Welcome to Crooked Tree Chicken Ranch! Our story began over 24 years ago when I married Mayra, a lovely lady from the Dominican Republic. Back then, I had horses and dabbled in raising beef for personal use. But Mayra, not a big fan of beef and pork, missed the delicious chicken from her homeland and wasn’t thrilled with the lackluster poultry available in local stores. Being the ever-doting husband, I promised to raise chickens just like those from the Dominican Republic. Little did I know this promise would lead us to where we are today in Bath, PA.

“I thought raising poultry couldn’t be that hard,” I said with naive optimism. I ordered 100 chicks with no clue about what I was getting myself into. Chicks hatched by a mother hen have a natural protector and guide. Ordered chicks? Not so much. They arrive in a box, no momma hen included, and suddenly, you’re their mother. Spoiler alert: baby chicks are very fragile, and I had to learn the hard way. After a series of reorders and a steep learning curve, we finally managed to raise about 100 chickens to harvest weight. Butchering them by hand? Let’s just say anyone who’s plucked chicken by hand won’t forget it. After 100 chickens, I was ready to throw in the towel.

Then something amazing happened. We gave a few chickens to friends and family, and they couldn’t stop raving about them. “Best chicken ever!” they said. I realized there was a gap in the market for natural, humanely raised poultry. With my gears turning, I told Mayra about my grand plan to raise chickens on a larger scale and sell directly to consumers. The only snag? Plucking chickens by hand took forever. Enter the “featherman” – a machine that plucks 3 chickens in about 45 seconds. Without it, who knows if we’d still be in the chicken business today.

Our journey took us from upstate NY, where we also dabbled in raising beef and pork, and then the economy crashed.  We moved to Texas (which was too hot for Mayra), and finally back to the Northeast where we settled in Bath, PA. Despite swearing off farming again, the old barn on our property beckoned. With a mix of reluctance and excitement, Chartier Farms was reborn, eventually evolving into Crooked Tree Chicken Ranch.

Fast forward to the day when Mayra brought home some supermarket chicken sausages. I’d never heard of chicken sausage before, but the idea intrigued me. Soon, we were experimenting with chicken sausages and chicken burgers, which have now become our main products.  We have now expanded into pizzas and empanadas, smoked products and are always looking for new products to develop.

So here we are, raising chickens naturally and humanely, and providing delicious chicken products to our community. Thank you for being part of our story. We hope you enjoy our poultry as much as we enjoy raising them!