We’ve had many different kinds of chickens, including Rhode Island Reds, White Leghorns, Araucanas, Red and Black Stars, Silkies, Cochins and Old English Game Bantams. Ten chickens came with the house, then we ordered thirty from Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa; it kind of grew from there as we ordered more chicks from the same hatchery. As our egg production increased, we found more customers; then we had too many customers and not enough supply for the demand. Of course, we got more chickens—a hundred more, actually. It wasn't long before we ordered another fifty. Then more; this time, about 70 hens.
Our chickens are kind of spoiled but they deserve it! They get light at night in their coops and sometimes music during the day. They love scraps of bread and lettuce. We have 4 coops, separating breeds. Why, you may ask, are they in coops? Well, the short answer is raccoons, skunks and possums. The more complete answer is for their safety and my peace of mind! We let some run free during the day but need to keep our eye on the hawks overhead.
We feed them a corn based grain that provides the vitamins, protein and various nutrients they need to lay well. We supplement that with flax (gotta love those omega-3's) and oyster shells to get some strong egg shells! The white eggs are from Leghorns; the brown eggs are from Black Stars; the green and blue eggs are from Araucanas; the little cream colored eggs are from the Silkies.
Our latest babies are 50 Black Stars (brown egg layers) and 200 white leghorns (white egg layers). And in the Spring and Summer of 2010, we had about 25 Silkie-mix babies born. That is the favorite breed of our visitors!
In the pictures to the right, we have:
*5 new silkie babies
*a sampling of the Leghorns born in February
*Black Stars born in December
*an Araucana (green egg layer)
*Rocky, Daffodil and Rose--Old English Bantams sitting on top of the coop door
*Stripes and Splash, nesting together
*"Hopper", one of our first roosters
*toward the bottom of the page you'll see the variety of colors of eggs our chickens lay
Most of our eggs are sold to "Eating with the Seasons", an organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that delivers from Hollister to San Francisco!