Our neighbors have free range chickens I love to go visit. Their children are the caretakers and on my first visit to see the chickens they called them in from the field. Before I knew it, a large flock of chickens with wings flapping were running towards me and I began to wonder... should chickens come to Bryn Du Farm?
We have been high desert farming in the foot hills for several years and I have gone slow in getting our systems in place. The flock of Jacob Sheep has settled into a yearly pattern and the land is supporting them. Horses are friends with the sheep and both graze together. So this spring I started looking for a breed of chicken that could do well in our environment. I went to the American Livestock Breed Conservancy and discovered the Buckeye Chicken that has almost disappeared and is in need of help. The Buckeye Chicken was developed in Warren Ohio by Mrs. Nettie Metcalf in the late 1800's. She wanted a chicken that would continue to lays eggs well in cold or hot weather, that's our environment. They are also people friendly and the roosters are not aggressive. Yay!
I then started calling around the country and found a breeder who has been breeding them since 1957, he knew the lines and could help in breeding them in the future to preserve the breed. My next adventure was to decide to have live chicks shipped or to hatch them from eggs...
I decided after finding an amazing incubator, to hatch them from eggs, it takes 21 days. I will keep you posted when the time arrives. The baby chicks bond with you first thing, so I am going to be a mom once more in a new way.
Oh, and did I tell you, they chase mice!
~ Deb
P.S. Don't forget to enter our current book giveaway: Audubon Guide to Landscape Photography!
*Last time in Barn Stories: Sleeping Giants 2
