It’s All About Chicken
There are about 18,700,000 kid favourite chicken recipes on Google. If you have children you will know that chicken is a good “go to” food because children, no matter how picky an eater, will eat chicken. Scroll down to see two yummy recipes, easy enough for kids to make, chosen by our chicken farmers for us to try!
Being a former school teacher and a perpetual lover of learning, I was thrilled to be invited to investigate about chicken. My two younger children and I were so happy to discover many wonderful truths and myths about the chicken we eat here in British Columbia, Canada, when we went to visit some local chicken farmers at a Choices Market in South Surrey at an event put on by Chicken Squad.
Have you heard of the Chicken Squad? If you have not, check out their movie trailer here and be entertained. This movie trailer played in select Cineplex theatres across BC for the month of August 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm1IVmBxmGk http://chickensquad.ca
Learning about chicken farming from Bev Whitta of Whitta Farm, Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island, who has been a chicken farmer since 1995.
SYNOPSIS from http://chickensquad.ca
“The real chicken farmers of British Columbia star in the heart-pounding action thriller Chicken Squad. Ravi Bathe and Chris Kloot of the Lower Mainland play agents in the Chicken Squad, an elite enforcement agency protecting the local chicken supply from the foreign import of hormones and steroids, which have been banned in Canada since 1963. When the Chicken Squad discovers the plot of a sinister international syndicate to introduce hormones and steroids onto the black market they must go undercover to protect the integrity of the province’s chicken supply. Chicken Squad is produced by the BC Chicken Marketing Board and BC Chicken Growers’ Association. Look for Chicken Squad in movie theatres and grocery stores across BC this summer.”
We were greeted with the friendliest welcome from Cheryl Davie, Chicken Squad Ambassador and the amazing Poultry In Motion vehicle!
Cheryl gave out some fun swag too. Our fav was the fun swag tags!
To quote my eight year old, “Meeting real chicken farmers was awesome!” I have to agree. We have a new appreciation for these caring and hard working individuals. These farmers are very knowledgeable about best practices and also very passionate about what they do.
Chicken farmer Bev Whitta, of Whitta Farm, Vancouver Island, explained to us how well her chickens are taken care of from the first day they arrive at one day old to 35 to 42 days old when they are fully grown. She showed us how the chickens’ environment at the farm is created to provide a stress-free and spacious environment from day one. We learned that a chicken farmer’s main purpose is to keep the chickens comfortable and healthy because that is the best way to provide a nutritious and great product. Bev shared that chicken farms are strictly and regularly audited to meet all the strict guidelines in Canada for the care and handling of poultry.
“The Canadian Food Inspection Agency closely regulates the ingredients in the feed. Hormones and steroids are not used in broiler feed. Their use in Canada has been illegal for all chicken production since the 1960s.” ( http://chickensquad.ca/bc-chicken/raising-chicken/)
Paul Dick (left), Specialty Poultry Farmer at Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry and David Reid (right), Organic Chicken Farmer, Thomas Reid Farms, Langley.
My 6 year old’s favourite FUN FACT: Chickens cannot swallow! They rely on gravity to move the food down!
David Reid is an organic chicken farmer who starts his work at 7:30AM, stops at 5PM, and then starts again at 10PM until 1AM. David shared that 22 years ago his father started the very first organic chicken farm in British Columbia and he also helped developed the regulation for organic chicken farming used today. David explains that organic chickens have natural sunlight from day one, an all vegetable and organic grain diet, and that these chickens get double the space a non-organic chicken gets.
Learning new things with the kids is always so much fun. For more interesting facts about the chicken you eat check out this link: FAQs http://chickensquad.ca/bc-chicken/faq/
Before we left, I had chance to ask chicken farmers Bev and David if they had a recipe they would like my kids to try in one of the great recipe books they were handing out and this is what they each chose! Which recipe will you try making with your kids?
Warm smiles,
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