Peter Dyck is a chicken farmer in Central Alberta, raising pullets and performing custom fertilizer applications.
Hello! I’m Peter Dyck, Pete is fine.. the “R” is silent.
I’ve been working/managing this farm for the last 6 years, but this farm has been raising pullets for almost 20 years. The farm is my In-laws, they built it originally for pigs, but it was renovated and converted to a chicken farm roughly 20 years ago. It’s a family run operation, and my wife, 4 kids and I live on the farm as well.
What’s a pullet? A pullet is a young hen, no longer a chick, but not quite a mature egg laying hen. A teenager basically. Essentially making me a poultry nanny.
We take day old chicks and raise them for a total of 19 weeks, at this point we ship these young, fresh, egg laying hens ourselves, to their new barns. Our pullets are raised for various commercial egg laying farms across Alberta, and a couple in Saskatchewan. We also raise a certain amount of hens for backyard flocks across British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan as well.
Other than our backyard flock hens, we don’t deal directly with the consumer. However If you’ve bought eggs in a Southern or Central Alberta grocery store or eaten them in a local restaurant, there’s a good chance I raised the hen that went on to lay that egg.
Our operation has grown significantly over the years, from its beginning. Especially in the last 10 as we’ve added custom fertilizer application to our list of work. We raise a total of 8 flocks each year, shipping hens year round, to try and keep up with that egg demand!
One of my favourite things about our farm, is the family dynamic. I grew up in and around agriculture, from a young age we lived on an acreage, enjoying the perks of country life. My dad was a manager on a neighbour’s farm, and in Jr. and Sr. High school I worked on various farms as well. But never a farm of our own. After graduation, I was an electrician in my local area, primarily on residential and agricultural job sites. When I made the switch from the trades to farming, one of the big draws was going to be raising my kids on the farm. The flexibility to be working and seeing them play outside, or to get them involved. It’s always fun having them around when the new chicks arrive, or going for rides when a tractor needs to be driven. I’ve always been attracted to farming and operating equipment, and I’m happy to be able to share that with my family.
Follow Pete on Instagram to get an inside look at chicken farming and farm life – @petestick. For more information on egg farming and chicken producing, check out the Egg Farmers of Alberta and the Alberta Chicken Producers.