By BRIDGET CARTER
Claude Ilton keeps his baby chickens warm, shelters them from predators and wakes at night to protect them from rain.
But once they reach the right size, a night-time operation puts his birds on a trailer heading down the main highway to the slaughterhouse.
When the sun goes down, Mr Ilton, his wife Margaret and about nine helpers creep out on to his Far North farm like snipers, armed with scales and plastic crates, which they use to trap his seven-week-old organically raised chickens - grown to cater for the increasing number of New Zealanders who prefer meat free of inorganic additives.
The chickens do not make the veteran farmer a lot of money - "I would be better off on the dole", he says - but he winds up with a product of which he is proud.
"It is a beautiful chicken."
The 55-year-old began farming chickens organically more than seven years ago when his son, Bryce, a butcher who owns the slaughtering business in Dargaville to which Mr Ilton sells his chooks, suggested he get into catering.
Once a fortnight, he travels to Kaitaia airport to pick up 1300 tiny balls of yellow fluff, hatched in Auckland to become organically raised chickens for the table.
The large crates of chicks are placed carefully in his Holden station wagon and driven north to Kaimaumau.
Early on, the young chicks are cared for and nurtured by their self-confessed surrogate mother.
Mr Ilton leads the chicks into specially built shelters, warms them with large electric heaters and gives them plenty of water and 'crumble' for food.
"Normally, mum keeps them warm, but because there is no mum, I am mum."
And as they get older, they roam his 28ha farm in a flock, pecking at the ground and hiding in the manuka. ,
When Mr Ilton emerges from his home with a bucket full of pellets, a fluttering sheet of white chickens scurries towards him.
Despite Mr Ilton's efforts to protect his young, the birds fall prey to neighbours' dogs, cats, stoats, rats, hawks and seagulls. Once, he discovered 700 dead birds scattered around his farm after they were killed by a dog on the loose.
The second greatest threat is rain.
If it gets too wet, the chicks drown or all run to the same hut and suffocate each other.
"This time of the year is not so bad, but when it is wet I have to get out of bed at 2 or 3am to make sure they are in their huts."
Mr Ilton is certified by the Far North Organic Society, which "keeps a good eye on us".
The society requires him to regularly test his soil, use no sprays or fertilisers, and feed his birds natural food.
The chickens on his farm are sold to his son for between $7.50 and $9 each - about $3 more than they cost to raise.
If he produced conventionally raised chickens, he could give them hormones, keep them inside and grow them in 35 days.
But he believes it is not worth it.
He says his birds are healthy and have less fat when cooked than other chickens.
"They have got to be better for you."
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