Olsen's

Although best known as an award-winning food, lifestyle and garden expert and for his television programs, P. Allen Smith says he has a secret passion that only those who have shared the experience can really understand.

"Chickens!" said Allen. "As a young child I became fascinated with raising various breeds of these beautiful birds. My fascination began with a brown Leghorn hen that was running loose in front of an old hotel on Main Street in my hometown. After much maneuvering and the help of my grandmother, the hen was finally caught, and I determined that I had a new pet."

Initially Allen had to keep her in a cage, but his family soon moved to a farm where she could enjoy a larger living area. It's on the farm that Allen says his addiction to poultry began.

"Being a curious kid, I was fascinated with all the different breeds and enjoyed raising many kinds," said Allen.

As an adult, Allen continues to enjoy a flock of chickens at his Garden Home at Moss Mountain Farm, which spans more than 500 acres and is located 20 minutes outside of Little Rock, Arkansas overlooking the Arkansas River Valley.

Allen has been a professional garden designer for 25 years and a garden center owner and operator for 10 years. He is the host of two public television programs, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home and P. Allen Smith's Garden to Table, the syndicated 30-minute show P. Allen Smith Gardens, and is a regular contributor on NBC's The TODAY Show. He also wrote the series of best-selling Garden Home books, which includes Bringing the Garden Indoors: Container, Crafts and Bouquets for Every Room, published in 2009.

Allen designed his Garden Home, which is styled after 19th century American farmsteads and includes a Greek Revivial "green" cottage, two terraced gardens, a one acre vegetable garden, orchards, daffodil hill, pastures, sheep and even a donkey named Moose.

Allen raises both Heritage and modern breeds including Jersey Giants, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, Silver Gray Dorkings, Silver Laced Wyandottes, New Hampshire Reds and White Red Laced Cornish. He also has Sebastopol and Toulouse geese along with a flock of Blue Slate turkeys. Those that he is most passionate about are the Heritage Breeds, which is why he founded the Heritage Poultry Conservancy in 2009.

The Heritage Poultry Conservancy is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and support of all threatened breeds and strains of domestic poultry through the encouragement of education, stewardship and good breeding practices.

Heritage Chickens were defined by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) to draw attention to and support the conservation of breeds that have become endangered due to the industrialization of the chicken industry.

The ALBC's abbreviated definition is as follows: A Heritage Egg can only be produced by an American Poultry Association Standard breed. A Heritage Chicken is hatched from a heritage egg sired by an American Poultry Association Standard breed established prior to the mid-20th century, is slow growing, naturally mated with a long productive outdoor life.

For a more information and an in-depth definition, visit www.heritagepoultry.org or www.albc-usa.org/heritagechicken.

For those poultry owners just starting out and not sure which breed to choose, Allen has listed many on his website and recommends starting out with just a few, all of the same breed.

"And like my experience with the Leghorn hen, you will learn a tremendous amount that will enable you to expand your flock in the years to come," said Allen.

Although the obvious benefits of raising chickens are fresh eggs and meat, Allen says that free fertilizer and pest control for your garden are added bonuses.

"They are great recyclers, eating extra or leftover garden and kitchen scraps," said Allen.

Allen feeds his chickens Layena® Plus Omega-3, Purina's new feed that provides three times the Omega-3, an essential fatty acid, that's in a typical egg.* He started using it as part of a feeding trial for Purina and liked the results.

"My flock of heritage chickens deserves the same natural nutrition we provide for our families, and that's why I feed them Layena® Plus Omega-3," said Allen. "It has no added antibiotics, hormones or animal based proteins or fat, which gives me a piece of mind when feeding my flock. The chickens really eat this product well, too. What's great, is it's in a small pellet form so there is very little waste."

Allen loves to cook and has even published a cookbook, P. Allen Smith's Seasonal Recipes from the Garden, which was released in December 2010 and inspired by the abundance of food from his farm and a family of great cooks.

"The Layena® Plus Omega-3 doesn't just help feed healthy chickens it also means healthy eggs for myself. I get a lot of comments about the eggs we produce on the farm. People just love the quality, and they always comment on the color of the yolk," said Allen. "I love cooking for my family and friends and it's important for me to know where my food comes from and how it's grown."

To learn more about Allen, his chickens, Garden Home and to see some of his favorite recipes, visit his website, www.pallensmith.com.

Better Animals - Electronic Newsletter - Family Flock - August 2011