PHILPOT, Ky. – From a distance, Hayden Farms in Kentucky appear like a standard chicken farm. But this 43-by-600-square-foot chicken house in Daviess County made history back in 2018.

“We were the first commercial poultry operation in the country to have a viewing area,” said second-generation farmer Daniel Hayden. “My wife, Danielle, came up with a grand idea that we could bring people in and show them how our chickens are raised.”

The unique chicken house features large windows on one side under the statement, “Raised with care by a family that cares.”

“There’s a huge negative misconception tied to the poultry industry,” Hayden said. “We just tell our story and tell them how we raise our birds. We give them information. We don’t try to influence their thought process, positive or negative. We just give out accurate facts on how we do it.”

A little more than two decades ago, the Haydens became among the first farmers in the region to start raising chickens for Perdue Farms, which needed local poultry producers for its large processing plant in Ohio County.

“We didn’t do it the first year Perdue was here, but the second year they flew us up to the Delmarva Peninsula to meet Frank Perdue and visit some older chicken houses and learn about the business,” said Daniel’s mother, Joan. “So that persuaded us to go ahead.”

Hayden added that entering the poultry business was to diversify the farm as tobacco waned. “We build the chicken houses just to stop raising tobacco,” Joan said.

Perdue Farms contracts with more than 2,200 farmers to raise chickens for their company. Out of the thousands of chicken houses on those farms, Hayden Farm was the first to feature a special viewing room that lets visitors see exactly what the 31,000 chickens in the 600-foot-long house are experiencing.

Every Perdue chicken house has an anteroom, but the Haydens were the first to suggest the viewing room to allow visitors a clear look at the entire housing system. Perdue paid for the viewing room, and the Haydens obtained grants from several state agriculture groups to build the education center.

“The whole idea is just to let people know how their food is raised and let them see it. We’re very transparent,” said Joan, who established the farm with her husband, Martin, when they were married in 1983.

The 30-by-15-foot viewing room with glass walls was the brainchild of Daniel and Danielle. Daniel now serves as the farm manager, while Danielle is the farm communications specialist.

In addition to the viewing room, the Haydens also built a 40-by-50-foot education center on the farm. They host school groups and other visitors who are interested in how the agriculture business works.

“It’s gone over very, very well,” she said.

Their farm has four 20-year-old chicken houses which are 500 feet long and hold 25,000 chicks each. In addition, four houses – built in 2018 – are 600 feet long and hold 31,000 chickens each. All the houses are controlled by computer systems that regulate food, water, air flow and temperature.

Hayden Farms is not open to the general public to protect the safety of its young chickens, but welcomes private groups by appointment. In the viewing barn’s first year, nearly 500 people from eight states stopped by to take a look inside.

“It’s not agritourism,” Daniel said. “Our main target audience is people of influence, such as teachers, because if we positively impact one person, we can impact many more.”

Besides teachers, the farm has also hosted visits from bloggers, dietitians, doctors, groups of mothers and politicians. The Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy has visited several times with various groups, and Perdue has brought visitors from all over the country as well.

And in an effort to attract a non-farm audience, Hayden Farms built an education center separate from the farm, with a full kitchen.

“We host groups and programs that would never come to a farm,” Daniel said. “These are groups that would normally not be attracted to a farm, and we don’t advertise the center as being attached to the farm. While they’re there, we say, ‘Let’s take you up to the viewing room and show you how the chicken you eat is raised.’”

Hayden Farms raises six separate cage-free flocks for Perdue totaling approximately 1.2 million broiler chickens every year in its eight barns. Broilers are raised for their meat. There is no egg production on the farm.

“We receive the broiler chicks when they’re 24 hours old from Perdue chicken houses in Kentucky, supplemented by some from Georgia,” Joan said. “We keep them for 46 days until they’re six-pound birds, then we’re idle for 14-18 days while we clean and disinfect the barns for the next flock.”

The four new barns are completely enclosed, built on a cement foundation, and are equipped with high-tech computer systems that control the heaters and fans. Feeding is done automatically.

Martin started the farm 37 years ago as a beef cattle operation on the side while operating an electrical contracting business, Hayden Electric. A broiler operation was added 26 years ago when Perdue came to the area.

The Haydens also raise 200 head of cattle, which all produce calves each year in two separate breeding seasons. In addition, they grow and bale 500 acres of hay to feed cattle through the winter. Their farm is about 250 acres, plus they rent some ground. 

Martin and Joan are still active with the chicken operation, though they’ve handed over total control to Daniel and Danielle.

“They are very into ag, very active and very passionate about it,” Joan said. “Watching our son carry on the family business is the most fantastic thing in the world. We worked very hard stating these farms and built them up. When he does well, it’s an extension of us. This is how it will go on.”

embers of this family (Joan, Martin, sons David and Daniel, and daughter-in-law Danielle) were inducted into the Kentucky 4-H Family Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Louisville in 2021.