Laughing Chicken Farm
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How do you tell is business is good? “If people don’t email us with orders, we sell out,” said Bill Popp, the owner of Laughing Chicken Farm. “There’s only so much we can do, we’re not a factory.”
Bill and his wife Robin raise meat birds, laying birds, lamb, and turkey on their land in Trenton. They harvest on Monday, fill their freezers on Tuesday, and sell out on Saturday. They’ve been in business for six years, but it all started with a book.
“My wife read a book by Joel Salatin and we had the opportunity to visit his farm,” said Bill. When they returned from Polyface Farms in Virginia, they immediately bought chickens. “Ten months later we were fulltime chicken farmers,” said Bill. That was six years ago.
Since then, the Popps have succeeded in raising pastured poultry with fresh grass, natural grains and minerals, and lots of sunshine. “We give our animals the best so they can give us the best,” said Robin.
Bill and Robin are small farmers, and raising pastured poultry allows them to stay small. “This business is low cost startup, no silos, no equipment,” Bill said. The Popps believe in their business model so firmly, they teach workshops to others who would like to start raising their own poultry for sale. “So many people helped us along the way, you have to pass it on,” Bill said. Check their website for upcoming workshops and more information about their products.