Sometimes the joy in farming comes from discovering something new that has potential benefits. One lady we know is very excited about her finding on the white broiler chickens usually grown by contract growers. She had wondered if such birds could be raised as naturally-farmed chickens on the range.

She had a couple of good reasons to make her experiment. Sometimes the supply of colored chicks is not available. The price is also usually higher than the white chicks on the market.

So what did she do? She raised the white chicks just like how she raised the colored birds. From Day One, the chicks were given probiotics like Biolyte and fermented plant juices. To her pleasant surprise, the chicks grew sturdy like their colored counterparts.

Instead of the usual 30 to 35 days that the contract growers grow their broilers, the lady raised her white free-range chicks to 70 to 90 days. That way, the chickens are well muscled and they taste much better than the very young birds produced by the contract growers.

The meat of the naturally-farmed white birds can command a higher price than the traditional broilers in the market. Since the taste is not much different from their naturally-farmed colored counterparts, the customers will be able to judge for themselves that it is superior to the traditionally-grown broilers.

Our lady poultry raiser has other ideas in mind. She could process the naturally-farmed white birds into chicken sausage for added value.

We are also reminded of another fellow from La Union who has done another kind of experiment. He bought 300 culls from a commercial egg farm at 75 apiece. He also treated them as free-range chickens, feeding them with a lot corn that he harvested from his own farm. He reported that 50 percent of the birds laid everyday. He was so happy about his experiment that he invited us to visit his project but which we have not done to this day.

Anyway, these are just examples of people who are doing their own farming experiment. They are happy about what they are doing. Specially so because they are discovering new possibilities.