About Us And Our Farm

Welcome to the Chicken Scratch Poultry Farm.  Our small hatchery is one of only two in US that is regularly testing for harmful poultry diseases like Mycoplasma Gillisepticum, Mycoplasma Synoviae, Pullorum Typhoid, and Avian Influenza.  

We're Larry and Angie McEwen and we live in Southern Illinois on a small farm that we purchased back in 1996. We've raised 3 kids on this farm who loved to play for hours out in that old barn and now they all have children of their own.

Back around 2006 - 2007 Larry purchased our first Marans, Welsummer and Ameraucana and that's where the love of Heritage poultry began. We still have those very same blood lines of poultry on the farm today.

We keep a closed flock, which means we no longer bring in poultry.  If we want a new breed, we purchase the eggs and hatch them ourselves.  This past year we have gone a step further in the NPIP program.  Our farm is now tested for MG, MS and AI.  Our farm is free of these terrible diseases, and we run a strict biosecurity program.  As soon as the IL Department Of Agriculture gets that information added to their website, I will be sharing that link so that you can see the proof for yourself.  

Our goal from the beginning has been to raise healthy, pure bred, heritage poultry and share those wonderful breeds with other poultry enthusiasts. The farm has grown and changed over the years, but that main goal stays the same.