By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
Andy and Beth Ricketts aren’t counting their chickens before they’ve hatched – but they are counting them after they’ve hatched and gone out the door.
High Tunnel Poultry and Farms is a new venture for the Ricketts who have been operating the other family business – Ricketts Nursery on Morral-Kirkpatrick Road.
“We started up a separate entity called High Tunnel Poultry and Farms,” said Andy, while he was busy preparing plants for the nursery. “We actually raise the chickens in the greenhouse(s).”
Andy explained that his father began the nursery business in 1979. About four years ago he and Beth began dabbling in chickens when they noticed the increase of people in the area pursuing a more natural and self-sufficient lifestyle.
“We’re growing different chickens, about 20 different kinds of pullet chickens for people who are looking to raise their own flock in their backyards for fresh eggs,” Andy said. “We sell them at 8-weeks-old all the way up to laying age. We do meat birds as well.”
And chickens aren’t the only food product the Ricketts sell.
“We have rabbits and hogs, those are for sale for meat,” Andy said. “We (also) sell the rabbits for 4-H projects.”
While the nursery business peaks during April and May, the chicken business is a year-round venture. They have devoted three of the Quonset-shaped greenhouse, also known as high tunnels, to the chicken side of the business. Each greenhouse houses approximately 1,200 to 1,400 chickens.
Andy said the coyotes haven’t posed a problem as yet, but added they have made it a habit to put the dead chickens out for the coyotes as kind of a pacifier or truce.
While Ricketts Nursery will take on an occasional landscaping job, or as Andy put it: “Anything to make a buck,” the long-term plans definitely include the poultry business and food items.
“We’ll expand into this a little further,” Andy said. “But we have to take it one step at a time.”
He noted the family business is known for its stability and local quality, and his goal is to carry that through to the poultry side.
“We’re reputable. We’ve been here a long time with the nursery business,” Andy said. “We grow most of our own stock. If we buy anything we try to buy local.”
Ricketts Nursery and High Tunnel Poultry and Farms is located at 1739 Morral-Kirkpatrick Road.