, so the body has to convert ALA to EPA &/or DHA for it to be used, and that conversion process is long and inefficient, so animal sources of Omega-3 are the best.

PUFA's are in most foods, so it is very difficult to avoid them. In meats, the PUFA's aren't as bad as the vegetable oils, usually because the meat isn't rancid, and if it is rancid, it's easily detected, and rancid meat likely won't be eaten due to the terrible taste.

First and foremost, PUFA's should be severely limited in our diets.  For the small amounts of PUFA's that are permitted to remain in our diet, the next important factor is the Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio.

Before humans got their first chemistry set for Christmas, it is believed that human diets had an Omega6:Omega3 ratio of 1:1.  A ratio of 4 or below is generally considered excellent (ie. 4 parts Omega-6, 1 part Omega-3).   Unfortunately, mainly due to our modern foods made by Mad Scientists and their chemistry sets, or processed foods, and/or CAFO factory farming, our typical diet in North America has way too much Omega-6, and our N. American diet ratio of Omega-6:Omega-3 is often as high as 20:1

Ouch!

To understand the healthier choices in meat, most science-based nutritionists suggest looking at minimizing the amount of Omega-6, then minimize the ratio between Omega-6 to Omega-3 fats in the meat.  

Looking at the table above, we can see that soy-free pastured chicken has 32.9% less Omega-6 fat, and as low as a 3:1 ratio, both of which are excellent for a healthy diet.

This research also shows that when chicken feed is made with soybean meal as the primary protein source, the chickens tend to add significantly more body fat.  However, when peas are used as the primary source of protein, the chickens tend to be significantly less fatty.  Of course CAFO chicken factories tend to be highly reliant on soybean meal as a cheap source of protein.  Non-soy fed pastured chicken has a ratio as low as 3:1 (ie. excellent), while USDA tests of CAFO chicken factory meats have a  15:1 ratio (ie. not so healthy).  On this basis, pastured chicken is up to 5 times better than meat from CAFO chicken factories.

Omega-9 (eg. oleic fats, such as olive oil) are mono-unsaturated fats ("MUFA") that are generally considered as excellent dietary fats, better than PUFA's.  However if a MUFA is used in a high heat cooking process (eg. grilling, frying, roasting, etc.), it will denature and form bad oxidation products.

8 Chicken legs (2.23 kg raw) were roasted,
producing 150 ml (144 grams) of excess fat in
the bottom of the roasting pan.  This excess
CAFO factory farming fat is $0.5 Billion
per year of waste to Canadians.

Practical Test of CAFO Chicken

To put this information to a practical test, I purchased two packages of whole chicken legs (4 drumstick & thighs per package, 8 legs in total, with skin), for a total raw weight of 2.23 kg.  I paid the standard Chicken Mafia gouging prices Canadians must pay due to this unholy Chicken Mafia monopoly.

I roasted the chicken and collected the grease left in the pan.  After cooking,  I had 150 ml of rendered chicken fat in the bottom of the pan.  I'm sure there was still some additional fat in the skin and on the legs that didn't liquefy.  That excess chicken fat weighed 144 grams, so we had 6.41% (ie. 144/2230*100%= 6.41%) of the raw purchased weight ended up as unusable fat in the bottom of the roasting pan.

The Hidden Costs of Soybean based Chicken Feeds

According to CFC's Annual Report for 2014 (see page 18), Canada's Chicken Mafia raised a total of 1,067,291,000 kg of eviscerated chicken in 2014.  Assuming my home kitchen test applies to all of that Chicken Mafia chicken, that 6.41% excess fat converts to a total loss to Canadians of 68.41 million kg of wasted fat.  Statistics Canada Table 326-0012 reported the Canadian average cost of whole chicken in 2014 was $7.23/kg., so that excess CAFO fat is a total loss caused by excess, unhealthy fat of $494.6 million per year; forced upon Canadians with no knowledge, disclosure, nor choice.

As calculated above, the CAFO chicken fat isn't healthy for us to eat, and overly fattened CAFO chickens wastes about $0.5 Billion per year from Canada's wallets.

In addition, soybeans are well known for their isoflavones (such as genistein and others, plant compounds that mimic human estrogen).  Soybean is the leading suspect in causing 9 yr. old girls to grow breasts and start early menstruation.  See this Scientific American article.

While the soybean is a relatively cheap source of protein, perhaps there are reasons for it being cheap, and we need to be wary of the hidden consequences of that cheap protein source.

No doubt, soybean-based feeds for chickens will maximize the Chicken Mafia's profits.  However, perhaps  it would be far better for Canada and Canadians if there was a different feed formulation and/or better CAFO growing methods so as to avoid adding this excessive and wasteful fat to their chickens.

Epilogue

There ought to be a law against the dysfunctional and questionable practices of the Chicken Mafia and their CAFO chicken factory methods.

Let this be a lesson to all of us.  This is what happens when we are provided no choice.  This is what happens when the Chicken Mafia is expected to make all the choices on our behalf, and we end up with no choice, and the final product presented to us happens
to be better for the Chicken Mafia, than for us.

In short, buy pastured, free range chicken, especially if it is fed a non-soy ration to supplement its natural diet of grass & bugs.  That's the best for both you and the planet.

Chicken Consumer Due Diligence

If the Chicken Mafia are surviving and prospering by spewing their propaganda far and wide, what can a consumer do to overcome the lies, half truths, and misleading omissions by the CAFO chicken factory owners and their henchmen?

Consumers must fight back with due diligence.



The above clip from the TV show Portlandia satirizes what well informed restaurant staff must go through to make a sale to overly conscientious guests who must know the provenance of the chicken on the menu.

It's funny because it went to an extreme.  It's sad, because that is what consumers are being forced to do more and more so as to overcome the Big Food propaganda machine.

C4: Canadian Campylobacter Contaminated Chicken

About half of Canada's chicken on retail store shelves is contaminated with campylobacter jejuni.

FoodNet Canada collects food safety surveillance samples at 3 different sentinal sites (Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta) on behalf of Public Health Agency of Canada.  In the 2014 Short Report of FoodNet Canada, they reported:

• "In 2014, Campylobacter and Salmonella remained the most common causes of human enteric illness in the [three] sentinel sites",
• "Campylobacter was the most prevalent pathogen found on skinless chicken breast in all sites with close to one-half of all samples testing positive.";
• "In turkey [farms] in the BC [sentinal] site, Campylobacter was again the most common pathogen found in 2014, as in 2013. Campylobacter was also commonly found in beef and dairy manure samples in the ON [sentinal] site, as in previous years. Campylobacter prevalence in broiler chickens was variable across the [3 sentinal] sites, ranging from 8.7% - 22%.";
• "...the 2014 FoodNet Canada sampling year have demonstrated that retail meat products, particularly chicken products, remain an important source of human enteric pathogens."

Perhaps Canada's Chicken Mafia thinks this level of chicken contamination is OK, because UK's CAFO chicken is 73% contaminated and US CAFO chicken is about 40% contaminated, so Canada's CAFO chicken is in the middle of the pack.

The common denominator across Canada, UK, and USA is their use of dysfunctional CAFO technologies, which causes serious problems in all countries that use CAFO.  Most unfortunately, those CAFO risks spill over to all countries who don't use CAFO.  Everybody on the planet gets impacted by CAFO, whether their country has used CAFO, or not.

Who Cares?

OK, so Canada's chicken is contaminated.  So what's the big deal?  Can't I just wash it off?  If I cook it properly, won't it kill the bugs?

Good questions.  Perhaps you don't have to worry.  On the other hand...

In the 2014-2015 year long study for the UK study of chicken in UK grocery stores , they found that 7% of the chicken packaging was contaminated with deadly bacteria on the exterior surface of the packaging.  I think it's reasonable to assume the same packaging contamination exists in Canada and USA.  Therefore:

• When you pick up the package from the meat counter, those deadly bacteria are now all over your hands.  If you touch your mouth or eyes, you will likely be infected, and can get very sick.  If you touch your child, or your fresh vegetables, now they are contaminated too.
   
• If your package of CAFO chicken brushes up against your fresh vegetables while they're in your shopping cart, you may die from this invisible mistake.
   
• Somebody used your shopping cart before you arrived at the grocery store.  What will happen to you if that prior cart user handled or purchased CAFO contaminated chicken?  In that case, the inside of your grocery cart may be contaminated with deadly bacteria before you begin your shopping.  It isn't enough to sanitize just the handle of your shopping cart.
  
  
• If you put your CAFO chicken into your reusable shopping bag to take it home, the contamination on the packaging exterior (plus any meat juice that oozes out of the package) has now contaminated your shopping bag.  How often do you sanitize the interior of your shopping bags?  Do you keep just one specially marked shopping bag for just CAFO chicken?  If you don't, the next time you go shopping, you may cross-contaminate your fresh produce and kill a family member.
  

  

  A HAZMAT suit, optional
  equipment for buying,
  storing, or cooking CAFO
  chicken in Canada

Have I got you scared yet?

Here are our recommendations on how to buy, store and cook CAFO chicken factory meat. So far, a HAZMAT suit is optional.

If you try to wash the bugs off your chicken, you will likely splash those bugs all over your kitchen counters and anything sitting on them within a 10 ft. radius from the sink.  Each micro drop splashing off the chicken can have enough bacteria to make a person seriously ill.

A scientific study has shown that the 50% probability of an infective dose of campylobacter for humans is approximately 900 cells; thus, the potential for human exposure to the bacteria through cross contamination, poor hygiene, or undercooking in the kitchen is high.

That is why public health officials recommend against washing the chicken before cooking.

Why don't they tell the public that a farmer with a sharp knife can kill and process a chicken with 96% less bacterial contamination than the CAFO chicken factories and their high speed processing lines?

Beyond the health risks, there is nutrition and taste.

Why don't they tell people there are alternatives to CAFO, such as pastured poultry, where no antibiotics are required, the birds are healthier and happier, the resulting meat is better tasting, and the nutrition levels in that pastured chicken is far superior to that produced by a CAFO system?

How Sick Will You Get?

How sick you get will depend upon your prior health, how big of a dose of bacteria you get, the state of your immune system, and how quickly you get the right medical help.

Campylobacter jejuni, has been recognized as a major cause of acute bacterial gastroenteritis in humans since the late 1970s and it is estimated that Campylobacter sp. are responsible for 400–500 million cases of diarrhea each year on a worldwide basis.

Prior to 1992, fluoroquinolone (FQ) antimicrobials (e.g., ciprofloxacin) resistance in Campylobacter was rarely observed in the USA and Canada, but several recent reports have indicated that approximately 19–47% of Campylobacter strains isolated from humans were resistant to ciprofloxacin.

That means it isn't a sure thing that a hospital can cure you of a campylobacter infection by using antibiotics.  If it gets bad, you could die, or have a few feet length of your bowl removed during emergency surgery.

This Blog has previously reported on the mis-use of ciprofloxin by the Chicken Mafia.  All CAFO chicken factories are supposed to be monitored by the supreme Chicken Farmers of Canada ("CFC"), as well as their respective provincial Chicken Mafia boss.  In spite of this alleged monitoring and supervision, more than one CAFO chicken factory was caught using illegal feed laced with this antibiotic; a ploy to maximize that CAFO farmer's profit and minimize their risk, in spite of the added risks to the public from their bad behaviour.  Fortunately, Public Health Canada discovered their plot, found them, and stopped them from continuing to feed this illegal antibiotic to chickens that produce eggs for hatching into meat birds.

The circle closes.  Campylobacter resistance to ciprofloxin is rapidly growing, likely caused or contributed to by the mis-use of this drug by the Chicken Mafia.  Unfortunately, it isn't just ciprofloxin where the mis-use of antibiotics occur.

Public Health Agency of Canada has reported that:

 "each year there are 4000 hospitalizations (range 3200–4800) and 105 (range 75–139) deaths associated with domestically acquired foodborne illness related to 30 known pathogens and 7600 (range 5900–9650) hospitalizations and 133 (range 77–192) deaths associated with unspecified agents, for atotal estimate of 11,600 (range 9250–14,150) hospitalizations and 238 (range 155–323) deaths associated with domestically acquired foodborne illness in Canada."

and

"Key pathogens associated with these hospitalizations or deaths include norovirus, nontyphoidal Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., VTEC O157 and Listeria monocytogenes"

and

"These estimates of hospitalizations and deaths capture only a part of the burden for all pathogens as they only account for acute illness and do not include hospitalizations or deaths related to chronic sequelae associated with the original infection (e.g., Guillain-Barre´ syndrome associated with Campylobacter spp.). Additional work to better understand the burden of chronic sequelae associated with foodborne pathogens in Canada is needed to inform Disability-Adjusted Life Years and cost estimates and facilitate international comparisons."

Those who become infected by campylobacter sometimes develop Guillain–Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease where, instigated by the campylobacter infection, the body attacks the nerves, dissolving the myelin sheath on the nerves, resulting in numbness, nerve tingling, paralysis, and other serious symptoms.  In the worst case, you can no longer breath, just like in polio, so you get placed on a respirator.  Since the widespread vaccination for polio, Guillain–Barré syndrome has become the #1 cause of flaccid paralysis which puts people onto respirators. 

One study found that campylobacter infections caused 30 cases of  Guillain–Barré syndrome per 100,000 persons infected with campylobacter.  The risk of developing Guillain–Barré syndrome is 100 times greater due to campylobacter than all other causes of this disease.

The National Institute of Health says:

• "there is no known cure for Guillain-Barré syndrome."
   
• "Guillain-Barré syndrome can be a devastating disorder because of its sudden and unexpected onset. In addition, recovery is not necessarily quick. As noted above, patients usually reach the point of greatest weakness or paralysis days or weeks after the first symptoms occur. Symptoms then stabilize at this level for a period of days, weeks, or, sometimes, months. The recovery period may be as little as a few weeks or as long as a few years. About 30 percent of those with Guillain-Barré still have a residual weakness after 3 years. About 3 percent may suffer a relapse of muscle weakness and tingling sensations many years after the initial attack. Guillain-Barré syndrome patients face not only physical difficulties, but emotionally painful periods as well. It is often extremely difficult for patients to adjust to sudden paralysis and dependence on others for help with routine daily activities. Patients sometimes need psychological counseling to help them adapt."

In short, if the government allows CAFO chicken factories to continue causing campylobacter outbreaks, the Chicken Mafia are being allowed to play with fire, and it's you and me who get tossed into that fire.

Mis-Use of Antibiotics

As mentioned in yesterday's Blog posting about the MCR-1 fiasco, this mis-use of important antibiotics by CAFO factories has been going on for more than 46 years.

It's about time the government brought it to a full and complete stop.

Unfortunately, the government's current plan is to coast into the next exit ramp, then take a different antibiotic highway (ie. the back roads), so that it isn't so obvious that the Chicken Mafia will continue doing what they do best, screwing and endangering the public so they can maximize their profits.

The Chicken Mafia are already multi-millionaires.  Why do the Chicken Mafia have to put the whole planet at risk so they can earn an artificially higher income?

I guess they feel being a multi-millionaire isn't enough, they want to be a billionaire.