So my wife and I went to Staunton a few weeks back. We went downtown to the glass blowing shop (my wife fires glass jewelry here at home) and we went out to eat while we were in town. We went to Cranberry Eatery. Nice place, good food, just a bit overpriced but thats expected in the downtown scene. They have a small grocery store in the front carrying alot of local and health foods. While looking through the freezer I stumbled upon boneless skinless chicken breasts from Polyface Farms (Joel Salatin). There were two frozen breasts of decent sized portions wrapped in a plastic bag and labeled. Then there was the price tag reading $22.00 for the bag (was 3 lbs at the most). Is it just me or is this a bit ridiculous? They also had Polyface sausage which was going for $7 lb. Are they trying to profit off of Joel Salatin's name or are his products really this expensive? I understand good food has its price but could you imagine grilling chicken breasts that cost $11 a piece or making 1/4lb sausage patties for breakfast that cost $1.75 a piece? Just wanted to ask some others out there what they thought...

Wow, that seems pricey. I'll think about buying some of that chicken as soon as I make out the check for my brand new Corvette.

I found a wonderful farm in Amelia that delivers frozen chicken breasts (and beef) to a nearby herb store. I can stock up. Definitely more expensive but nothing like that!

Anything from Polyface comes with a big fat price tag on it. On a side note, Salatin and Polyface show up as a sort of hero in the movie Food Inc. http://www.foodincmovie.com/. It is a good movie, but might be preaching to this choir.

we saw the movie and thought it was pretty informative about the kind of food we are eating. i like joel salatin's idea of free ranging the meat birds that we eat but it's not sustainable. he buys the cornish crosses from a hatchery so it's still a frankenbird, just one that eats naturally. i think we should be eating and raising sustainable dual purpose chickens that lay good and taste good too.

I don't mind paying more for good whole food. We get our meat, milk, cheese, etc. from an Amish farmer in PA. He's a part of a food co op and has weekly deliveries all over NOVA. I can get someone info if they want, just PM me. His prices are really decent.

im curious as to why your not in favor of using a stain of fowl that has been bred to grow like the cornish X.? esp. if they come that way through crossing and not through enhanced feeding?

leg problems, mortality, excessive waste and can't reproduce itself.

cant reproduce itself, as in sterile like a mule or physically cant breed?

My experience is they get so big they physically can't breed.

cubalaya what breed do you use for meat birds? And do you do anything special to develop them into a bird with enough meat? I got RIR's as a dual purpose breed but they never really get to a good size meat bird.....

That movie, as well as Future of Food (which is free to watch at Hulu.com) is one of the reasons my wife and I are trying to change the way we aquire food. I recently also got a part time job stocking at Kroger and when I read where these products are coming from and the massive amounts of waste that goes into shipping and packaging, I know there has to be a better way I just don't think charging exorbitant prices for these items is going to lure the general public in.

right now we just eat the extra cockerels . i have been crossing cubalaya roos with barred rocks, rhode island reds, and jersey giants hens to get more breast meat and might cross some new hampshire later on to get them to grow a little faster. the hens should be great layers of brown eggs. if i had to pick one heritage breed for meat and eggs then i would probably go with delawares.

what if you were to feed them a 'slower' feed? perhaps free range them? how would they do? i know free ranging really takes away from the texture of the meat.....but practicing this method, would it enable the cornish X to be a more user friendly bird?

i havent personally had experience with every dual purpose breed, but the ones ive had, IMO arent that usefull for meat production.

there are different strains of dual purpose breeds that are big enough for meat birds. they might not be fryer size in six weeks but could be by 12 to 16 weeks.

i was disapointed with dominiques, production reds and ameraucanas as dual purpose. while they lay good, the meat left much to be desired. true rhode island reds, plymouth rocks and jersey giants are a better choice and if processed good, taste pretty good and not tough.