Welcome to the CT Coop Webpage

Home of Free Range Heritage Chickens and Turkeys.

Our Royal Palm, and Bronze Heritage turkeys, and Delaware, and Jersey Giant Heritage chickens graze daily on unsprayed, untreated grasses and weeds. And, an occasional bug.

Why Heritage Birds
Biosecurity for birds - keeping a healthy flock
Nurseries
Contact Us
Cooking Facts and Informational Links
Photos
Nursery Photos
The Back Porch injured
More Birds

During the summer and fall, our chickens and turkeys are fed ample amounts of apples, pears, watermelon, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, bread, and, a favorite, tomatoes. Of course, no growth chemicals, herbicides or pesticides are used on these plants.

To ensure our bird's nutritional needs are met, we provide ample amounts of poultry feed all year long. We add one tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar per gallon of water to help build their immune system.

When in season, they play catch me if you can in the strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry patches.

We are not an organic operation (near-by fields are planted by traditional corn and bean farmers), but we strive to maintain our crops and poultry at the highest possible natural level.

During the fall and winter months, to replace the garden food, we provide apples and pears, lettuce, alfalfa/grass, cracked corn, and scratch grain (cracked corn, oats, barley, and milo).

The results are these birds thrive in their natural environment that is reminiscent of earlier times. We, and our visitors, enjoy walking among them listening to their unique sounds and observing the playful entertainment.

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Why Heritage birds

CT Coop is working to preserve heritage breeds of chickens and turkeys and to ensure genetic diversity in poultry for future generations. Heritage breeds have a wonderful flavor that can only be achieved by allowing the birds to grow at a naturally slow rate.

These traditional heritage breeds were raised by many small farms prior to the 1950s when today’s fast growing hybrid birds became available. These hybrids cannot reproduce naturally, yet they produce the eggs and meat available at grocery stores and fast food restaurants across the nation. These birds are processed at only 6-8 weeks of age versus the 6-8 months it takes for heritage breeds to mature.

These hybrids are raised in crowded factory farm settings and must be medicated to avoid the onset of disease, which comes from unhealthy crowded conditions and no access to fresh air and sunshine. If not processed young, they develop health problems caused by their unnaturally fast growth rate.

Our 2011 heritage chicken breeds include Delaware, Black Jersey Giant, White Jersey Giant, Plymouth Rock, and Rhode Island Red. These are all dual purpose breeds for both egg and meat production.

Our 2011 heritage turkey breeds are Bourbon Red, Narragansett, Standard Bronze, and Royal Palm.

We are sold out of turkeys for the 2011 Thanksgiving holiday, but would be happy to put your name on our waiting list. As our birds are raised naturally, the hens have more say in the matter than we do. Therefore, we have only taken orders for a minimum number of birds.

We are a small operation and only have birds available at certain times of the year. If you would like to add your name to our e-mail list, we can let you know when they are available.

More information about Heritage breeds can be found by selecting this link.

Our membership to the American Livestock Breed Conservatory provides useful information too.

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Biosecurity for birds - keeping a healthy flock

We are members of the Indiana State Poultry Association, the Indiana State Egg Board, and the National Poultry Improvement Plan. Our birds are blood tested annually for pullorum-typhoid; they test clean. We have our eggs tested at the Purdue University Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory once a year; they test clean.

Click here to visit Purdue University's website for an example of how Purdue helps CT Coop.

Nurseries

In order to breed our own birds, separate those with special short-term needs, and keep our roosters together prior to processing we constructed four 6’ X 18’ and one 16’ X 18’ nurseries. In addition, nesting birds occupy a nursery until their young are old enough to join the general population.

Contact Us

Click here to contact us.

CT Coop
Chickens and Turkeys Coop
Charlie and Tina
P. O. Box 50336
Indianapolis, Indiana 46250
317-485-1800

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Cooking facts and information links

Our birds are processed in a family owned, state inspected facility "specializing in pastured poultry".

Once processed, we place the birds in a refrigerator to allow the flavor to settle, after which we freeze them. Of course, you may purchase one anytime. If you want a fresh bird, contact us for processing dates.

Each whole bird is juicy and delicious. Many people find the flavor and firmer texture superior to factory-farmed poultry, which is due to their longer life span, and ability to exercise outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

Although poulty can be kept frozen indefinitely, for best quality we recommend cooking them within six months. A suggested serving size is one half pound per person.

The following was taken from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service Website:

When can poultry Be called "Free Range" or "Free Roaming"?
Producers must demonstrate to the USDA's food safety agency (FSIS) that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside in order to be labeled "Free Range" or "Free Roaming", which doesn't mean they go outside. In our case, they actually go outside.

You can also find additional information, and storage and cooking recommendations on the USDA Website, by clicking here.

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**CT Coop Chickens and Turkeys**

Royal Palm Tom Turkey	Mom and Her Young	Summer Afternoon Dirt Bath
Melanie and Gypsy	The 2,500 Square Pen	Another view of the Pen
Hot Feet	Chicken Coop	Ah, Garden Fresh Food