Poultry
Brown Eggs (Locally Available)
Our flock of Buff Orphington hens are busy laying eggs and
we are making them available for purchase locally for $3.00 per dozen.
Testing with New Varieties
We placed an order for chicks (pullets and cockerals)
from the hatchery to establish a local breeding stock for 12 varieties of
chickens. All of the breeds that we ordered were brown egg layers with
the exception of the "Easter Egg" layers that we got for the novelty
of the colored eggs. We have been very pleased with the Buff Orpingtons,
but were trying to test a variety of breeds to see how they adapt to being raised
on open range.
We have always enjoyed our chickens and try to keep them as
happy as possible since happy chickens lay more eggs. :-) Our new
adventure was to move the chickens into the paddocks (pasture). This is the way that we have
always wanted to raise our poultry, and it was nice to be able to get this set
up.
We used our existing egg boxes and assembled them
into portable shelters for roosting and laying which can be moved from paddock
to paddock as we rotate the chickens. This gave the
chickens free range over the paddock with the exception of separating the
roosters and hens and setting aside areas for the actively breeding roosters and
hens.
Also, we decided to start a selective breeding program for
the varieties of chickens that we are raising. We select for
traditional traits such as broodiness in an attempt to encourage old farm
heritage traits such as hatching and raising their own chicks. Of course,
this is counter the industrialized approach of intensive agriculture, but the
truth is that we cherish the slow and comfortable lifestyle for both us and our
animals.
The breeds that we have raised to learn about on
open pasture were:
Heavy Breeds/Brown Egg Layers
Delaware
Barred Rocks
Partridge Rocks
New Hampshire Reds
Speckled Sussex
Dark Cornish
Silver Laced Wyandottes
Columbian Wyandottes
White Orpington
Buff Orpingtons
Black Australorps
Easter Egg Layers
Araucanas / Americanas
As it turns out, Buff Orpingtons continue to be our favorite breed of chickens and we have returned to a single breed flock. The Buffs grow large and continue to lay well into the Winter while not getting upset about the least little thing such as other breeds do.
We keep our flock of Buff Orpingtons for selling eggs, young hens, layers, roosters, and week old chicks.