Whispering Meadows is Ontario’s leading family-farm producer of certified organic, naturally raised chicken. We sell direct from our farm to you, and we grow our birds to the highest standards:
- cage free,
- drug free,
- antibiotic free,
- artificial growth hormone free,
and raised on GMO-free, organically grown grains & feed.
Our whole organic chickens are available either pre-cut or whole. From time to time, we also have extra-large chickens available.
We also offer you individual cuts of organic chicken: chicken breast, thighs, drumsticks, wings, legs, and ground chicken. Plus chicken sausages and chicken burger patties. And we even bring you organic chicken stock in 1-litre glass jars.
Raised in comfortable, cage-free conditions
Our European-style, cathedral-ceiling chicken barn has the latest technology to give our chickens a perfect growing environment. Europe is well known for being way ahead in maintaining a high quality of life for livestock. Our high-tech heating, cooling and humidification systems keep our birds in ideal conditions for year-round comfort.
It’s very important to us that we raise our chickens cage-free. One reason is that it’s more humane — it lets chickens be chickens: walking, pecking, dust bathing, perching, and spreading their wings. Chickens keep more of their feathers when they’re cage-free, they get fewer scrapes and bruises, and they have much lower overall stress levels.
The European Food Safety Authority analyzed health data from over 5,000 chicken farms in Europe and found that cage-free chickens are up to 25 times less likely to have salmonella. Salmonella is the second-most common cause of foodborne illness in Canada — which gives us an even stronger reason to raise our birds cage-free, and help keep your family healthy and safe.
We believe that keeping our chickens as stress-free as possible means that their meat is safer, healthier, more nutritious… and more delicious! Order below.
Treated with care and kindness
Customer feedback:
“Awesome! We love your chicken. There is so much meat on those birds, plus it is so moist!”
Melissa G., Guelph
Besides being cage-free, there are a number of ways we treat your chickens better than anyone:
- We never clip the chickens’ beaks or wings. These are practices that many commercial growers use when chickens are caged or overcrowded, to prevent them from harming each other. But since we keep our chickens in a spacious, comfortable environment, they do not have the stress that causes those kinds of behaviours.
- We use dust-free wood shavings for the chickens’ bedding material. This is a soft, very absorbent material that also helps insulate their feet from the ground if it gets cold.
- And when we have to handle the chickens, we take great care to handle them as humanely as we possibly can.
And we make sure their health and nutrition is as natural as possible too…
Raised without drugs, antibiotics or artificial growth hormones
Antibiotics have been used routinely to raise chickens since the 1940’s, when it was discovered that including antibiotics into their feeds makes the chickens grow faster, and reduces feed costs for the farmer.
But as food safety is growing in everyone’s awareness, the dangers of creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria – and of eating antibiotic residues – are causing major concerns. Our health management protocols ensure that your chicken is never given antibiotics at any point in its lifetime.
There are also many other drugs that are commonly used as growth promoters in chickens. We believe that our food should remain free of these kinds of drugs, and be raised as naturally as possible for our health and wellbeing.
So Whispering Meadows chicken is 100% free of antibiotics, drugs and synthetic hormones. And it always will be.
Grown on certified organic, non-GMO feeds
Customer feedback:
“This meat is the best chicken I have ever had in my life and I grew up on a farm. It melted in my mouth and the flavour is like nothing you could ever get at a grocery store. I won’t buy my meat from anywhere else ever again.”
Stacey M., Toronto
As more and more of the feed grains that are being grown in North America are genetically modified, it has become a real challenge to find a source of chicken feed that is guaranteed to be GMO-free.
We always use the best and most natural organic feeds that we can find, and we now have partnerships with local producers of 100% certified organic non-GMO feed.
Our chicken feeds are 3rd-party certified to be grown and processed using only organic food production practices. So you can be fully assured of its quality, nutritional value, non-GMO status… and total freedom from any residues of pesticides, fungicides, or other agrochemicals.
This makes your chicken meat even more natural, local and healthy!
And we go even further to give you the best chicken possible…
Processed the old-fashioned way
Did you know that most commercial chicken processors use a process called plumping to increase the weight of the meat? Saltwater, often containing seaweed extracts, is injected into the meat, which artificially increases its weight — and its sodium content.
Whispering Meadows chicken is processed at a government-inspected, family-owned processing facility, using traditional, time honoured methods. We keep it simple and natural, and we never add or inject anything into your meat.
We do regular water retention tests in our processing area to make sure we get minimal water absorption in the meat. Government regulations allow water retention in commercially processed chicken to be between 6% and 8%. We aim for less than 1% water retention, and we consistently average under 0.7 percent.
So you get the full weight of chicken that you’re paying for, and with no added bulk or salt.
And we don’t use any chemicals in our processing either…
Customer feedback:
“The chicken was excellent — very tasty and moist, lots of meat, and not fatty.”
Anees M., Rockwood
Even our cleaning is organic!
All of the cleaning agents in our processing area are organic certified. And all of our processing procedures are certified organic too — no chlorine or other toxic chemical disinfectants are used anywhere around your meat.
The water that we use to chill the chicken is ultraviolet treated. UV light kills bacteria and viruses without the use of chemicals or bleaches that are often used to “clean” water.
Our small chicken processing facility ensures that organic integrity is maintained and upheld through all phases of processing. And that allows you to trust that your Whispering Meadows chicken is as healthy, natural and safe as it can be.
Available Cuts:
Here’s how to get your chicken…
Delivery to your door
We deliver your naturally-raised meats frozen, right to your door, anywhere in Southern Ontario. Farther afield, we can also send your order frozen to shipping terminals around the province. Click here to read more about our delivery options.
Another option is to meet us at one of our drop-off points, free of charge. You can choose the one that’s closest to you, by selecting it from the list you’ll see at checkout.
Extra-large whole chickens
From time to time, we hand-rear some of our slower-growing chickens until they get to a good size. When that happens, we hold on to them until they’re roughly double the weight of our usual chickens, and we give you an additional option of ordering extra-large whole chickens. We also think they end up with a slightly more meaty flavour than our regular size, while staying just as tender. A great choice if you’re looking for a larger roasting chicken.
Click here to order whole organic chickens…
…or you can browse all of our chicken products here.
