It’s not uncommon for consumers to ask questions about their poultry: how the birds were caged, for example, or if they were raised with antibiotics or hormones. Farmer Matthew Nelson of Spring Creek Heritage Farms can answer these questions and more.
Matthew and his wife Amanda are self-described “chicken people”: They can recite their birds’ detailed lineages and the nuances of different breed’s flavors. Matthew knows exactly what crops they consume, because he grows most of them himself.
The Nelsons and their two daughters hatch 2,000–3,000 chicks per year at their private Bellingham farm, where they also grow organic produce and keep Kunekune pigs. Their birds are raised around fresh air and nutrient-rich pasture crops, never pesticides and antibiotics.
The Nelsons sell pasture-raised meat for added income, but although their chickens are top of the market, meat is secondary to Spring Creek’s overall mission. Their top aim is providing breeders, homesteaders, farmers and “backyard birders” with live chicks — particularly rare breeds that might otherwise be lost.
“We’d rather sell the chicks than the table birds,” Matthew said. “The whole goal of this is the preservation.”
The world has hundreds of chicken breeds; long-established (or “heritage”) breeds grow slower, enjoy longer lifespans and have the ability to mate naturally. While they produce less breast meat, poultry enthusiasts say they taste better.
Before factory farming, these breeds’ resiliency made them popular. But heritage chickens are now outnumbered by commercial hybrids, bred within close genetic lines for industrial meat or egg production. Stable, resilient breeds are crucial for genetic diversity — and folks like the Nelsons are passionate about keeping them around for years to come.
History and mission
Matthew traces the chicken “bug” back to his great-grandmother, who kept chickens when he was a child. But about 13 years ago, the Nelsons got backyard hens of their own — and Matthew’s interest quickly spiraled into something deeper.
“[Amanda] was like, ‘Oh, no, what have I done?’” he said with a laugh. “Because then we had all kinds of hens. I just found it really interesting how you could change the egg color.”
The hens inspired two years of deep research, with Matthew learning about chicken genetics and how cross-breeding could potentially result in a “rainbow of eggs.” He ultimately left a career in the plumbing and mechanical industry and dove feet-first into farming.
“Our priority are breeders: getting the birds into other people that are just as serious about it, because it can’t be just me and a couple other people,” Matthew said. “I have some pretty good sized flocks [but] to maintain the genetics of some of the birds here, like the Hungarian Yellow, you should have at least 50 hens.”
For the Nelsons, raising chickens goes hand-in-hand with growing produce. Matthew works with seed genetics, namely flower and brassica plants, and grows organic fruits and veggies: kale, giant zucchini, beans, tomato, squash and specialty sweet corn. Before the slaughterhouse, the Nelsons’ meat birds are fed (or “finished”) with whatever crop happens to be nutritious and in-season.
Diet affects the birds’ taste; apples, for example, work as a tenderizer, whereas corn adds sweetness. The Nelsons have used blackberries in previous years, though Matthew felt the resulting meat was too acidic.
This year, the family’s top field was made up of wheat and Austrian peas. But rather than harvest them, Amanda carted the birds’ hutches through the field on dollies and allows them to graze on the whole plant.
“The plant itself is high in protein, so it brings our feed costs down,” Matthew said. “Chickens have a happy life as they’re grazing through the peas. Then the wheat’s also coming in at the same time; as they move from the peas, they go into the wheat … and then we put it all down back into the ground, and it captures the carbon. It aids in not having to use very much fertilizer.”
‘Building a better bird’
Spring Creek is a “no-kill chick farm,” meaning every hatchling roams the pasture until adulthood. Their breeds originate everywhere from North America to Indonesia, Germany or Switzerland; rare ones, like Hungarian Yellows, have purebred lineages tracing back 300 years. Other breeds were developed by Matthew himself.
So how does one go about “building a better bird”? The strategy might be familiar to anyone who’s ever looked at a Punnett square. Chickens have 20,000–23,000 different genes, compared to 20,000-25,000 in humans. Each chicken receives 50% of its genes from each parent, influencing everything from egg tint and feather type and color, comb appearance and even number of toes.
Traits are controlled by different genes, and sometimes multiple genes at once. Brown eggshell tints, for example, are coded by 13 different genes. With selective breeding, chickens who express desirable traits are mated over generations, until these traits become stable. To avoid inbreeding, the Nelsons “outcross” by alternating male birds or slowly working in other bloodlines.
Matthew said two factors — math and consistency — are crucial to selective breeding success. New broods must be weighed weekly: “By the time we get to usually four weeks, we know which ones we can pull out and put out in the field, and which ones we’re going to hang on to for breeding stock, because you’re watching that growth curve,” he continued.
Other useful qualities include sex-linked and even “autosexing” birds. Sex-linked birds — like Nelson’s cross between Hungarian Yellows and Light Sussexs — can be identified as male or female upon hatching based on their color. Autosexing birds have sex-specific feather patterns, like dots around male chicks’ eyes and “eyeliner” on females. (The first was developed in the early 20th century by Reginald Punnett, creator of the Punnett square.)
Still, Matthew’s proudest achievement is the Amrock, which he developed over a period of 10 years. They’re Spring Creek’s version of a Barred Plymouth Rock chicken, which can be traced back to 19th century Boston and remained popular through the 1950s. Spring Creek’s Amrocks can “compete with today’s industry” thanks in part to their “strong growth” and ability to thrive in a pasture.
‘From billionaires to the neighbor next door’
Heritage chickens may seem like a niche endeavor, but Matthew said his client base is diverse. Customers buy chickens and meat directly from the Nelsons, and they keeps close relationships with customers, even making personalized deliveries across Bellingham. Spring Creek ships across the country, but some folks drive from Seattle to meet them personally.
“I don’t think there’s any particular clientele,” he added. “It’s from billionaires to, you know, the neighbor next door.”
This closeness allows the Nelsons to witness how animals affect customers’ lives. Their neighbor’s daughter, for example, adopted a Spitzhauben chicken; the independent Swiss breed isn’t known for being cuddly, but this particular chicken sits in her lap.
“It’s neat to watch children and agriculture, and people that have had devastating things in the past, come into having animals, and getting their feet in dirt, and eating from the garden,” Matthew said. “It’s really life changing.”
The Nelsons themselves forged a bond with a pig named George, who was abandoned by his mother at birth. Amanda considers him part of the family: She bottle-fed him every 20 minutes for two weeks and taught him to come when called. With the help of her parents, the Nelsons’ youngest daughter even turned his rescue story into a book.
Living on a farm allows Matthew and Amanda to consistently model good health, nutrition and work ethic. It also gave Matthew a way to be present for both their daughters’ childhoods. Matthew said both girls are quick learners; he has a slight hope the youngest, now 8, might become a veterinarian.
Lessons learned
Still, managing a farm can be a tough business. Matthew said early on, there was a period where the chickens were “eating all the money out of my wallet” faster than he could sell eggs. But with age comes wisdom — and he’s learned a thing or two about how to balance passion with sustainable business models.
“When you work with agriculture and children, you have to be a very patient person, because nothing’s ever going to go your way,” Matthew said. “Patience watching things grow. Patience with the animals. Patience watching things that you’ve planted: You’ve put all your money in the field, and you don’t know whether you’re even going to get anything back out of it.”
These days, though, the Nelsons are experts in their field — figuratively and literally. They struck a particularly ideal balance in 2024: Late one night, after efficiently moving chickens and their hutches through the fields, the couple joked they could offer a class in pasture-raised birds.
“We’ve got it pretty well dialed in at this point,” Matthew added, “so we could have a Chicken University, if there was such a thing.” Info: springcreekheritagefarms.com.
For bio-security reasons, Spring Creek Heritage Farms is not open to the public, but customers can purchase chickens, meat and produce directly from the Nelsons online. Birds are tested regularly for avian flu, which Matthew said “has kept our birds safe for well over a decade now.”
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
