About the Hatchery
Located in Tonopah, AZ, this diminutive hatchery specializes in breeding, hatching, and raising heritage turkeys and chickens, selling live birds of various ages as they become available.
Maintaining a stress-free environment for the birds is of this hatchery's utmost importance, so they are provided a cage-free existence and a diet of few restrictions, not merely corn, grain, and vegetation. Galliformes are omnivorous and predatory animals, so small live organisms are an essential part of their diet.
Their comfort and mental health are made priority while they remain at the hatchery. This hatchery does not intend to house more than a couple hundred adult birds and they will never be continuously cooped up after sixteen weeks of age. They are free-range, which means they hunt and eat what they please (typically insects, arachnids, mice, and lizards, all of which constitute a natural and healthy diet), and they go where they wish across four acres of property that is fenced (easily flown over) with the opportunity of ranging across another 6+ acres, unfenced and owned by the hatchery. No jail-birds here.
Being that they are free-range, these birds also mate as nature sees fit, which means this hatchery rarely has a breed-specific focus. To avoid inbreeding and deleterious, unhealthy genes that have been over-produced in the big commercial poultry industry, "pure" standardized variations (or "breeds") are not often produced here. This being one feature that makes this hatchery unique. Selective, single trait breeding is not practiced here. Birds bred and hatched here are non-standardized varieties, with a diverse mixture of heritable traits, a polymorphic flock that this hatchery has come to call "Desert Fowl", consisting of birds with greater genetic variation than that of standardized breeds, and that over a few generations have weathered harsh summer temperatures and outsmarted predators. The focus of breeding here is on survivability, producing physiologically healthy and resilient birds with predator-wise and heat-hardy genes, and attempting to revive some of the instinctive traits of their jungle fowl ancestors. The possible origins (a list of standardized breeds of which these birds might carry possible traits) are provided at the bottom of the Chickens and Turkeys pages.
Considering the fact that this is a small operation, currently managed by the owner alone, this hatchery does not keep typical business hours. Pick-ups must be scheduled in advance. You can start by submitting the contact form.