Local poultry farm has 30,000 laying hens
By Heather Ruenz
Nearly 20 years ago, Lynn Lein’s son, Jason, brought home 12 laying hens. Now Yuppie Hill Poultry boasts roughly 30,000 birds.
“I had no idea it would end up this big. I was working full-time in a lab at an Aurora hospital in Milwaukee then,” Lein said.
They lived on Honey Lake Road in Rochester at the time, had converted the horse barn into a chicken coop and also had chickens at a friend’s farm. Then a friend found the current farm on Potter Road, which Lein bought in 2004.
“It was pretty dilapidated. What is now Barnyard Grub (a monthly dinner event) initially housed the chickens – about 3,000 at that time. Then we took the calf barn and had about 1,500 girls in there,” Lein said.
When her dad died she said she had to decide whether to keep working full-time or run the business, in an effort to help it continue to grow. She chose the latter and said it’s always been a priority to provide the chickens with as comfortable living conditions as possible.
There are currently three barns on the farm and the first one is a flat deck, which features a raised floor. In 2011, two other barns were built and they feature aviary systems.
“That’s where the girls can literally fly from floor to ceiling. We try very hard to bring the outside in. They’re protected and it’s temperature controlled,” Lein said. “Those are all important because they don’t lay when they’re stressed.”
What’s in a name?
The name Yuppie Hill came thanks to neighbors who would often stop by to check out Lein’s birds and said they were impressed with the hens’ “high class” living quarters so began referring to them as yuppies.
Lein said they work with a grower for the hens, who starts them and then Yuppie Hill gets them when they’re 18 to 19 weeks old.
“That gives them time to get acclimated before they start to lay. We keep them about 14 months and then they go to the live market or a butcher. The stock you get from them is awesome and the meat is good if it’s slowly cooked,” she said.
The eggs produced at Yuppie Hill are in-line, according to Lein, meaning they come out of the barn, get washed and sometimes are out the door that day.
“So there are literally some restaurants that get today’s eggs today. Our motto has always been fresh from the farm to your table,” she said.
While they work with a distributor that does some deliveries, by and large Yuppie Hill does most of its own deliveries and currently has customers from Chicago to Sheboygan to Madison and Milwaukee.
Nearly all the area grocery stores carry Yuppie Hill eggs including Richter’s Sentry in Burlington and Twin Lakes, both Frank’s Piggly Wiggly locations and Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly in Lake Geneva.
In addition to Lein and her two sons – Jason and Matt (Lein’s daughter, Steph, also helps out) – the farm has five employees.
“My boys call themselves the slaves,” Lein said with a laugh. “Honestly, they’re really starting to step in more and I’m trying to step back but it’s hard.
“I’ll never retire. I’d like to travel but cannot think about not being here, involved in the business,” Lein said.
What they offer
The hens are free-range birds fed local grains.
All of the eggs from Yuppie Hill are brown, antibiotic and hormone free – no additives are used in food or water – and are available on the farm all the time.
“It’s self-serve but if we’re around when someone stops by we’ll gladly talk with them, especially those here for the first time. Once they’ve been here they usually make a quick stop and are on their way,” Lein said.
The farm also has pork, broilers (chickens raised specifically for meat, which they get at about a day old and grow them to seven or eight weeks), as well as turkeys for the holiday season.
“I think we had 450 turkeys last year and that number continues to grow every year. Some stores sell the turkeys but a lot of them go out of here directly,” she said.
They’ve raised turkeys at Yuppie Hill for about 15 years and Lein reminds people interested in a turkey to get on the list by the end of August or early September.
The Barnyard Grub is a restaurant at the farm that normally the second Saturday of the month hosts a four-course dinner that’s generally reservation only.
“It’s a set menu so people know what’s planned but we change it up and it usually includes a homemade soup, fancy salad or cheese platter and a fancy dessert,” Lein said.
Though they can’t offer it year-round, in the fall – likely October – Yuppie Hill will again offer breakfasts at the Barnyard Grub on Saturdays and that’s a walk-in option.
Still growing
A hen lays an egg every 25 hours, Lein said, but even with the approximate 30,000 hens at the farm it’s a struggle to meet the demand.
“And, of course, there are some slackers but we can’t check butts every day so can’t really weed them out,” she added.
In an effort to boost production, Yuppie Hill is planning to expand the first barn this year, taking the flat deck system out and putting in an aviary system.
“That will double the production in that barn to another 9,000 girls,” Lein said.
Lein said between word-of-mouth and getting out in public in the food truck or tent at area events, the business has seen steady growth.
“Sometimes with our food trailer we’ll take a smoker and do smoked chops or steaks. We go all over to events including some in Greendale – where we grew up – and have done the First Friday and The Hive Taproom, both in East Troy,” she said.
The family isn’t only a local producer but supports others in the area.
“We use as much locally sourced products as possible on our truck and at our dinners and breakfast, including Wilson Farm Meats in Elkhorn, Lake Geneva Produce and Hometown Sausage,” Lein said.
And she said the business has been a success through hard work, a lot of trial and error but also because of a solid support system.
“We’ve had the same banker since day one and my family and friends have all helped along the way. It’s crazy how fast the time has gone,” Lein said.
Yuppie Hill Poultry, Inc. is at W1384 Potter Rd., Burlington. For more information call 262-210-0264, visit yuppiehillpoultry.com or follow them on Facebook.
To read additional stories about locally sourced foods see the Business Section of the March 28 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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