All-Natural Diet
At Bell & Evans, our chickens are raised without antibiotics on a proper,  100% natural, all-vegetable diet of locally-grown corn and extruded and expeller-pressed soybeans, fortified with vitamins and minerals and amino acids for better protein balance. In our starter feed, we add 15 times the recommended amount of Vitamin E, an antioxidant that bolsters the young chick's immune system and improves chicken quality. Throughout our chickens' lives, we give them three times the recommended vitamins, including A, D, E, and K, plus B-12, biotin, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and more. Our feed is constantly tested to make certain of its high nutritional value. 

Unlike many other chicken growers, we never feed our chicken junk food like rendered meat scraps; bone, feather or fish meal; or animal fats, oils, and grease. You wouldn't eat that stuff and we don't think the chickens should either. What's more, Bell & Evans chickens are never fed growth hormones, (Federal law prohibits the use of artificial growth hormones in poultry), artificial preservatives or unnecessary and non-nutritive coloring agents.

Why are Extruded Soybeans and Expeller Pressed Soybeans so important? Our special processing method  produces soy that  is richer in healthy nutrients such as lecithin, linoleic acid and Vitamin E than solvent-extracted meal - without releasing toxic Hexane gas into our environment.  Nearly all soybean processed in the United States are processed using the Solvent Extraction process. As part of the process, these solvent extraction processing plants create and release hexane gas into the air. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) categorizes hexane as a HAP (hazardous air pollutant). Another concern is residuals from the hexane will remain in the final meal. Though solvent extraction is more economical, we believe that raising a healthier chicken and protecting our environment are more important.

No DDGS - Ethanol by-products in our feed. Ethanol by-products are becoming the replacement for corn that livestock producers can no longer afford. Its energy value is approximately 17% lower than corn, but the more alarming issue is the antibiotics used to control bacteria in the fermentation process. Not all antibiotics are metabolized and remain in the DDGS (distiller’s dry grains with solubles) protein, along with who knows what? I feel this ‘garbage’ is not good for any animal, and it’s certainly not good for the people who eat them.

We keep our chickens comfortable at all times, in more than 150 spacious, environmentally-controlled houses. For example, our newest chicken houses feature windows that open and close automatically. This system provides year-round fresh air and climate control, and it lets our chickens bask in the warmth of the sun. This precise control of temperature - along with our practice of cleaning out and disinfecting every chicken house before each new flock arrives - prevents many diseases and eliminates the need for antibiotics.

Our automated watering system dispenses as much fresh well water as the chicken wants. We use innovative vertical "drip-and-sip" technology, which prevents the water contamination that often occurs with the horizontal trough systems used by other chicken growers. Again, it's not only humane, it's also healthful.

An all vegetable diet with no antibiotics, abundant fresh air, comfortable housing and plenty of clean water... they add up to the least-stress environment for raising our healthy, happy chickens.