Pasture-raised poultry integrated into cover crop systems offers a promising avenue for small-scale organic producers. However, how cover crop management affects broiler performance and product quality in chicken-based integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) remains poorly characterized. A two-year experiment was conducted on certified organic land at the Purdue University Meigs Horticulture Research Farm (Lafayette, Indiana, USA) to evaluate how cover crop management affects growth performance, feed efficiency, carcass characteristics, and meat color of slow-growing broilers in an organic ICLS. Treatments were chicken integration with access to high forage (ICLS-HF) or low forage (ICLS-LF), arranged in a randomized complete block design with four blocks. Cover crops were an oat/pea/turnip mixture in 2024 and a cereal rye/pea mixture in 2025. Freedom Ranger broilers were used in 2024 and Red Sasso broilers in 2025, with approximately 46–50 birds per treatment integrated for 42–46 days per season. Data were analyzed with linear mixed-effects models, with treatment, year, and their interactions as fixed effects and block within year as a random effect. Cover crop mowing reduced forage availability (P < 0.01) and, in 2025, resulted in lower crude protein (9.04 vs. 11.6% DM, P = 0.004) and higher acid detergent fiber (29.1 vs. 28.4% DM, P = 0.049) compared to non-mowed plots. Despite these differences, cover crop management did not significantly affect any measured performance, carcass, or meat quality variable in either year (P > 0.05). Production year was the dominant source of variation: Freedom Rangers in 2024 achieved higher live weights (2.78 vs. 2.04 kg, P < 0.001), lower feed conversion ratios (2.85–2.90 vs. 3.13–3.51), and greater breast yields (~26 vs. 17% of carcass weight, P < 0.001) than Red Sasso broilers in 2025. However, year is a composite term confounding broiler genetics with climatic conditions, cover crop species and maturity, and sampling time, so these effects cannot be attributed to any single factor. Leg yield (thigh and drumstick included) remained stable across years and treatments (31.5–34.0%, P > 0.05), suggesting that outdoor rearing supports leg muscle development independent of forage management. These findings indicate that cover crops can serve as a viable pasture component in organic chicken-based ICLS without compromising animal performance.
