Chickens? Chickens!

As some of you may already know, Marv and I are well into our latest venture: chickens! We started out in late spring with just five older hens to get the feel for this type of farming. We liked it so much that we kept adding chicks and more chicks. Now, we have over 100 full grown chickens. We have Sexlinks, red, black, and amber, Barred Rocks, Silver Laced and Gold Laced Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, Australorps, and Aracaunas. Take a peek at the Chicken Photos page.

Sexlink chickens are crossbred birds and prolific egg layers.  Crossbreeding brings extra vigor. earlier maturity, and productivity.  Sexlink means that the color of the newly hatched chick is linked to gender, thus eliminating the task of finding out who is what.  It is a simple crossing of one parent with a dominant color gene with a parent with a recessive color gene.  Additionally, Sexlinks are showing great performance and adaptability to alternative housing conditions or living outdoors rather than in customary poultry houses.

One simple key to successful outdoor living is remaining fully feathered during the period of lay. A outdoor hen benefits from a little more body weight than an indoor bird. Body weight and condition help the bird retain warmth. What is the caveat? Bigger birds and colder environments mean more feed is consumed to just maintain the hen, or to produce a dozen eggs, which can be reduced by difficult weather. 

Why so many breeds? Any new venture is a study waiting to happen.  We certainly wouldn't miss an opportunity to capitalize on our own case studies. Want details? Find a moment and engage Marv in some data discussion and analysis!

Our chickens are laying hens - we gather almost seven dozen lovely brown eggs every day. We do have a few roosters, too. They are very handsome with their shiny, curly tail feathers and bright red combs and wattles. Their main job is to keep an eye out for tasty tidbits and flying menaces such as multiple raptor species living in the neighborhood. Chicken language is quite sophisticated, with different clucks and squawks, cheeps and chortles, and all having some significance to the chicken community.

After starting the chicks inside, our 'girls' now live in open coops, surrounded by a large area enclosed with poultry netting. They're out all day, even in the rain or snow, scratching for bugs, grazing the grass, and generally chasing around. We also feed them a wonderful non-soy, non-GMO feed from our local Bellingham feed company, Scratch and Peck, plus garden and vegetable scraps as treats.

Eggs? Eggs!

As I mentioned above, we gather almost seven dozen brown eggs daily. What do we do with all those eggs? Well, I was hoping you'd ask! We take the eggs to the Bellingham Farmers Market every Saturday, where we get a warm welcome from folks that love fresh eggs. We also have an egg CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with egg pickup at the market in Bellingham. This is a great way to ensure your supply of yummy farm fresh eggs, as members of this CSA program are guaranteed as many dozens of fresh eggs as desired on a weekly or every other week basis. This CSA program is on-going with sign-ups in monthly increments. Feel free to contact us if you would like additional information about getting fresh eggs by participating in our CSA.

Whatcom Locavore

Nancy Ging writes a weekly article for the Bellingham Herald featuring yummy recipes made from local Whatcom County foods. Check out Nancy's website with delicious recipes - some with Red Barn Lavender eggs! - and additional resources for local foods: Whatcom Locavore.