Oak Meadows Hatchery is a sister business to Oak Meadows Farm. Oak Meadows Farm is a small-scale, pasture-based, regenerative, diversified livestock farm. We are centrally located between Bellingham, Washington and the Canadian border. We are devoted to raising happy and healthy poultry and livestock in a sustainable manner that benefits both the land and the animals.
We are NPIP certified clean of Pullorum-Typhoid & Avian Influenza. NPIP #318
If you are interested in purchasing meat from us or learning about how we raise our animals, please visit our farm website. oakmeadowsfarmllc.com
How did we get started?
Our founder, David Whittaker, was 13 years old when he decided that he really wanted some pet ducks. When told by his parents that he could have a flock of ducks as long as they were useful, he decided to start selling the eggs the ducks produced. 2-3 years after that, David wanted to provide the family with their own chicken eggs and so added a flock of egg layers. He found that the layers were fairly easy to maintain, so the next year David added a flock of meat chickens for the family as well. During this time, he was doing reading on how to run a farm and how to run it profitably and decided to give it a try the next year. He doubled the amount of meat chickens he was raising and decided to sell half of what he produced wholesale and retail while keeping half for his own family’s use.
The rest, as the say, is history. David kept gradually expanding his meat bird flock, while also experimenting with other animals like turkeys, rabbits, sheep, goats and much more. When he was 18, a co-op named Growing Washington approached David about filling a vacancy left by a previous member. They wanted him to supply meat chickens that they would then resell. This was the final push that enabled the farm to truly become a small business.
Regenerative agriculture has always been important for David. After watching the documentary, Food Inc. and immersing himself in the work of Joel Salatin, he quickly realized that he wanted to do things differently than industrialized agriculture. Combined with his father Brian’s (a former manager of an exotic fruit nursery in California) extensive knowledge of agriculture and farming, growing his own sustainably raised product became a huge priority to David.
The farm has grown and changed over the years, and will continue to evolve. David is always looking for new ways to more effectively grow amazing product while maintaining balance with the land and taking care of his staff.
