Feed
The act of receiving any of our Meat products, signifies that you agree with the Ben's Hens Membership Agreement, especially if you receive any Lamb, Goat, and Pork products. In some cases, you may need to sign our CSA Agreement. We expect our Customers to understand the risks and rewards of receiving and partaking of farm fresh food. If you would like to view the CSA Agreement, please click the button above.
Jackson Pastures, LLC - Ben's Hens is a Private Membership Association and therefore requires membership for access to benefits and discounts. For more information about Membership, click the Membership button at the top of the page. Please note: Non-Members automatically become Tin Members with their first Meat purchase. You can still purchase most products but at Retail Prices.
For information about Preordering Meat, please click the button above.
For more information about each type of Meat product that we offer, please use the buttons below.
If you are interested in Beef, select the button below for more information.
Please note: Since the 2021 Season, we have seen a 35% increase on the price of feed that we use. We anticipate this will continue to increase over the coming months. In addition, the cost of newly hatched poultry increased by 30% - 50%. This is directly related to the Hiden Effect..
For the 2022 season, Ben's Hens will continue to offer premium quality Chicken, Duck, Turkey, and Goose. We will also be able to offer Lamb.
We are really busy right now, but wanted to give a brief description of the feed our meat poultry eat. When we find a free moment, we will update this information with more details.
First and most important, our poultry eat pasture grasses, clovers and other living plants, and any insects they manage to find. They live on pasture grasses from about 3 weeks old, until the day they are processed on farm.
Second, we provide three main inputs: Chick Starter, Layer Concentrate, and Ben's Hens Fermented Whole Grain/Seed Mix (background picture)
Chick Starter - All poultry start out on IFA brand Chick Starter. Around week 3, we begin to phase out the starter.
Layer Concentrate - In order to boost the protein percent of Whole Grain/Seed Mix, we add IFA brand Layer Concentrate from Flax Seed. This also fills in any potential missing vitamins and minerals our mix may be lacking. We begin to phase this in around week 7 of poultry growth. The Layer Concentrate makes up 10% of the feed mix from week 7 until processing day.
Fermented Whole Grain/Seed Mix - At Ben's Hens, we want to know what we are feeding our poultry. In order to accomplish this, we obtain whole grains and whole seeds and mix it all together. Our mix includes most or all of the following: Oats, Barley, Red Wheat, Milo, Green Peas, Lentils, Millet, Flaxseed, Sunflower seed, and Safflower seed. We ferment this mix for 2 days prior to feeding it to the poultry. We begin phasing in the fermented mix around week 3.
Check back at a later date for more details. We hope to make time to complete this. In the meantime, feel free to contact Ben Jackson when you have questions.
The 2023 season pasture-raised lambs raised by Jackson Pastures and Ben's Hens are a cross between Barbados Blackbelly and Dorper. Both breeds are resilient and hardy hair sheep with the genetics to be amazing meat sheep. Blackbelly are a smaller sheep and Dorpers are a medium sized sheep that are bred for meat. Because they do NOT have wool, they do NOT produce lanolin. Lanolin is what gives wool lamb it’s gamey flavor, hence the 'mutton' taste often associated with wool sheep.
Our current plan is to work with Oyler Family Farm and Market to harvest and process our lambs. This is scheduled to take place during the month of September 2023.