Farm-gate or local sales

With this system of production the farmer will have to source a supply of chicks in relatively small numbers on a regular basis depending on the eventual rate of mature chicken sales. Small independent hatcheries exist to meet these demands and advertisements appear in the various trades journals giving details of supply. It will not be possible to obtain chicks from a local commercial hatchery as the strains will, in all probability, be the hybrid varieties and not the necessary slow-growing strains. In the early stages this is a difficult ordering pattern to establish, but as trade develops and regular orders replace random sales the position becomes easier. 

The strain of chicken should be a slow-growing strain capable of reaching 81 days of age prior to slaughter without becoming too heavy and hence too expensive to preclude a sale. It must be remembered that once the unit price of the chicken exceeds that of 

The option to produce a home mix feed has appeal but the reality is different. So much of the health of any animal depends on the quality, quantity and nutritional balance of the feed that the days of scattering a handful of wheat, organic or not, and allowing the bird to forage for the remainder of its diet have gone. There will always be those who say that they achieve success by this means, but our belief is it is far better to purchase feed from a registered organic feed supplier than to mix a home produced feed. A compounded feed contains a mix of raw materials with documented and traceable supply routes, and a mineral-vitamin balance that will ensure the health of the chickens. 

In the view of local authorities it is normally assumed that farm-gate sales only cover unprocessed goods produced on that farm. It is ancillary to the use as a farm and therefore does not require specific planning permission. If the product is labelled or described as organic it must, regardless of the size of the operation, meet all the requirements of UKROFS and Trading Standards. 

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