Spurred inside by the wet March-like weather of Saturday, April 11, Island Grown Initiative (IGI) drew an excellent turnout of animated poultry people, from late middle age to toddler, for its second All Things Poultry Day event at the Agricultural Hall. Instead of a beautiful day to build a henhouse, the weather provided a welcome excuse to come inside to share all aspects of chicken keeping.
A seven-part program, supported in part by a Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NESARE) grant, featured breakfast, welcoming address, heritage breeds presentation, introduction to humane poultry processing, "Getting More out of Your Chicken" demonstration, lunch, and a panel discussion with local growers.
Poultry Day
Video footage by Ralph Stewart
Breakfast presented by the Scottish Bakehouse (beverages, muffins, scones, and egg sandwiches cooked to order) initiated the day's program. Doug Brush's welcome followed, with his informative back story on the Cornish X Rock (Cornish cross), and its radical effect on the poultry industry.
These are the birds that put chicken on America's daily menu, which Flat Point Poultry raises for its Community Supported Chickens (CSC, as in CSA, community supported agriculture) plan. Mr. Brush is happy to sell the poultry that he and his partner, Jeff Munroe, raise at Flat Point Poultry, but he is just as eager to convince novice chicken growers to produce their own meat with some minimal daily effort and the help of IGI's humane poultry processing unit.
Rebecca Gilbert of Native Earth Teaching Farm and Katherine Long of Up Island Eggs teamed to convince the assembly to consider heritage breeds of poultry when choosing chickens to raise, emphasizing the real work, arduous selection, and re-selection over generations, which heritage breeds represent. Ms. Long's PowerPoint program highlighted her Cochins, Dorkings, Silkies, Brahmas, and Crested Polish, as good backyard poultry choices.
Flightiness and poor temperament have entered many breed lines as unintended consequences of other genetic objectives, she observes. It is sensible to stick with poultry breeds that have a long history of domestication. Such a lengthy pedigree belongs to the five-toed Dorking, brought to Britain by invading Romans prior to the Christian era.
Lively questions and good answers peppered each of the day's presentations. Standing close to where baby Cornish cross chicks were boxed under a heat lamp, Emily Fischer, Doug Brush's wife, shared her reaction to the day: "I'm so pleased by how many Island participants there are this year compared to last year. There is so much knowledge here we can benefit from."
That was demonstrated throughout the day.
Ali Berlow of IGI and Richard Andre led a talk-through of the Mobile Poultry Processing Unit (MPPU) parked out in the barn, its use and fees, and an introduction to humane poultry processing: poultry slaughtered locally without the stress, expense, and inefficiency of transport to the mainland. In supporting the necessity of such programs, Mr. Andre alluded to lags in regulatory systems, which need to catch up with local demand. Ms. Berlow explained that the transparency of the MPPU program is its strength.
Robert Lionette, executive chef at Zephrus, shows how to make use of the entire bird at All Things Poultry Day last Saturday, April 11, at the Ag Hall in West Tisbury. Photo by Ralph Stewart
The meeting reconvened in the meeting room to watch the interactive presentation of chef Robert Lionette of Zephrus, "Getting More Out of Your Chicken." Mr. Lionette shared his knowledge using carcasses of four breeds of dressed poultry, including a prized and highly-priced black-skinned Silkie. Aided by an impressively sharp knife, he demonstrated how to use all of the bird in ways that are practical for the home or restaurant. He showed how several dressing techniques, dishes, and menu choices can give a small family as many as four or five meals from a single bird.
Chef Lionette presented a lunch (confit of two chickens, smoked chicken breast, millet/parsnip cakes with watercress, tarragon and micro-greens in a lemon vinaigrette) that those showing up for the final panel discussion could only envy having missed. In a brief conversation later, Chef Lionette expressed his appreciation of IGI's mission: "Anything I can do for IGI, I really owe it to them."
All Things Poultry Day's final segment seated a panel composed of Jim Athearn of Morning Glory Farm, Nancy Cole and Jennifer Gardner both of West Tisbury, who raise meat birds and laying hens, Elizabeth Germain of Slow Food Martha's Vineyard, Tom Vogel of Up-Island Eggs, and Wes Wood of The FARM Institute, with vigorous participation from the audience.
The subjects of the questions were widely-ranged. The panel held forth with aplomb and know-how: Raising ducks as meat birds? Space requirements per bird in coops? Control of diseases like coccidiosis, and external parasites like mites? What are chicken skirts made of and how wide should they be? Which is preferable, Kosher Kings or Cornish X Rocks? How should I price my eggs? Should I wash them? What about killing varmints? Lights or no lights? Trauma and egg-production? What temperature is frozen poultry stored at? How to properly thaw it? How can I use duck eggs?
In the future, if there is interest, Mr. Brush and Mr. Monroe may offer a workshop in pen building. For now, Mr. Monroe sounds content: "We hope poultry day lays a golden egg for poultry production on Martha's Vineyard."
West Tisbury resident Abigail Higgins writes the Garden Notes column for The Martha's Vineyard Times.
