Better Feed. Better Taste.

That's Gerber's position. It's what differentiates us from every other brand. Gerber's Amish Farm Chicken tastes better because our family has taken the time to perfect our feeding formula and the way we raise our chickens. We've worked with our feed suppliers, nutritionist's, animal welfare consultants, farmers, and caretakers for nearly six decades to develop a nutritious diet and a safe, healthy living environment for our chickens. We are proving that a well-nourished, contented chicken means a better-tasting chicken.

There's nothing unnatural about the way we raise or feed our chickens. We raise our chickens on an all-vegetable diet with no additives or medications. Farm-fresh goodness is all you taste; the taste that will keep you coming back for more.

Better feed, better taste. It really is that simple. And of course, behind the that simple is a lot of hard work on our part; hard work that we are willing to do in the care and feeding of our chickens. Try Gerber's Amish Farm Chicken. You will want to join the hundreds of others who have written us declaring that the quality and taste of our chicken is clearly unmatched by any other.

Δ Back to Top

This is no accident. In our 60 years of experience we have learned a thing or two about feeding chickens. We know what it takes to give our chickens a diet that gives you a great taste. Our unique feed formula of cereal grain and vegetable oil with added vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, aids in digestion and provides proper balance for chicken's dietary needs and overall well being.

Gerber's nutritionist's constantly monitor our chickens' diets, but one thing has never changed - and it never will : everything our chickens consume is 100 percent natural. From the time they're hatched to the day they're processed, our farmers and caretakers closely manage everything the chickens eat and drink, and watch their daily intake of vitamin and mineral-enhanced feeds. A healthy, balanced, vegetable based all natural diet allows us to raise our chickens without any medications or antibiotics. Safe and healthy, a better diet really does mean better taste!

Δ Back to Top

No Additives, No Antibiotics... Nothing But Great Taste.

Some producers want their chickens as big as possible as soon as possible. They often use unnatural practices to gain a perceived advantage. They believe additives, antibiotics, and byproducts will help in their endeavors. Their chickens may get to weight quicker, but they don't have the advantage of living the all-natural, healthy lifestyle of Gerber's Amish Farm chickens.

Our chickens never consume feed with antibiotics or unnatural additives. Never! At Gerber's it's all about raising and feeding our chickens the right way, the natural way. You'll never find meat or bone meal, fishmeal, bakery by-products, medicinal growth stimulants, antibiotics, hormones, or additives containing arsenic or arsenic compounds in Gerber's feed and water program.

Our feed is manufactured to our specifications by a feed mill with whom we have had a trustworthy business relationship for over 20 years. We have on file a letter of guarantee from our feed manufacturer stating that no antibiotics or medications are added to the feed. We also have letters on file from each farmer stating the same for any flock packaged under the Gerber's Amish Farm Chicken label.

Δ Back to Top

Today, there's a lot of talk about organically raised and free-range chickens. There can be advantages to both raising, but Gerber's all-natural chicken has the leading characteristics of both. What can be said about organic and free-range methods of raising chickens is that neither practice assures a more-healthy or better-tasting chicken. Only Gerber's all-natural method of raising chickens can give you a taste guaranteed to please.

Organically fed chickens are chemical- and pesticide-free. However, that alone does not guarantee a stress free environment or better taste. Gerber's Amish Farm Chickens are raised in a protected stress free environment and we promise you great taste.

There is much said about "free-range" chicken. The regulatory definition for free-range is that the chickens must have access to the outside. Under that definition a company could raise their chickens in a windowless house, have a small door in the end of the chicken house that allowed chickens to go outside into an enclosure and label their product free range chicken even though there is no guarantee that any of the chickens ever saw the light of day. That is because chicken houses have water and feed available throughout the length of the house. Chickens will stay where there is food and water, so they do not wander very much. Only a tiny percentage of chickens (or possibly none at all) raised with this type of access to the outside would venture away from food and water through the door. Chickens are, well, chicken; they are easily spooked and are curious only if it involves finding food. Therefore, free range claims on some packaging are rightly suspect. Unless one knows the producer of free range chickens free range claims should be viewed with some skepticism.

Even legitimately outside roaming chickens present no safety or health advantage to the consumer. Chickens left to their own devices are simply scavengers. They will eat anything they can peck at: seed, insects and what one would consider healthy things; but also dead rodents, dead or injured chickens, animal feces, garbage, etc. Neither are free range practices particularly beneficial to the chicken. Chickens are easily infected by wild bird diseases (hence the concerns over a domestic avian flu outbreak) and susceptible to prey and infection from wild animals and rodents. When the chickens are given, as we give, plenty of fresh air; plenty of fresh clean water and wholesome feed, the nastiest of the chicken's natural habits are mitigated and some natural threats removed. While "Free-Range" can be a clever marketing tag, again, it does nothing to guarantee a more healthy or wholesome chicken.

What makes Gerber's Amish Farm Country Chicken better is the best of both worlds - our chickens are fed an entirely all-natural diet and are raised cage-free with plenty of room to roam, which promotes great taste. Chickens that are treated right and fed right definitely taste the best, guaranteed.

Δ Back to Top

Ever wonder what a "factory farm" is? Is it a farm that grows factories in little rows like lettuces; or a factory that makes farms? Whatever it is, a factory farm is big and scary and managed by those who want to do harm to you, your children and poison your dog. Right? Some would have you think so. "Factory farm" is a phrase created to short circuit your ability to think by eliciting a specific negative emotional reaction to a vague meaningless set of words. In other words, the goal of the phrase "factory farm" is to manipulate, rather than express truth.

For example, the recent film Food Inc. alleges to showcase the operation of a "factory farm." This film insinuates that the chickens are raised in tiny cages, pumped with growth stimulants, growing so fast that their bodies cannot adjust and they're not able to walk or move normally. This is not the way Gerber's raises and cares for our chickens. Putting aside emotional manipulation, let's look at Gerber Amish Farm Chicken.

We do process about 65,000 chickens a day. This seems huge; and honestly, it is a lot of chicken. However, for perspective, consider that one of the poultry giants produces in less than one hour what Gerber produces in one week. Still, some would consider both of us "factory farms"; so what makes Gerber different?

From the day Gerber's eggs hatch until the day of processing, our chickens are cared for on family owned Amish farms. The personal touch our farmers offer and the all-natural medication and antibiotic free diet they feed our chickens are the most impactful elements in the taste you discover in our products. We proudly continue the Gerber's tradition of raising our chickens on family farms. Each of the chickens we process daily has experienced the personal touch of our farmers and has eaten the best-available diet in a wholesome small farm environment.

Δ Back to Top

If you are reading this GMO section you understand that the topic can be emotionally rich. A short simple answer will not satisfy in order to do justice to ones question. So, get a piece of Gerber chicken, something cool to drink & relax; this will take a few minutes.

Take a moment and picture in your mind Dorothy, the Tin Man and Scarecrow entering the woods on the way to the Emerald City, frightened and chanting to themselves, "Lions and tigers and GMO's, Oh my! Lions and tigers and GMO's!" Eventually they meet a lion and discover that he was not so bad after all. In fact, in the end he proved to be a helpful sort of fellow. A little farther down the road they come upon the GMO's and discover the same thing: not so bad, either, and actually quite helpful.

We live in a time where a number of folks through various information media, movies and books are chanting "Lions and tigers and GMO's, Oh my!" This chant has a rather catchy little tune that sticks in ones mind and one finds oneself believing it without really knowing why.

We are often asked if our chicken's feed contains genetically modified organisms (GMO's). We answer, Yes; we do use corn that is genetically modified. The same is true of the soy beans we use. GMO corn and soy are perfectly safe and healthy. Why do you ask? The question is usually prompted by a news story, TV or movie presentation of some type. The presentations, generally of the "Lions and tigers and GMO's" type generate questions that require a long-ish answer simply because it is not an easy thing to allay someone's fears.

Over a period of years Gerber Poultry, Inc., working with its animal welfare & nutritionist experts has developed a purely vegetable based, healthy safe diet for its chickens. This feed is not guaranteed to be GMO free. Some of our corn & soy beans may be GMO free if it was moved to the open market due to an inability to sell it at the price GMO guaranteed feed commands. We guarantee our feed to be animal by-product free, pesticide free, insecticide free, artificial chemical, antibiotic and medication free. Our feed is completely safe for chickens to eat and our chickens are completely safe for people to eat. As discussed below, there are no compelling reasons (food safety or health) drawing us to use GMO free feed. Our decisions related to feed then must be determined by simple business sense.

There are certainly a few customers who desire to eat only meat raised on GMO free feed. Some folks have researched the topic and made a reasoned decision not to eat food associated with GMO's. It is also a decision they can afford. Gerber applauds anyone who makes and defends thoughtful decisions. These folks will not be interested in our chicken and we can part as friends. Other concerns about GMO's in feed are varied, from purported health risks, to ecologic problems to a distrust for some scientific advances. These unsupported risks aside, Gerber researched using guaranteed GMO free feed from a good business sense. The switch to GMO guaranteed free feed would triple the cost of our feed thereby approximately doubling the cost of our chicken. As feed represents over 50% of our total business costs this would be an unsustainable expenditure offering no food safety or health advantage. We might gain a few customers while alienating our largest share. Most people simply will not pay $10 and more per pound for chicken.

Unfortunately while there is great debate and no shortage of strong opinions concerning genetically modified feed, there is simply no independent, valid peer reviewed research on the topic. The reality is that genetically modified products have been available in the United States since 1982 when the FDA approved insulin produced by genetically modified organisms. (Prior to that approval the only insulin available was produced from animals slaughtered for meat; the supply was never large enough to satisfy the demand of patients needing insulin. Thus, the first approved GMO products came into being due to a specific medical crisis. One does not hear protests over such uses.) Since that time many health related and feed related GMO products have been developed. Everything in our culture is touched, in one way or another by genetically modified products. In decades of use there are no identified human or animal health problems caused by GMO consumption; only accusations and fears. Or, on the other side, blind promotion of what can possibly still be considered (even given the worldwide scale of use) a relatively new technology.

Gerber has been feeding chickens for over half a century. Our goals are to feed our chickens a diet free of antibiotics and medications while supplying the most healthy, natural diet possible. This we have accomplished. Compared to Gerber's history genetically modified feed came into the markets, and our business fairly recently. Our commitment to our customers: We will continue to work to supply our chickens with the best feed possible while looking at all avenues, whenever research offers true direction whereby we can improve our feed and our Gerbers' Amish Farm Chicken.

Each of us makes decisions about how we will live each day. Those decisions cannot be made independent of the world, the times or cultures that we happen to live in. Our daily world is molded by plastic, powered by oil, supported by steel and moved by rubber. There are thoughtful people who would suggest that those particular marks of the modern world are more damaging to our world than GMO's. Each of us looks at our world, considers our lives, makes our choices and picks our fights. Gerber has chosen to pick fights that, while expensive, we have the wherewithal to persevere and win: the elimination of medication and antibiotic use in raising our chickens and the use of a completely vegetable based diet for our chickens. Our fight is to produce quality, safe great tasting chicken. Large chicken corporations do not do this. Large chicken corporations have chosen to pick the fight that allows them to supply cheap chicken. They sell a commodity chicken raised fast & inexpensively (and they can be extremely profitable at it). Gerber has chosen to sacrifice a degree of profitability in order to produce its Gerber's Amish Farm Chicken- an honestly great tasting chicken that is good for you.

Δ Back to Top