At D'Artagnan we’re serious about chicken. We feel a great responsibility because we were the first to promote organic and free-range chicken in the marketplace – before the USDA offered certification.
Our founder, Ariane Daguin, found that none of the chickens on the market in the U.S. held a candle to the free-range birds she ate growing up in France. Her mission to find a truly tasty chicken led her to small farms that shared her vision to respect nature and focus on the best animal welfare practices, from start to finish. This holistic approach produces truly wholesome results – and supremely tasty chicken on your table.
Because each American eats about 100 lbs of chicken a year we think it’s worth enjoying the best you can get. We are dedicated to providing a wide range of high-quality offerings from whole birds to convenient cuts for home cooks.
When you choose air-chilled chicken, organic chicken, or our exclusive Heritage and Green Circle™ chicken the old-fashioned, real chicken flavor shines … whether you roast a whole bird, bake a pot pie, or braise thighs until tender.
Read on to compare the different types of chicken we offer at D’Artagnan.
D’Artagnan’s exclusive Green Circle™ chicken program brings back the methods of family farms from over a century ago when chickens lived on vegetable scraps and roamed freely around farmyards and pastureland. Regeneratively raised on managed pasture on small Amish and Mennonite family farms in Pennsylvania Dutch country, these unique birds have captured the attention of chefs nationwide, earning permanent placements on dinner menus at some of the world’s top restaurants. The media took notice, too - Green Circle™ chicken has been featured on the front page of the NY Times and Mike Rowe visited one of the chicken farms with Ariane for his TV show.
If you need proof on the plate that a happy chicken is a tasty chicken, you’ll find it here.
Green Circle™ Chicken Characteristics:
Regeneratively raised on managed pasture
Certified Humane® by Humane Farm Animal Care
Raised free-range with access to the outdoors and pasture
Fed a diet of surplus vegetables sourced from local farms
Wholesome grain feed, including corn and soy
Supplemental vegetables sourced from local farms and markets, transforming surplus scraps from food waste into nutrition
No antibiotics or hormones
No animal by-products
Air-chilled for no retained water and maximum flavor
Farm-to-table audit trail
Hand-processed
Accolades
Recognized by ASPCA and included in their “Shop With Your Heart” list for meaningful animal welfare standards
Taste Test Winner, Boston Globe December 2021. "Best one yet!" "Excellent flavor, meaty!" "Clear winner in flavor"
New York Times Taste Test Winner September 2013
Our Green Circle program includes two distinct birds:
Green Circle™
- Large-breasted Rock Cornish breed, slow grown to 54 days vs. 42 days for a conventional chicken, known for ample, tender, and flavorful meat.
Flavor Profile: With Green Circle, it’s not just the breed, but the feed and lifestyle that influence the nuanced flavor. Expect familiar, but more robust chicken flavor, supple texture, and juiciness.
100% heritage Gallas brun breed, slow grown for 85 days - twice the time of a conventional chicken. Smaller breast, more proportional to the rest of the bird.
Flavor Profile: Richer chicken flavor because of the old breed, the longer lifespan, and the exercise these birds get. You will also get ample juices for making pan-gravy or sauce.
Long before the USDA certified poultry as organic, we were holding our farmers to those high standards.
Decades later, we are still committed to working with our small cooperative of vertically integrated Amish and Mennonite family farms in the Midwest to bring the best organic chicken to our customers. Our organic chicken is raised on small Amish and Mennonite family farms committed to sustainable agriculture. The birds are free-range, USDA-certified organic, and humanely raised without the use of antibiotics or arsenicals, and are air-chilled to retain authentic flavor, not water.
Organic Chicken Characteristics:
USDA certified as free-range and organic with ten times the space of a commodity bird
100% non-GMO, organic corn, and soy feed grown, milled, and mixed on the farms
No antibiotics or hormones administered ever
Air-chilled after processing for maximum flavor, absorbing 30% less water weight than water-chilled birds.
Flavor Profile: Our organic chicken is known for its rich, classic chicken flavor with a subtle sweetness. It has a well-balanced combination of savory and slightly earthy notes.
Raised by Amish and Mennonite families on a small second-generation chicken farm in business since 1940. Because our chicken farmers are committed to sustainability, their vertically integrated farms grow, mill, and mix their feed. They all raise Rock Cornish chickens in open-air barns with plenty of room to grow and manage all processing. These Rock Cornish chickens are always air-chilled so the true flavor shines through on the plate.
Air-Chilled Chicken Characteristics:
Grain feed of corn and soy, ground and mixed by the farm
No growth hormones, tranquilizers, arsenicals, or antibiotics are ever administered
No animal by-products
Air-chilled for maximum flavor with no retained water weight
Farm-to-table audit trail
Flavor Profile: Air-chilled for pure flavor concentration and no added water weight, these birds offer tender and juicy meat with a clean and mellow chicken flavor.
Our poussin is a young chicken raised on small farms that follow strict protocols and raise the birds humanely in open barns with plenty of space, on an all-vegetarian diet of corn, soy and clean, fresh water without any antibiotics or hormones. Known as spring chicken, these young chickens – grown to 3 or 3.5 weeks of age - are extremely tender with delicately textured meat.
Poussin Characteristics:
Raised on small family farms in the Northeast
Chickens roam free in a 10,000 sq foot open-air barn with plenty of natural light
No antibiotics or hormones administered
Deboned poussin is processed by hand for better quality
Flavor Profile: Petite poussin offers all-white, moist, and tender meat with a mild, delicate flavor.
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