Hendricks Farm and Hatchery of McBean, Ga., has won the 2022 Best of Georgia award in Georgia Business Journal’s annual readers’ poll.
Owner/operator Jenny Hendricks says she is both thrilled and a bit shocked.
“I started this business on Jan. 3, and it has grown almost out of control. It all doesn’t seem quite real,” Hendricks said.
While the business may be just under a year old, the steps leading to Hendricks’ managing a chicken farm took the better part of a decade.
Ten years ago, Hendricks learned that she was allergic to soy products after experiencing painful intestinal issues.
According to Medical News Today, around 10.8% of the population suffers from some sort of food allergy, and soy accounts for .05% of allergy cases in the United States.
Unlike a peanut allergy, which is more common, it is nearly impossible to avoid soy because it is fed to livestock and therefore makes its way into the meat, milk and eggs that are sold commercially. Even vegan diets rely heavily on soy because it is rich in protein.
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Photo courtesy Jenny Hendricks
Hendricks, a master gardener, relied on fruits, nuts and home-grown produce, but it was not enough. She lost weight and suffered bouts of anemia. That was when she and her husband Jeremy decided to raise a few chickens from hatchlings and feed them a non-soy diet.
“I really just wanted to be able to eat eggs again, and so we got the hatchlings, but discovered we had one too many roosters. So, we named one Fabio and the other Delicious,” Hendricks said.
Fabio stayed in the coop with the hens, and Delicious was destined to the dinner table.
According to Hendricks, Delicious lived up to his name.
“We were amazed. The meat was so tender and flavorful. It was nothing like what you get at the grocery store,” Hendricks said.
Store bought chickens are raised in an industrial setting, Hendricks says. In such settings, juvenile chickens are kept in individual cages, fed constantly for fattening and pumped full of antibiotics. After slaughtering, the chickens are then chilled in a chlorinated water bath that further leaches flavor out of the meat.
Barely a year into the business, Hendricks has more than 300 chickens at any given time. Her day on the farm starts early, and the work is tough, but Hendricks says she has found her calling in life.
The birds are fed a natural diet and allowed to be truly free range so they can peck the ground looking for worms and insects.
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When it is time, Hendricks sends the birds to her preferred butcher who uses a “dry” chilling technique that preserves the natural flavor.
“Our chickens are a little more expensive, but every last one of my customers agree it is worth it. You can’t get meat like this in a grocery store,” Hendricks said.
Hendricks Farm and Hatchery has made a large footprint in the Atlanta area and is moving into South Carolina and Florida and has expanded the menu as well.
“We now offer beef along with the chicken, and soon we will include pork, all raised naturally,” Hendricks said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
Editor’s Note: In this story, our reporter mistakenly used the word “hormone” in place of the word “antibiotic.” Growth hormones are illegal to use in chicken farming. Meanwhile, antibiotics are routinely used to prevent sickness and promote growth in the chickens, it does not genetically modify the chicken. We have made the corrections in the body of the story.The Augusta Press regrets the error.
