Chickens

Let’s talk chickens! Those cute chick days in the springtime was the gateway into homesteading for me. Once we picked up those adorable chicks at the farm store and had our first basket of rainbow eggs, I was hooked! Useful Pets! I grew up in the suburbs in northern CA an agricultural town that didn’t offer a lot of affordable farm land. After traveling with my husband we moved closer his family purchased a little land and my dreams started to grow. After baby number 3, quickly I realized our grocery bill would soon double, and triple by the time they would be teenagers. So my journey to a self sufficient homestead began.

Not every chicken is created equal! After raising over 75 hens I can give some pros and cons on the ones I have had here on the farm.

What are the best chicken breeds for kids?

Orpington, Silkies, Cochin, Easter Eggers, Polish, Black Copper Marans

They make my top 6 because they are sweet, friendly, great for egg production!

Sweet Roosters do exist like Elvis in the photo below.

Black Copper Maran Rooster

Not everyone has the same experience though and thousands of children every year are attacked by aggressive rooster’s in their home flock.

Before we separated our meat birds “the Delaware”, from our egg layers there was a not so nice roo.

If you have hawks in the area I highly recommend the Delaware Rooster because I have witnessed first hand that he will attack a hawk to protect his ladies, which was very impressive to watch! While getting eggs one day I saw the Delaware Roo locking in on my toddler. Running out of time and I was still so far away in a last ditched effort to rescue my 2 year old, I chucked the new iphone at the roo and by the grace of God I had very good aim that day! After that I knew he was meant for the freezer.

So “No Boys Allowed” could be a good moto if you have very young children around. Choosing the right chicken can give you peace of mind in your coop. Some hens can pick on the nicer ones in the coop and you might find your self not loving that rooster that hatched so its important to pick the right one for you.

How to achieve a rainbow egg basket?

Lavender Olive Egger, Black Copper Marans, Silkies, Orpington, Welsummer, Easter Egger, and Salmon Favorolles are my faves!

But here is a list of other birds you can choose from!

White: Leghorns, anconas, Polish, anconas and California White Chickens

Cream: Light Brahma, Swedish Flower, Salmon Favorolles

Light Brown: Many chickens lay light brown egg, Plymouth Rock(Barred Rock) Orpingtons, Wyandottes, and Rhode Island Reds are some of the popular breeds.

Dark Brown: Or AKA chocolate eggs Black Copper Marans, Welsummer

Blue: Ameraucana, Araucana and Cream Legbar,

Green: Lavender Olive Eggers, Mix a blue egg layer like an Easter Egger with a Brown Egg layer and you will hatch out a “Olive Egger”

High Production Breeds

Australorp, Golden Comet, ISA Brown, Rhode Island Red, White Leghorn

If you have a big coop and enjoy the birds and dont mind adding more you might have to many eggs you wont know what to do with.

How to ferment your chicken feed and stretch your budget?

Your flock and your wallet will thank you. Fermenting is easy here are the basic steps.

You will need 3 containers that can hold a little more the 1 days worth of food. A 5 gallon bucket worked great for our 50+ flock.

Day 1

Fill one bucket with a little less then halfway with chicken feed. Then add filtered water about a few inches from the lid and cover loosly.

Day 2

Fill the 2nd bucket with a little less then halfway with chicken feed. Add filtered water about a few inches from the lid and cover loosly. Place behind Container 1

Day4

Repeat the process and place in the back of the line. Use bucket 1 to feed to your chickens then continue to rotate from oldest bucket as feed for your chickens.

Sidenote: a loose lid stops flys and prevents the feed from overflowing or exploding out of the bucket

Chicken FAQ

There are so many! The main objectives for picking birds where if the laid enough eggs and if they were docile or good companions to be around kids. My favorite right now is the Lavender Orpington’s. They are such a sweet bird to have around the farm. Check out the list here!

Great question! Chickens do thrive in open pasture and space in a coop can save your birds from being picked on so I have a full blog post, Click here!

Keeping those babies warm is pretty simple but the temperatures will start out warmer at first then they will progress to needing less every week find out more here!

Raising meat chickens is a shorter faster process if you go for the cornish cross or rainbow rangers variety. Personally we went with a heritage breed because life gets busy, and being on a clock with birds that would decline didn’t sound as appealing. More here!