Westwind’s Ovid facility was built in 2020, realizing a plan to both double production from 2016 levels and at the same time separate the company’s setting and hatching processes across two sites, which Westwind refers to as the ‘settery’ and ‘hatchery’. Incubation takes place at its original facility in Interlaken, NY, and then the eggs are moved to Ovid at 16 days for hatching. The new hatchery was designed to maximize biosecurity with the construction of multiple hatch rooms.
Westwind is owned and run by the DeCloux family. It transitioned to all cage-free, and antibiotic free production in 1997 and this is a practice it continues today. Its business model focuses on Brown commercial layer production and distribution and provides them with a strong proposition in the alternative markets – particularly cage-free and organic.
As distributors for Hendrix Genetics, Westwind has spent the last several years distributing the Bovans Brown layer. Peter DeCloux, one of the company’s founders says: “We have been in the chick-hatching business all of our lives. We find them to be a robust bird that works very well in a cage-free, organic system where the birds have outdoor access.”
Westwind is also currently reintroducing the ISA brown. They are no strangers to the ISA brown, having distributed this bird for 17 years before introducing the Bovans. Mr DeCloux says the company wants to provide customers with options when it comes to their brown layer needs by providing both birds.
Westwind Farms was founded in 1995, but it’s owners have a much longer history in the egg industry. It can trace its origins back to the Clock and DeCloux families. In 1962, Bob DeCloux and Bob Clock established a business – initially as a provider of pullets, before later starting to hatch chicks. In 1995 Peter DeCloux and his wife Joel formed Westwind Farms from parts of Clock and DeCloux. It was founded as an alternative production farm, focused on cage-free eggs and the company partnered with Euribrid Inc., with the goal of reintroducing the Hisex genetic products into North America.
When Hendrix Genetics purchased ISA in 2005 it was the start of a business relationship with Westwind and they are still partners today. At that time, Westwind began hatching parent and grandparent stock for Hendrix Genetics. In 2014, the company expanded with the addition of Peter’s daughter Kelsey, and son Dennis. The following year, Westwind expanded their hatchery capacity from 2.3 million to 4.6 million pullet chicks and then increased again to 5.6 million pullet chicks in 2016.
Ken Long, Sales Director for Pas Reform USA, comments: “We would like to thank the DeCloux family for our continued relationship and the confidence they have shown in Pas Reform by choosing us to supply their incubation equipment needs. We wish Westwind Poultry Farms and the DeCloux family many more years of growth and success.”