homestead chickens Archives - A Country Girl's Heart -Beats that Matter

March 7, 2022March 3, 2022

Choosing the Best Age of Your First Chickens

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I previously shared questions to ask as you decide on specific chicken breeds in the blog post titled What Chicken are Right for You. Today’s post takes you on the next step. When deciding on chickens that are for sale, there are 4 different growth stages to choose from, hatching eggs, chicks, juvenile or grow outs, and adult. Let’s examine different reasons you might choose from adult birds, hatching eggs, chicks or grow outs when choosing your first chickens.

Adult Birds: Choosing your First Chickens

There are a few reasons adult birds are the best options for your new chickens. By purchasing adult chickens, you will not need to wait for them to start laying. You will not need to feed them for the 4 to six months prior to beginning to lay. This, also, applies to birds you are raising for meat if they are heritage breeds.

The modern meat bird is ready to harvest as early as 2-3 months. Either way you will not need to invest the time to wait or the money to feed them. Do expect to pay a higher price for adult birds compared to juveniles or chicks to cover the fact the seller has invested the time and money (that you did not) to raise them.

Juvenile or Grow Outs

Some breeds cannot be easily sexed until 2 or 3 months of age. If you do not want a rooster, waiting for male or female characteristics to appear might be the best route for you. If sounds like you, there are still advantages to purchasing a juvenile over an adult.

If your chickens are your pets, you will be able to bond with them as they finish growing and will be able to decide what they are eating. Feed options such as organic, non-GMO, traditional, or even grow your own feed will be up to you. Raising them yourself allows them to have free range time and finish raising them to your standards. This is not to say that you cannot connect with a breeder that feeds chickens in a manner similar to yours, but that makes your search chickens a little more challenging.

Buying Baby Chickens for Your First Chicks

baby chicks are one option when choosing your first chickens

Purchasing chicks can be a bundle of fun. The cute, little fuzzy babies chirping and running around. When they have had enough of that, their little heads suddenly droop. They slowly lay down and sleep. Whether purchased locally or picking up at the local post office the fun of bringing them home and watching them grow up provides a bit of ole fashioned entertainment.

Other Considerations When Purchasing Chicks.

The act of shipping them through the mail can sometimes cause loss of life, even with the best of packing.
There often is a shipping charge in addition to the price of the chicks.
If you choose to stay local with your purchase, you will be limited to the local breeds of chickens for sale.
Chicks need a heat source until their first feathers grow in.
A brooder of some fashion is needed for chicks until they are old enough.

Hatching Eggs: Choosing Your First Chickens

Hatching your own chicks gives children the experience of seeing a new life develop. The lessons learned go a bit farther than sitting down at a desk and reading a science book. The hands on activity creates an environment where seeds of responsibility and discipline can be planted. The best part is watching a healthy chick pop out of its shell.

A word of truth here: As it is in all aspects of life, the genetic imperfections that fill our world may occur. As an example, a chick may not hatch all the way due to improper development. Or one may hatch, but it did not develop properly. This too is an excellent opportunity to teach a child the facts of disappointment and grief. As adults we know these are a part of life, and what a great time to teach a child how to deal with them in a manner that promotes healthy minds.

Best Option Hatching Eggs vs. Chicks?

Hatching eggs are less expensive vs. chicks. Do not expect every hatching egg to produce a chick. It would be an unusual case for all purchased hatching eggs to hatch. I do not always get a 100% hatch from eggs that travel no farther than from the barn to the house. If the eggs are shipped a general rule of thumb is 50% of the eggs will provide you with new baby chicks.

Let's look at the math for a minute. As an example, with shipping and the price of eggs you have $70 into 12 eggs. If you hatch 6 (50%), the price per chick would be $12. If the same breed of chicken cost $15 and you purchased 6 chicks, you would have spent $90 plus shipping. Congratulations you saved money! and had the fun of hatching. However, this is intended only as an example. The hatching result could go either way resulting in more or less chicks. This is where you decide the risk or chance you are most comfortable with.

In conclusion

Knowing your goals and resources will lay a foundation for choosing your first chickens.

Leave a comment, if you found this helpful and share which stage of a chicken’s life you have decided to purchase.

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February 28, 2022February 25, 2022

What Chickens are Right for You?

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There are many factors to consider when choosing what breed or breeds of chickens are right for your flock. That sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Your Flock. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when deciding what chicken breeds are right for you. You will also find brief corresponding points to aid in making your decisions.

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What are your goals for chickens?

Will your birds be your pets? Some have chickens merely for the food they provide. others enjoy them as a pet.

Do you plan to produce your own food with your chickens? You might want to choose a breed for its egg laying ability. Do you plan to raise them for meat? If so, there are breeds available whose fast-growing heavy muscle patterns make them ideal for eating.

Perhaps you intend to own chickens for both meat and eggs. There are wonderful heritage and dual-purpose breeds who lay a decent number of eggs and are delicious to eat. For example, the Silver Gray Dorkings raised here at CG Heartbeats Farm.

Click this link to learn more: https://www.dontclipmywings.com/silver-gray-dorking/

Do you plan to raise chicks? If so, you might want to include a breed known to go broody in your flock. Will you be raising chicks to a breed standard, a backyard Heinz 57 mix, or a little of both? There is no wrong answer, only what you prefer.

Do the breeds you want play well with others?

Some breeds are known to be more aggressive compared to other breeds. If you choose to own more than one breed, you will want to purchase breeds that are able to get along with each other. There will always be a pecking order among chickens. One hen will rule the others. There will be one below her in the domination order. Each hen will have a place in the line down to the lowest.

Do you want more than one breed?

A flock of mixed breeds can be a beautiful thing. The beauty of a dozen different colored eggs may make the decision for you. Many find joy in seeing blue, green, different shades of brown eggs and even eggs with a pink tint. The diversity of backyard chicken breeds provide a wonderful way to enjoy owning birds.

Do you want more tips and fun group challenges? Join the Facebook group Hatching Eggs, Ideas, and Homesteading Practices

Should your birds be vaccinated?

To vaccinate or not vaccinate is a personal choice based on several different factors.

Desire to raise chickens completely natural
Comfort level with the risk of loosing some birds
Desire to have eggs and possibly meat from birds that were not vaccinated
Allowing for the survival of the fittest
Belief that vaccinating will stop disease from spreading (It has been proven to slow down the spread in the last century.)
Over all sustainability of the environment.
Loss of money due to loss of birds

Some breeders vaccinate all chicks, some do not, and others leave the choice up to the buyer. If you are purchasing older birds and have strong feelings one way or the other about vaccination, make sure to inquire before purchasing. That goes for any age bird, truthfully.

How many chickens do you want?

This decision will depend in part on how much land you have available. Other factors include the goals that you have decided on. If you are breeding chickens, chances are you will have more chickens than an average backyard flock. If you live on a lot in town, the number you can have will be limited to the size of the coop that fits in your space. In general, there should be 3 to 5 square feet per bird in a coop and 8 to 10 in a run. If chickens are kept in coop 24/7 the square footage would need to larger per bird.

Understand that this can vary depending on the size and breed of chicken. Still, this gives you an idea to base the number of chickens you want to own. Perhaps you live in the country and want to sell farm fresh eggs locally, you may want 50, 100 or even more.

Will your flock include a rooster?

Depending on where you live, roosters may not be allowed due to the loud crowing they are bound to exclaim as morning dawns. I personally enjoy hearing my roosters crow early in the morning.

A rooster is needed if you intend to hatch chicks to fertilize the eggs. A hen will lay eggs without a rooster, so if you certainly do not need one for a hen to lay eggs. Will your first

Do you plan to free range your flock?

Traits of a chicken that does well free ranging include high awareness of predators, ability to fly, and of course scratch and look for food. Some breeds are known to be better as a free-range bird then others.

Another factor that influences free ranging abilities is the environment in which they are raised. If you choose to free range your flock, expect to have some loss of life. The advantages and disadvantages are yours to weigh.

One more thought is that if you have close neighbors with dogs, or even not so close this seems to be another disadvantage to free ranging birds. Even if you choose to keep your chickens in a pen of some sort that does not entire reduce the risk of loss from a predator.

How many eggs do you consume on a daily or weekly basis?

Different breeds of chickens are known for how many eggs they produce a day. In recent years, chicken breeds have been developed that are known to be the best for laying eggs, (laying highest number of eggs in the shortest amount of time). These often lay best in the first year, but after that the number falls of drastically.

Heritage breeds of chickens tend to lay less eggs each year but have longevity to produce eggs for several years. Does the idea of supporting heritage breeds appeal to you? Or perhaps the desire for large numbers of eggs in a shorter amount of time works best for your goals.

In Conclusion

Know what your goals are. Use these questions to decide what chickens are right for you. Decide what is most important for you. Have fun and try new breeds. Maybe there is not a chicken breed that fits your requirements. If you are up to the challenge, you may decide to create your own breed. I have. See the post titled Introducing the Lemon Flower Chicken Breed. Click below

Introducing the Lemon Flower Chicken Breed

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February 22, 2022February 23, 2022

Put Your Chickens to Work on the Homestead

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Chickens offer two readily known assets to a homestead in producing eggs and meat. I have found a third use for chickens here on CG Heartbeats Farm. While I am likely not the first to do so, in this post I share how I have put chickens to work on the homestead.

Humble Beginnings

One of my frustrations early on in this journey was a desire to garden, but no good way to bust up the sod which has a fantastic root system. I wanted to turn parts of the yard into garden space as long as 2 or 3 years. I started looking for little ways to begin producing some of my own food and here is where that journey has taken me so far.

Originally, I used broken buckets to grow sweet potatoes and pots to grow peppers, and tomatoes. The first year I had the best success with the sweet potatoes and from that soil, created a small container garden. I also utilized a part of one the flower beds which for years, I hardly kept the grass at bay. My garlic journey began with 18 cloves of garlic in 2016 with 3 varieties. Fast forward 5 years later, I have around 600 cloves planted in 8 varieties. I no longer use the flower garden. Now I am able to use other areas, thanks to the work of chickens.

Looking Back

As a part of using what I had in the form of dog kennel panels, I set up first one 10 x 10 and an additional 5 x 5 off the side of the 10 x10 pen. These were covered in a netting that we had purchased in a roll and a part of that roll remains. These pens were placed in an area where I wanted to create garden space. In the fall of 2018, the chickens had sufficiently killed off the sod in the 5 x 5 pen.

How did I know this you might wonder? There was almost no visible grass or roots sticking up in this pen. A few stray root tops near the surface along a piece of wood was about all I could see from the surface. Simply put, it had a look of bare ground.

I moved the 3 panels to a different side of the 10 x 10 pen. In this new location, more sod could be removed by the chickens.

Back to the spot where the pen had been. My next step was to take a spade to this area and turn the dirt over. At this time, I also found and removed any remaining roots I could find. There were a few, but certainly not the number that would have been present had I randomly picked this spot in the yard and tried to start digging up the grass. I have done that before when planning grapes and black raspberries and it proved to be a bit difficult for my current physical state.

Sustainable Gardening Ideas

With the ground prepared, I used this area to plant the Music garlic variety and has a mild, sweet flavor that I find pleasing. It has been a bit of a trial for me being the first time I had planted garlic in this area of the farm. Knowing this spot also contained a sandy subsoil same as where I planted garlic before in a garden near the house, I felt confident planting one variety in this location. Adding hay chaff and eventually wood chips are a practice for garlic I am raising. Both could be considered a waste product, but not if I am looking for ways to be sustainable. Since I don’t like weeding and I love the benefits of chaff and woodchips as a method to cover the soil.

Early Spring 2019 the garlic garden in the flower bed

Early spring 2019 the Music variety of garlic is growing nicely in the new bed

Recalling the Spring of 2019

Spring of 2019 rolled around and proved it was indeed excellent for garlic. It is doing every bit as well as in the other location where it is planted on CG Heartbeats Farm.

Here the chicken pens are moved to a new location. The patch of dirt is where the pens were previously located.

In March I was itching for the 3^rd week of April to arrive for that was the week I planned to move all the current panels to a new nearby location. Here the chickens would have fresh ground and I would have another garden plot. I am finding I like the idea of having different plots around on the farm instead of one large garden area. I think it adds character, reduces wind and water erosion, and in time with some flowers mixed in, beauty. It may provide a way to rotate crops in different areas, a sustainable practice.

Julie is running the roto tiller. She has a growing flower business, Blooms on 800.

I had started heritage tomato seeds indoors and looked forward to planning them outside in this new garden space. My excitement helped energize me for the task. No sooner than the new pens set up we had 5 inches of rain in about a week’s time. That put a damper on the progress.

Help from a Friend

I learned to know Julie last year at while attending the markets. She has proved to be a continued encouragement to me. She had earlier offered to bring her tiller over and work the ground for me, saving me the work with a spade. This past Monday that day finally arrived.

Feeling excited to see the progress made, I proceeded to plant the tomatoes that day. What I cannot share in a picture or quite in words was the smell. I will only say that ground did NOT smell like roses. Julie, in her encouraging way, said, “You will have the biggest tomatoes around.” This in response to my comment about the bad smell.

Now that tomatoes are planted and covered due to the forecasted temps in the low thirties and I will continue to leave the cover on until the weather has warmed. These ‘covers’ are the tops of apple cider vinegar and milk jugs, an example of ways to re-propose materials otherwise considered trash. (#usewhatyouhave) This project has cost me little to nothing. Perhaps even saved me a small amount as it provided a natural food source for the chickens while they lived outside. I did, of course, feed them additional food.

Tomatoes planted with room for additional plants, perhaps corn and beans? Notice in this picture I have already added hay chaff to cover the ground. Wood chips will be added, also.

Continuing the Progress

Over the last 2.5 years I have continued putting the chickens to work on the homestead creating additional garden space. I am getting close to creating a garden entrance and fencing a portion of the garden.

Garlic and onions are currently planted in a 10 foot by 36-foot garden where chicken pens sat in 2020. Eventually a portion of this space will be home to an additional row of grape vines.

The garlic and onion garden for the 2022 harvest. Pictured here in the fall of 2021 shortly after
planting. This is one of several current garden spaces. Notice I had just started to put hay chaff on.

The vision of the gardens I am creating has developed slowly over the last few years. To be honest, it will likely continue to be modified as time goes by.

I am looking forward to adding flower bulbs against a fence line. Last fall I planted 2 Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees, one in each outside corner of where the fence will be. How are you using what you have?

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April 17, 2020April 17, 2020

Hatching Baby Chicks

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Do you know what you need to hatch your own baby chicks? If not, read on. If items you will need may be obvious, may I encourage you to give thought to a few details when preparing to incubate chicken eggs.

4 Items to Hatch Baby Chicks

Hatching Eggs
Egg Candler
Incubator
Brooder (for chicks after they hatch)

Hatching Eggs

Yes, to hatch chicks you need hatching eggs. I am sure you all are aware. Let’s consider, for a minute, where you will get chicken eggs.

4 Places to Obtain Fertile Hatching Eggs

Hatcheries
Private Breeders
Local Private Breeders
From your own Chickens

Hatcheries

Commercial operations often offer many different breeds to choose from, both hatching eggs and chicks. If you are looking for a variety to hatch, here is where you often get the most choices. Sometimes the quality of the breed may not be top notch as hatcheries often go for quantity over quality. If you are not planning to show your birds, or breed your birds to a breed standard and want a pretty back yard flock, consider this option.

Private Breeders

Private breeders offer a smaller selection of breeds., but there may be several to choose from. Another option is ordering from different smaller breeders. This can be coordinated so that the hatching eggs arrive at the same time.

Local Private Breeders

If you find a local private breeder producing the breed of chicken you are looking for, you will not have to have your eggs shipped. This should potentially should increase the number of chicks hatched. Shipping hatching eggs can reduce the viability. The local breeder hopefully will package the eggs similar to if they were shipping them. Even a car ride can cause the eggs to be shaken up a bit.

From your own chickens

If you have a rooster, most likely you will have fertile eggs, needed to hatch chicken eggs. It is possible for a rooster to be infertile, but if so, you have the option to find a different rooster. The way to find if your rooster is fertilizing eggs is incubate them.

If you would like to learn more about hatching chicken eggs amd other homesteading practices consider joining the Facebook group, Hatching Eggs, Ideas, and Homesteading Practices.

NOTE: This page or post contains affiliate links. When you click and make a purchase I earn a portion of the money you spend at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support.

Incubator

Incubators imitate a broody hen to the best of technologies ability. There are many to choose from in today’s market. Some are produced in the USA and others are imported. Incubators come with different prices tags and corresponding functions. Often the more automated the process the higher the price. Particular brands carry a higher price, but with that comes an expectation of superior performance.

If you are interested in hatching a large number of eggs at one time as in hundreds, investing in a cabinet incubator may be the route you choose to go.

Features of Incubators: Air quality, humidity, and turning the eggs are all critical for proper incubation.

Fans

Forced air meaning an incubator has a fan moving the air around in the incubator. This feature promotes incubator air to be a consistent temperature throughout. It also pulls in air from any available air vents.

Humidity

The humidity levels are controlled by adding water. Tools are available to automate that process. Or another feature may be a exterior port to add water so the incubator does not need to be opened when adding water. A hen will generally get off her next one time per day so I am not convinced that opening a lid to add water is a terrible detriment to hatching success. In fact, there is a newer incubator on the market that can be programmed to intentionally cool the eggs one time a day.

Turners

A tray attached to a motor will turn eggs for you. If an incubator does not have an automatic turner you are responsible for turning the eggs approximately 6 times a day. Many incubators can be fitted with a turner. However, a draw back is the number of eggs that can be fit into the incubator at one time. As an example, one of the incubators I use is set to turn around 9 eggs, but I can fit around 25 eggs with out the turner

Egg Candler

From setting the eggs to trouble shooting a hatch once it has ended, an egg candler with be most useful. When I started I used a bright small flashlight and went to a light marketed for the sole purpose of candling eggs. I am all about using what you have and when I started a small bright flashlight was what I had. A candler plugs into an outlet instead of using batteries as a small flashlight would. I now use a small bright flashlight once again. I have at times used the light on my phone. If you are interested in saving money, use what you have on hand.

Brooder with Food and Water

Once a chick hatches and dries, they will need to move into a brooder. Brooders come in different forms, material and shapes. On a homestead they often are a product of using what one has available and develop out of creativity. There are commercial brooders that can be purchased at stores. They all serve the same purpose, to provide dry shelter, heat, food, water, and protection from predators.

Newly hatched chicks need to be provided with a heat source of 95 degrees in a shelter safe from predators. Dry clean bedding, clean fresh water, and chick starter should be in place near the heat source. The temperature in the room needs to be a match for the heat source. A pen that meets the above criteria will qualify as a brooder. What creative ideas have you seen, thought of and possibly used for a brooder? Leave a comment below.

Purchase now and receive the E-book, Plan Your Hatch as a bonus.

The course content is already available with additional videos, resources, and printables to be added soon. Begin today!

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August 29, 2019August 30, 2019

Homestead Diary ~ Week 4

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Last weeks post left off not knowing the outcome of 2 hatches, one in an incubator and the other under a broody hen.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

I woke up and of course the hatching process was on my mind. I noticed right away that one of the eggs had pipped and a couple others were moving around. Outside, I found the broody hen off the nest, but it looked like she had sat on the eggs during the night. As the day progressed I observed her sitting in a different spot in the tank and moved the eggs underneath her. I continued checking the incubator throughout the day finding no changes. I also noted absolutely no signs of life from the pipped egg. Rather early to have given up life, I thought. There is always that case where development malfunctioned. One last check of the broody hen for the night found her sitting on the eggs with her head raised, looking down as if listening to noises underneath her. Back inside toward 9 pm I noticed one of the other eggs were pipped too and it was not one of the ones I seen moving earlier. I tapped on the side of the Janoel 12 incubator and to my happy surprise I seen the chick was alive after all.

Friday, August 23, 2019

No progress from that first chick that pipped over night. When I went out to the barn, I checked on the broody hen. She was NOT on her eggs, again. I looked down into the tank where I had placed the eggs. Oh, what is this? One of the eggs was pipped and partially zipped and cold. I quickly checked the other egg. It was cold and pipped. Both little chicks were weakly chirping. I fired that hen on the spot! Into the house and into the incubator they went. To her credit, I had moved her only a few days before they were due to hatch. This may have upset her and distressed her enough to not sit. Or perhaps some other reason in her chicken mind was the root. Whatever her reason, I trust next time she goes broody, the outcome will be better.

I snapped a quick picture of the two eggs that were cold, but pipped before taking them into place in the incubator.

The first Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner/Swedish Flower Hen chick hatched on Friday in the incubator. I placed a black band on the chicks leg to note that is was one of cross breed chicks while I had the incubator covered to place the 2 eggs from the barn in. I felt pretty excited about this chick. This makes the first LCN hen produced egg to hatch a chick. I am looking forward to getting Clinch and Cisco in with hens in a couple months. That first chick to pip Thursday morning showed no progress by Friday night. When I starting to remove a part of the shell of the crossbred chick produced blood. I stopped and put it back into the incubator for the night.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Culver Farmer’s Market takes place on Saturday. If you recall from last weeks diary post, I missed to attend a family reunion that actually took place this Saturday. After a bit of internal debate, I chose to go to the reunion for real this day.

First a hatching update: I found 5 chicks in the incubator Saturday morning. Disappointed I missed the hatching of one of the eggs I brought in from the barn, I knew I needed my sleep the night before. On the other hand my earlier fears of not locking the eggs down early enough turned out unfounded. That egg that had pipped on Thursday morning still unhatched along with one egg I had brought in from the barn. I helped the SFH chick out and the LCN/SFH cross chick. I placed a white band on the SFH chick and a black one on the crossbred chick. Certain hatches I interchange the colors and make notes. Other times I use a certain color based on what pen the chick came from.

The family had started going through the 2 or 3 tables of food when we arrived. Delicious dishes of home cooked and some homegrown food provided more options than one could try. The theme of the gathering this year celebrated 100 years since the 2 that started this family married. We laughed and shared a few tears while remembering and watching a skit. Actor portraited telling of the memories our ancestors might share if they were alive with us today. Basically, a timeline of the family. I learned a few new facts that along with the visit to the Stonehouse had me thinking a bit deeper about myself.

Looking over the chicks in the incubator Saturday night. I noticed the crossbreed chick, the first to pip on Thursday morning, did not stand due to leg issues. I felt beat, sad and exhausted. I worked with a it and left it sort of propped against the side of the incubator. I shut the bathroom light off, hoping the chick would be stable there with no stimulation. It is probably going to die, I thought.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

I completely expected the yellow chick I had helped out of the egg that had been pipped since Thursday morning to be dead. I opened the incubator, what? No dead chick. What? All are on their feet? I counted 7. Oh, what a happy surprise. That Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner/Swedish Flower Hen chick was going to make it!!

I am going to title Sunday a day of rest that turned challenging. A nice slow start to the day that included a late breakfast out with Brian. I moved the newly hatched chicks to the barn. I started the process of cleaning the incubator and returned the top part to the house. Except I found myself locked out. Brian had left for his afternoon plans. Inside of the house was my car keys, cell phone, insulin and gluecometer. Unexpected opportunity to practice my homesteading survial skills. Now yes, I could have walked to a neighbors and called him, but I had changed into a ratty old shirt that sported holes where they should NOT be. No way, was I showing up dressed this way. One of those old-fashioned habits I guess, I have chore/working clothes and good clothes. The chore clothes become rags before they completely disappear. This particular shirt was overdue for the rag bin, but perfect for hot weather. I worked on feeding chickens, took a nap in a chair I had packed in my car, and evaluated exactly what tools might make this easier. I figured I would need to eat. I knew I kept a knife in the car and when I went to get it, I found a salt and pepper packet. Oh, best tasting tomato ever. I ate it sitting out near the chicken pens. I had found a pack of smarties in the car and they disappeared quickly. I ate a crab apple and for dessert I picked wild grapes and ate a few of them. Well I wasn’t going to die. I worked on PM horse chores, I could tell by the where the sun was in the sky it was getting late enough for that. Turned out I was locked out of the house for over 5 hours. Now might not seem too bad and looking back it wasn’t.

Chatting with a sister later, I remarked how dependent I really am on certain conveinances. Maybe I need a few more sessions of roughing it, but preferably NOT locked out of my house.

Note: Going forward a day or two, the Lord showed me how even in those hours of being locked out of the house, I tended to give thought to how could independently survive vs. depend on His guidance. All these beautiful lessons on a journey called life.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Rain! Rain! Sums up todays weather.

Am chores, laundry, writing, and online work filled up much of my day. I need several hours, maybe be even 2 days to catch up on cleaning and moving chickens around into pens. With cold weather season around the corner, I start giving thought to organizing breed pens for next year and cutting down on numbers for the winter.

I stop here for Week 4 on a Monday. Look for the remainder of August diary entries to be out the beginning of next week (Week 5). Do you like these types of posts? I would love to hear your thoughts on if you as a reader would like to see them continue or not? Please leave a comment below or send me an email. Click on email to go to a form that will send me an email. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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March 8, 2019March 8, 2019

Catskill Homesteader Chickens

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This is a guest post by Maria from Paradise in Disguise Hobby Farm about how she came up with her own chicken breed for her homestead. Her breed is not official in any books, but rather this is the story of a lady breeding for traits that are important to her. Read one way she has made homesteading her own. Be sure to check her bio at the end of this post.

I met Maria of Country Girl Heart Beats Farm on Instagram due to a #catskillhomesteaderchickens hashtag that I use to tag photos of the “landrace type” chickens I’ve been breeding for over 5 years. A conversation started and she invited me to write on her blog about my chickens.

This journey to create a landrace started in 2012 with a broody Easter Egger hen named Daisy and a nest of eggs. One of the resulting chicks grew up to be a handsome rooster I named Michael Jessie. I had wanted to try breeding my own red & black sexlinks with pea or rose combs for our cold winters in Upstate New York, but Michael Jessie and his father, a Blue Andalusian, changed those “plans”.

I realized that while I loved trying all different breeds, each one had pros/cons. And it seemed like the plain looking ones laid the best and the prettiest ones were slackers in the egg department. Through trial and error, plus “research” on Back Yard Chickens forum, I learned the basics of breeding, even though much information was pertaining to pure breeds.

In 2013, I purchased a Genesis 1588 incubator, more broody hens hatched chicks & I quickly become hooked on incubating eggs! “Chicken math” became a reality as my chicken population doubled during that summer, though many were roosters which ended up in our freezer.

It wasn’t until the spring 2014 that I began to formulate goals for breeding. Eye appeal was at the top of the list, along with good egg and meat production. Not only did I want colorful chickens, but colorful eggs too! It was also important that they be excellent foragers and not just stand by the feeder all day or constantly preening to look perfect. The other goal was the produce winter hardy chickens that didn’t need heat, weren’t afraid to go outside in the snow and continued laying through winter (except for when molting). I wanted hardy, independent chickens that didn’t need to be “pampered”, but were self-sufficient, adapting to their environment and reproducing on their own, hatching and raising offspring like they were created to do. Basically, I wanted to create the “perfect chicken” or at least what I considered to be “perfect”!
Things like uniform feather color, leg color, comb type, body type, consistent egg color, clean or feathered shanks – they weren’t a factor. Thus, Catskill Homesteaders could never be a recognized “breed”.

One important lesson I learned in 2013 was I had a handsome Golden Laced Wyandotte rooster, who was a “runt” as a chick, very slow to feather, but was a favorite because he was very docile and handsome. Unfortunately, his offspring either had a deformity, were also runts or failed to thrive before maturity. There was only one pullet that I kept for breeding, though I wouldn’t have if I knew what I know now. Lesson learned: only breed the very best, even if they’re a favorite!

At that time, I also had several Red Sex Link hens which I hatched from, thinking it’d give me great layers. However, every hen crossed with the RSL ended up having reproductive issues, so they were eventually eliminated from the breeding stock.

Breeding group #1

David, rooster of group #1. His father was a Freedom Ranger Rooster

I also experimented with some Freedom Ranger (slower growing meat hybrids) that were raised by Daisy the broody hen and were very active despite their large size. The 3 FRs (1 too, 2 hens) were crossed with other breeds. I got several generations of crosses from their offspring, though their influence in the present stock is very minimal. But again health issues presented themselves due to them not being bred for longevity. The FR rooster began to have trouble walking around 7 months old and was culled & the two hens died of what I think was CHF/ fluid around the heart. The FR rooster’s son also developed leg issues but not until well past a year old. The FRx hens lived several years before being rehomed & didn’t have any issues I was aware of. One of the great-great-granddaughters of the FRs did become an internal layer/ very fatty after she was 18 months old. So while I considered those crosses a success, long-term the resulting Freedom Ranger offering tended to also inherit some of the shorter lifespan and reproductive issues common with “commercial production hybrids”.

My goal wasn’t to produce the best layers or best meat chickens, but ones that could lay eggs over a longer period of time even if not as frequently, while the extra roosters and spent hens would provide meat.

Both Swedish Flower Hens and Icelandic chickens were part of my inspiration for breeding more of a landrace type vs standard breed. I loved all the individual variations within one flock. I had actually considered getting Icelandic chickens, but they didn’t meet two of my most important goals – colorful eggs and decent meat production. I had also found a lady in Arizona who was breeding “Aloha” chickens which I thought were so cool! But she was breeding them to withstand over 100 degrees in the summer, not the below zero temperatures in winter we can have. I even tried breeding pure Swedish Flower Hens and Bielefelders for a few years, thinking they’d be close enough to my goals to satisfy. But I ran into inbreeding issues due to purchasing stock that was unknowingly too closely related. Yet when I crossed them with unrelated chickens, their offspring had great vigor.
Some of the other original breeds I originally used, now have little or no trace in the current flock. They included Rhode Island White, Partridge Rock, Partridge Chantecler and Dominique, with the later two being more instrumental in the original “foundation” stock.

Would I do thing differently if I had to do it over? Oh yes! The main thing is I wouldn’t use hatchery chickens, but purchase the foundation breeds from quality breeders. The only exception being Michael Jessie, as he sired chicks until 2017!

As the years progressed, I outcrossed to better quality, sometimes rare breeds, including Bielefelders, Barnevelders, Buckeye/Buff Orp/EE cross, Swedish Flower Hen and a few others. But, it does takes more work and time to breed for “better quality” than if I’d started with breeder quality chickens at the beginning.

The challenge now is having enough space for all the breeding groups I want to have!

Not only do I have stunningly handsome Catskill Homesteader roosters, but I also have out-cross roosters that I want to use. They include an Olive Egger (Marans/EE), Gold Spangled Spitzhauben, Crested Cream Legbar, Blue Wheaton Ameraucana and a Birchen Marans. Except for a few pure or 2-breed cross hens, the hens are multiple generations from the original chickens or even the previous out-crosses.

Am I pleased with the progress I’ve made in 6 years of “actively” breeding them? Yes. Of course there’s always room for improvement and fine tuning, but any breeder will say that.

But now, when people ask me what their characteristics are, I reply:
Locally adapted, winter hardy, “eye candy” dual purpose chickens who are great foragers, lay a wide variety of colorful eggs and will often hatch and raise their own chicks. To me, that’s what a “perfect” chicken looks like!

About the Author:

Maria lives on 0.6 acres with her brother Joel in Delaware County, New York, where she breeds, hatches and raises Catskill Homesteader Chickens. During summer months she raises meat turkeys. She has a few quail and hopes to add more this year.

She juggles working two part-time jobs at the Heart of the Catskills Humane Society and Mandy’s Farm, which consists of yaks, pigs, sheep, donkeys, poultry & 2 barn cats.

She also has a food waste collection service @delhicommunitycompost, which she is in the process of making into a business. Mix in trying to maintain the house and batch cooking a week’s worth of meals on Tuesday evenings, boredom isn’t in her vocabulary

Maria writes on her own blog titled Paradise in Disguise Hobby Farm. She has two Facebook pages Catskill Homestead Chickens and Paradise in Disguise Hobby Farm.

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January 23, 2019October 25, 2019

Why Pick Swedish Flower Hens

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A conversation with a friend a few years ago had me thinking seriously about owning chickens. I was looking for ways to use what I had. On the homestead stood a 30 by 60 chicken barn with a fairly new roof thanks to my spouse. It served a place to store hay and many other items. We called it the shop. I begin looking at chickens online. I came across a picture of a hen that reminded me of a pet chicken my sister and I had as a child. We called her Debbie. A bit of research and I learned the breed of the chicken I had seen Swedish Flower Hens. The practical side of me held back wanting to learn other characteristics of the breed besides being pretty.

What I Learned

Swedish Flower Hens(SFH) came to the United States in 2010 and have been imported at least 4 more times since. This has allowed for a decent size gene pool to work with as a breeder. I have always enjoyed the process of breeding and genetics no matter the species. In the 1970’s SFH’s were found in 3 villages in Sweden. At that time, they were the only ones in existence in the whole world. They are considered a landrace breed similar to a wild mustang or the Chincoteaque ponies where the breed developed on its own. A natural selection process in which the healthiest birds survived and the ones who escaped the cook’s pot. In that manner, humans did intervene to some extent by culling (cooking) the birds of their choice. That would of course remove a bird from further reproducing of said bird’s genetic makeup. However, who is to say if that bird had already reproduced and the line carried on? Swedish Flower Hens developed over years of old from different breeds brought into Sweden.

This breed has a 20% broody rate among hens according to documents from Sweden, but certain breeders in the United States have seen a larger percentage in their flock. There is not a Standard of Perfection (SOP) for this breed, as they are a landrace breed. In the United States, many enjoy showing their chickens. There are certain traits found undesirable for the show ring that do not affect a chicken’s ability to survive in the wild. An example would be a sprig on a comb. The breeding goals of those who raise SFH’s are almost as diverse as the bird itself. Some who raise this breed in the United States work to eliminate springs in the gene pool. Why you might ask? Springs are undesirable in the show ring. Others freely breed those birds who demonstrate this trait or the ability to pass on sprigs on combs. For this reason, I have posted my Swedish Flower Hen breeding goals at CG Heartbeats Farm for this gorgeous breed.

This breed is known for being an egg laying breed over a meat bird. They do not carry a heavy muscle compared to the Silver Gray Dorking, for example. It has been said they are better stew birds. I have eaten roosters that were harvested at 5 months of age. The meat was not tough, and had good flavor. I am certain how it was cooked also played a part. I read the hens lay through the winter and mine have proven that to be true, even when temps are down around 0 degrees. I have not documented the number of eggs specific hens laid in a year, I have read the numbers are 150 to 200 eggs per year. They do not, of course lay through a molt.

I read Swedish Flower Hens tend to demonstrate disease resistance, but not a specific disease they were resistant to. They have certainly proved to be a fertile breed. Not only here at CG Heartbeats Farm, but for other breeders as well.

My first Swedish Flower Hen chicks. I drove 3 hours one way to pick them up. Might be I was well on my way to becoming a crazy chicken lady. I was hooked,

The more I read about them, the more I learned, I wanted to purchase this breed!!! In May of 2016, I purchased 13 chicks, driving 3 hours to pick up them up(pictured above). I was well on my way to earning the title of crazy chicken lady. I remember the excitement as I drove home and the feeling of starting a new adventure. I continue to learn about this breed and chickens in general. All a part of my homesteading journey, I even took a class to become a NPIP tester in the state of Indiana.

Colors of Swedish Flower Hens

The beautiful color variation in the SFH breed often draws a person’s attention, as they did me. The flowery appearance creates a bouquet of beauty in the chicken yard. I have repeatedly seen questions about the colors of SFH’s. My goal is to provide picture examples to clarity these different color patterns. This is not an in-depth article on color genetics, but rather a picture guide. If you would like your own printable PDF containing more pictures and examples consider signing up for the newsletter. As a thank you, the PDF on SFH colors is yours to keep. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Black, blue and splash make up the 3 base colors of Swedish Flower Hens. The secondary color can present in various ways, but one factor remains the same the tips of the feathers should be white giving these birds an appearance of a flower. Hence their name. Mille fleur, and snoleopard are secondary colors, if you will. They may present themselves on different base colors such as a black based snow leopard verses a blue based snow leopard. The same is true for all the base colors and secondary colors. To make it super confusing they don’t always present the exact same way. Both pictured are snoleopard, but the first is blue base and the second is black base.

Blue Base Snoleopard
Black Base Snoleopard

I have seen folks new to breed interested in learning the colors. I am a visual learner and so instead of giving a bunch of genetic info to wade through I want to provide a quick guide. Consider joining the newsletter for CG Heartbeats Farm. The emails will notify you of new blog posts, farm updates. At times, I may make you aware of items that are for sale.

The purchase of Swedish Flower Hen chicks was one of the first steps I took in living a homestead live style. I was already planted on 11 acres with older buildings and a variety of soils. Bloom where you are planted they say…

Why would you pick Swedish Flower Hens? Leave a comment with your answer.

To see the 2019 Breeding pens at CG Heartbeats Farm use the links below.

Return to Swedish Flower Hen main page or view a different pen by clicking on the pen page you wish to visit.

Silver Gray Dorking

Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner

NOTE: This page or post contains affiliate links. When you click and make a purchase I earn a portion of the money you spend at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support.

Read in this blog post about my go to incubator in 2019. I include tips I use with this incubator.

The Janoel 12 incubator with chicks I hatched from Pen # 7.

Click on either picture. Purchase your own.

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Adult Birds: Choosing your First Chickens

Juvenile or Grow Outs

Buying Baby Chickens for Your First Chicks

Other Considerations When Purchasing Chicks.

Hatching Eggs: Choosing Your First Chickens

Best Option Hatching Eggs vs. Chicks?

In conclusion

FREE!!! Decide on a Breed of ChickenWorksheet!

What are your goals for chickens?

Do the breeds you want play well with others?

Do you want more than one breed?

Should your birds be vaccinated?

How many chickens do you want?

Will your flock include a rooster?

FREE!!! Decide on a Breed of ChickenWorksheet!

Do you plan to free range your flock?

How many eggs do you consume on a daily or weekly basis?

In Conclusion

Humble Beginnings

Looking Back

Sustainable Gardening Ideas

Recalling the Spring of 2019

Help from a Friend

Continuing the Progress

Hatching Eggs

4 Places to Obtain Fertile Hatching Eggs

Hatcheries

Private Breeders

Local Private Breeders

From your own chickens

Incubator

Fans

Humidity

Turners

Egg Candler

Brooder with Food and Water

What I Learned

Colors of Swedish Flower Hens

FREE!!!
Decide on a Breed of Chicken
Worksheet!

FREE!!!
Decide on a Breed of Chicken
Worksheet!