Throwback Thursday — The Journey to New

We broke ground on our new state-of-the-art chicken barns the summer of 2017. Writing ‘2017’ feels so long ago, but all of us on the farm agree, life has been a whirlwind since then. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2019 that the four of us started to feel like we could exhale again.

This project has been nothing short of amazing, just the opportunity to build four more chicken houses was/is a big deal for the farm, but adding in the viewing room and education building, opening the farm for tours and navigating the logistics of creating events and community presence.

*cue head spinning*

But hey, here we are in 2019, we made it, we survived all the change a year and a half could bring and literally doubling the farm’s production.

It’s funny, the photos you’re about to see, I (Danielle) took, but I’m not the one who added them to this post. Our web designer—Rural Gone Urban—threw these in here as a blog post placeholder back in the fall of 2017. I had forgotten they were there until earlier this week when I published the “Scheduling a Tour” post.

Even if it was just a placeholder, I’m so glad she did, seeing the farm back in the beginning of construction and reliving those emotions was fun, exciting and bittersweet. “hey we survived,” “oh, I forgot what that spot looked like before big red barns sat on top of the hill,” and Oliver, passed through my head.

Oliver, our Scottish Terrier, crossed the rainbow bridge this January, and even though he was the most unlikely farm dog, he had the biggest heart for it. Nothing brought that dog more joy than getting to ride in the back of the truck, bound along beside us while checking cows and hearing the words “load up” into the Ranger for all the farm chores he knew deep in his heart he was born to assist with.

We (Daniel and Danielle) miss him terribly, but it made my heart happy to see him in these photos are part of our building process.

Oliver and I, checking on the progress after the dirt work equipment moved to the farm to start, July 2017.

You may have driven on or seen the driveway and parking lot, but maybe never thought about what it takes to install something of that scale. Because Kentucky is such a rainy state and anything BUT flat terrain, the chicken house driveway was one of the first things that had to be created.

It took somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 dump trucks to put down enough gravel for the driveway and parking lot.

DaniSquared’s Paw Patrol checking on dirt work progress late July 2017. Back when Cowdog Lily was still a puppy.

Jumping for joy, we have a roof on before the rainy season, October 2017. In both the gravel photo and this one it was pouring rain. We were incredibly lucky we started the project when we did and thankfully didn’t get held up by weather much.

Our first flock was placed in these houses March 14, 2018. Just shy of one year ago.

Scheduling a Tour & What to Expect

When Daniel and I (Danielle) dreamed of hosting farm tours, we hoped it would be something people wanted, but wow, have our expectations been exceeded. The past two years have been a blur of planning, building and just trying to keep our head above water, we didn’t get much time to share the whats and how-to’s online.

A little over six months since our Viewing Room Ribbon Cutting event, we’ve seen guests from five different countries and nine (and counting) different states. Our goal to keep tours around twice a month has, at times, fallen to twice a week and we just feel all the feelings of the cliche #blessed.

Now that some time has past and we have a little better idea what we’re doing around here, here are some things we want you to know about Hayden Farm’s Tours!

Scheduling A Tour

You want to come see what life is like for a commercial poultry farm? AWESOME! We’re SO excited to meet you!!! The absolute first thing to do is fill out the contact form on this website and send us a message. Knowing approximately how many people are in your group, and a little about yourselves or your group will help us the most in figuring how much time you’ll need on the farm when looking at the calendar.

Here’s what we need you to keep in mind though!

We raise broiler chickens. Broilers are meat birds, due to this we do not have birds on our farm 365. In fact, there are two to three weeks between each flock, our houses are empty, and unless you just want to see the super exciting (sarcasm) clean out process—Hey, we’ll even let you spray off fans or clean windows for the experience 😉—then we’ll need to make sure we have birds for your tour.

As any of the many groups who have already hung out on the farm will tell you, this really isn’t a big deal, we just ask that you keep that little tidbit in mind when looking at dates with us.

Are you ready to get your name on our tour list? You are?! Hooray!! Send me (Danielle) a message here: Visit The Farm

We’re happy to accommodate groups of all sizes.

What to Expect

Okay, so you’ve sent me a message, we’ve got you scheduled on the calendar, so what can expect when you visit?

• To ask lots of questions. And to have those questions answered.

• Chickens. Lots and lots of chickens.

• Cattle. If you’re lucky and it’s calving season, you’ll be treated to a level-up experience of seeing little calves playing in the pastures.

• To see a multi-generation family farm, that cares deeply about conserving and protecting the environment and the health and well-being of our livestock.

• Modern Agriculture

• To be given the resources to form your own opinions based on real life experience instead of just online.

• And most importantly… to have a great time.

When we say we’re excited to meet you, that isn’t just text. We are genuinely excited to meet and get to know each person who steps on our farm. We want to not only provide you with a one-of-a-kind experience but to become a personal animal agriculture resource to you.

So come meet our family!