Since we got our first chickens in June 2011, we've added even more. The first of September we got 8 new chicks: 4 Araucanas, 2 Easter Eggers, 1 Welsummer and 1 Light Brown Leghorn. Then I decided I wanted to try hatching. I acquired eggs from a nearby breeder, shipped eggs from two different breeders on eBay and shipped eggs from a hatchery. Out of 23 eggs, we had 15 hatch around the first of October: 2 Light Brown Leghorns, 5 Welsummers, 1 Gold Laced Wyandotte, 1 Barred Rock, 2 Blue Rocks, 2 Rhode Island Red, 1 Rhode Island Red/New Hampshire Red, and 1 Easter Egger.
That gives us a total of 30 chickens. Once the most recent two flocks grow a little more and we figure out which ones are boys and which ones are girls, we will re-home most of the roosters - keeping only the ones we want to breed.
We will work on developing the following breeds: Araucana, Swedish Flower Hen, Chocolate Orpingtons. We may add Light Brown Leghorns, too, in order to have a full range of egg colors. Our emphasis, for at least the beginning, will be on Araucanas and Chocolate Orpingtons.
A Middle Tennessee farm dedicated to living closer to nature and becoming more self-sustaining
Monday, November 7, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Chickens
We have seven chickens - all pullets. They were hatched on February 15, 2011. We bought them from Wedge Oak Farm in Lebanon, TN on Tuesday, June 14th. Here they are in their coop and run.
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We have Abby, Annabel and Ariel - They are Easter Eggers and will lay some shade of blue or green eggs. They were listed as "true Araucanas" but they are far from true Araucanas. Lots of people call any chicken that carries the blue egg gene an Araucana. However, these look nothing like an Araucana. I'm eager to see what color eggs they each will lay. Abby and Annabel are very similar in markings. Ariel has more gold and brown in her feathers.
Here's Ariel:
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Rosemary - the New Hampshire Red. Rosemary is the friendliest. Each time I walk out to the coop, she is there to greet me, and she watches everything I do. She even lets me pet her - very briefly - at times. Rosemary will lay a light brown egg.
Blackie - the Jersey Giant. Blackie's feathers are beautiful. They're black with some greenish-purplish iridescence to them. Really lovely. Blackie will also lay a light brown egg.
Oreo - the Ancona. Oreo is black with white spots. We hadn't planned on getting Oreo since she lays white eggs. However, Lily and Sophie went with us to get the chickens, and they loved the white/black pattern. So we got seven pullets instead of six. Oreo is the smallest of the 7 chickens, but she is definitely at the top of the pecking order! She will come up to one of the others, stretch her neck out and bristle out her neck feathers. She looks quite intimidating. Oreo is always the first to go up to the roost each night, too.
Willow - the Welsummer. Well, at least she is SUPPOSED to be a Welsummer. Welsummers lay those dark, chocolate-brown eggs. However, after I shared Willow's photo with some folks at the Backyard Chickens discussion board, they felt that she's actually an Easter Egger. Welsummers should have yellowish feet. Willow's feet are a dark slate color. So I will have to wait until she lays an egg. If it's dark brown - she's a Wellie. If she lays an egg that blue or green tinted, then she's an Easter Egger.
Here's Willow:
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Other breeds I'd like to have are French Black Copper Marans, Olive Eggers, true rumpless Araucanas, true Ameraucanas. I select chickens I want by the color of their eggs. I'd like to have a really wide assortment of egg colors. The French Black Copper Marans lay the darkest brown eggs, Olive Eggers are a cross between a Maran and and blue-egg layer - resulting in dark green (olive) eggs. And the true Araucanas and Ameraucanas lay the bright blue/turquoise eggs.
Since I've gotten these chickens, I've read a lot about raising them. My next endeavor is to try to hatch some eggs. Incubators are relatively inexpensive, and I'm anxious to raise some from chicks. "Hatching Eggs" can be bought fairly inexpensively. I could buy hatching eggs for the Black Copper Marans, the Araucanas and Ameraucanas. Then I've also thought of getting a rooster or two and trying to breed chicks.
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In the photo above, Oreo is the one farthest to the right. Behind her is Blackie. The red hen (third from the left) with the black tail is Rosemary.
The determining factors for whether or not I go into raising chicks and hatching eggs are: (1) maintaining my interest in raising chickens. I've become quite accustomed to being all excited about new projects - only to lose interest after a few months. Is this something I will continue to enjoy for years to come? (2) my ability to build a new coop . . . or have it built . . . or buy it. And (3) whether or not I'm successful with raising young chicks and then incubating eggs.
We have Abby, Annabel and Ariel - They are Easter Eggers and will lay some shade of blue or green eggs. They were listed as "true Araucanas" but they are far from true Araucanas. Lots of people call any chicken that carries the blue egg gene an Araucana. However, these look nothing like an Araucana. I'm eager to see what color eggs they each will lay. Abby and Annabel are very similar in markings. Ariel has more gold and brown in her feathers.
Here's Ariel:
Rosemary - the New Hampshire Red. Rosemary is the friendliest. Each time I walk out to the coop, she is there to greet me, and she watches everything I do. She even lets me pet her - very briefly - at times. Rosemary will lay a light brown egg.
Blackie - the Jersey Giant. Blackie's feathers are beautiful. They're black with some greenish-purplish iridescence to them. Really lovely. Blackie will also lay a light brown egg.
Oreo - the Ancona. Oreo is black with white spots. We hadn't planned on getting Oreo since she lays white eggs. However, Lily and Sophie went with us to get the chickens, and they loved the white/black pattern. So we got seven pullets instead of six. Oreo is the smallest of the 7 chickens, but she is definitely at the top of the pecking order! She will come up to one of the others, stretch her neck out and bristle out her neck feathers. She looks quite intimidating. Oreo is always the first to go up to the roost each night, too.
Willow - the Welsummer. Well, at least she is SUPPOSED to be a Welsummer. Welsummers lay those dark, chocolate-brown eggs. However, after I shared Willow's photo with some folks at the Backyard Chickens discussion board, they felt that she's actually an Easter Egger. Welsummers should have yellowish feet. Willow's feet are a dark slate color. So I will have to wait until she lays an egg. If it's dark brown - she's a Wellie. If she lays an egg that blue or green tinted, then she's an Easter Egger.
Here's Willow:
Other breeds I'd like to have are French Black Copper Marans, Olive Eggers, true rumpless Araucanas, true Ameraucanas. I select chickens I want by the color of their eggs. I'd like to have a really wide assortment of egg colors. The French Black Copper Marans lay the darkest brown eggs, Olive Eggers are a cross between a Maran and and blue-egg layer - resulting in dark green (olive) eggs. And the true Araucanas and Ameraucanas lay the bright blue/turquoise eggs.
Since I've gotten these chickens, I've read a lot about raising them. My next endeavor is to try to hatch some eggs. Incubators are relatively inexpensive, and I'm anxious to raise some from chicks. "Hatching Eggs" can be bought fairly inexpensively. I could buy hatching eggs for the Black Copper Marans, the Araucanas and Ameraucanas. Then I've also thought of getting a rooster or two and trying to breed chicks.
The determining factors for whether or not I go into raising chicks and hatching eggs are: (1) maintaining my interest in raising chickens. I've become quite accustomed to being all excited about new projects - only to lose interest after a few months. Is this something I will continue to enjoy for years to come? (2) my ability to build a new coop . . . or have it built . . . or buy it. And (3) whether or not I'm successful with raising young chicks and then incubating eggs.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Dogwood Trace Farm
We spent a lot of time coming up with a name for our farm. It's 90+ wooded acres in middle Tennessee. A river runs along one side of the property. There are steep hills and small cliffs. There's great farmland beside the river - the bottom land. We cleared land at the top of one of the hills to build our house and barn. We cleared more land beside the house to put in a small garden.
One of the first things we noticed when we first looked at the land was the number of dogwood trees. We took our time to lay out the 1/3 mile long driveway. We didn't deliberately plan for the driveway to follow a path of dogwood trees, but that's what happened. Since "trace" is another word for "trail" - and since we live quite close to the Natchez Trace, we felt that "Dogwood Trace" was both descriptive of our farm and included a local historic reference as well.
One of the first things we noticed when we first looked at the land was the number of dogwood trees. We took our time to lay out the 1/3 mile long driveway. We didn't deliberately plan for the driveway to follow a path of dogwood trees, but that's what happened. Since "trace" is another word for "trail" - and since we live quite close to the Natchez Trace, we felt that "Dogwood Trace" was both descriptive of our farm and included a local historic reference as well.
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