Meet Local Stars: Chino Valley Ranchers

07.27.12

Hi neighbors -

I get to go on a lot of field trips in the Inland Empire because of IEShineOn The Blog and I always have a great time and take some sort of educational experience away from it. But my latest trip to Chino Valley Ranchers blew my mind. I have never gone behind the scenes to a working ranch before so this was not only a treat but an educational experience I will never forget. The amazing team at Chino Valley Ranchers took time out of their busy day to give me a private tour of their ranches and fill my head with all the chicken and egg facts I could handle.

First, I want to share some awesome facts about Chino Valley Ranchers:

Third generation family operated farm. The first brood house that Grandpa Nichols built is still standing and in use in Beaumont and their retail shop, opened in 1954, is still operating in Arcadia. That’s dedication!
They’ve been cage free since the 1970′s.
Chino Valley Farms offers lots of specialty eggs including organic eggs, organic Omega-3 eggs, organic DHA Omega-3, veg-a-fed eggs, beg-a-fed Omega-3, humane harvest and nutri-fresh fertile eggs. You can find out more about each of these specialty eggs from their site.
Their mission is to provide consumers with the freshest eggs at the best price. How do they do that? By treating their hens with love by providing a safe and humane way of living. Their family values are at the core of how they do things and instilled into all their employees (They have generations of families who have been employed with them. That is always a good sign!)
What’s another way they love their hens? They raise their hens from baby chicks to full grown adults while carefully monitoring every aspect of the life cycle. I mean every aspect! They have their own fresh water well and mix their own feed to ensure the best for their hens. They also keep all the hens together from chicks through full maturity to help build a great frame, build confidence in their hens which leads to comfortable chickens and eventually to their delicious eggs. :)
Also carefully handling the entire life cycle, including processing and distribution, ensures the best quality for their consumers.
With their organic eggs they have the motto: “If your grandma didn’t do it, then you can bet we don’t do it.” That’s some down-to-earth values right there!
You may not even realize that you’ve probably had eggs from one of the Chino Valley Ranchers ranches. They provide cage free eggs to private labels, like grocery stores and specialty food stores. Yay to keepin’ it local!

I could go on and on about every detail of my tour but I’ll let the pictures I took describe my tour for you. So enjoy the photo tour of their ranches, from brooding (nursery) then to feed mill, lay house, and processing. Now, I’m going to go and make myself some delicious eggs with the two dozen they generously gave to me to take home. Yum!

Enjoy!

: It’s not about your protection, it’s about the chickens. Scrub!

: Three week old chickees!!

: Meet Monique Nichols and one of a hundred cute chickees!

: Awwww

: Now meet the teens. We got them away from their cell phones long enough for a pic. All the chicks stay together as they get older and move from house to house. It’s like one big happy family. Yup, that’s a rooster in the center. Chino Valley Ranchers help raise roosters, too, for other farms.

: So cute! Love how some of them are staring right at me :)

: Notice how the feed and water pedestal is higher now than in the chickee pics? It’s to help the chickens develop strong muscles.

: Here’s a close up of the teens. Notice how their feet are really yellow here. Did you know as hens get older and start laying eggs they lose the color. All that fantastic color goes into the eggs.

"Great eggs start with happy chickens." Something I learned from the great staff at Chino Vally Ranchers

: Gorgeous, no? Did you know that the color of the earlobes affects the color of the egg? Fun fact!

: I look behind me as I walk down the hen house and I’ve suddenly got a fan club. It’s because chickens are curious creatures and love to flock together. You know, birds of a feather? Hehe