The Little Herd

25/06/2025

I am INSANELY happy to announce that we have 100% fertility rates from Antonio's cage 😭😭 (minus our gold laced who has not began laying again).
I could genuinely cry - it has been basically a whole year ordeal. From trying (and struggling) to get eggs, the almost month of incubation, over 8 months of growing them out. 1 failed rooster. An expensive rooster transport from Brisbane.
We are FINALLY seeing the finish line.
I am NOT offering fertile eggs or putting their eggs in my incubators YET. I am waiting for the eggs to be a nicer size but we are so close!!!
I can finally say "watch this space" and know that the end goal is in sight! 🤣❤️

22/06/2025

Lockdown on hatch #2 is a go!!
These are all eggs that are growing upto par to gestation. So fingers and toes crossed that we get the majority of these to go on hatch day.
🐥🐥🐥

As always photos inside incubators don't do the egg colour any justice. They are much nicer than this, but candling & lockdown initiation is a rushed quick job 🤣

22/06/2025

Welcome to The Little Herd, Elmo. ❤️
Elmo is a beautiful pygmy boy that we have been entrusted with, potentially indefinitely pending what his owners future holds.
His owner came through our property for something totally unrelated, and we got to talking about animals. We feel extremely proud that the love & attention we show our animals is seen by others - to the point this boy (who was the ring bearer for her wedding!) now has a safe spot here.
Elmo's owner will be getting photos, updates & visits from time to time. A joint custody situation if you will! 🤣❤️ he's a very beautiful boy & will be spoilt.

18/06/2025

We have muscovies ready to go!

2 laying hens
& 9 five week old babies can be sexed

Pm for more info

16/06/2025

Hatch 3 is set & ready to power up in the morning.
Expected due date July 8th.
Hatch 2 (43 egg count with only a handful of quitters/non fertilised eggs so far) is going well, expected due date June 25th.
Half of hatch 3 are to expand my own flock with eggs bought elsewhere. I am still quite sure we will have pretty good numbers by the end, regardless. Any excess layers from my personal eggs will be available at a later date.
Trying to not jump the gun too fast - but I am slightly hopeful that my next hatch (once June 25th is out) if I postpone it by a week or 2, *may* contain some wyandottes. But with my luck, I am not promising anything. 🤣 just a note to maybe watch this space & see how fast working our new roo may be.
Hope everyone is having a lovely start of their week!

13/06/2025

Hatch 1 is out - bit smaller of a hatch than expected, I had some issues with my larger incubator (sorted now) but managed to save these guys & move them into another incubator. I saved roughly HALF the hatch. I haven't counted exactly but I have about 20. Just have the last few coming out of their eggs now.
Coloured layers tend to be all black due to rooster paired, may gain some colour as they feather out. (So far all spoken for).
The stripey babies are Speckled Sussex (so far all spoken for).

Hatch 2 is about half way through, candling has been completed & so far a large success rate, so there's just a bigger gap between hatch 1 & 2 than originally planned. Hatch 3 will be going on soon also! Everyone that has showed interest should have coloured layers by the end of the year! 🥳
Eyes peeled on my story if you're after fertile eggs also. They will pop up every now and again. A good option if you're keen to raise them yourself if you have the set-up. Just a few week wait for eggs at the moment due to current interest.

Enjoy looking at these little fluffies.
Messages will be sent out once sexing is done, I'll then be able to work out exactly how many orders I can fill with this hatch, and will contact everyone to let them know roughly which hatch their order will fall into. 💛

10/06/2025

A well needed update regarding our SPLASH WYANDOTTE CAGE -

To start with, the bad:
I do apologise how overdue this update truly is. I haven't been ready to admit defeat.
Our splash cage began with Angelo - a big mature boy, we built our cage & grew our pullets around him. He was the start of my obsession with this breed.

We had tried... for longer than I'd like to admit. He was infertile, there is unfortunately no more beating around the bush about that statement.
We came to the extremely hard decision to hard cull him from our program - believe me, I cried like a baby. He was a gentle giant, and he truly would have made a fabulous dad. Unfortunately the cards we were dealt didn't work out that way. He has a resting spot close to his girls, I know my big boy will enjoy watching their cage grow. Thanks for growing my love of big roosters, Angelo. 💛

Unfortunately the ONLY other splash rooster I have found locally in the past (long time) of searching, is a boy that doesn't meet breed standard, at all. Hes lovely, but he would create pet quality pullets at best. He's been in our bachelor cage for a while, but I genuinely cannot bring myself to use him. Colouring is too light for a red splash, he has a 5 point comb, and roach back. He is pretty - but the offspring would not be what I want to offer you all. We will be soft culling from our program at this stage - any interested parties (that just want a pretty boy) please PM. He is lovely, but just not great breeding stock if you're trying to create nice lines.

Now the GOOD news!

SO it is without further ado that I finally talk about my plan moving forward! Because NO - this most definitely is NOT the end of this cage.
I have fertile eggs coming shortly, that'll mostly be used to fill the remaining hen spots left in my cage (potential to swap out some of my existing girls down the line pending lacing quality). I *may* have leftover POL girls once I grow them out, that is totally pending egg hatch rates, girl rates etc. We all know shipped eggs can be a flop regardless of how much care the breeder puts into them, aus post is not the most gentle. IF there is leftover, they will be posted to sell towards the end of the year at the earliest, based off the fact I will be keeping some as breeding stock, I will be growing them out longer than usual - price will be reflective of this.

In terms of roosters, I have a gorgeous boy on his way to us soon from Brisbane through a pet transport company. He should be here end of next week. He is very similar to our boy Angelo only even better quality lacing & saddle feathers. He is beautiful & we are excited to start again with him. Post to come once he arrives, settles in & hopefully fertile eggs on our horizon.

Truly appreciate everyone's understanding through these growing pains. I am hopeful that I will be able to offer beautiful pullets by end of year, hopefully sooner.

09/06/2025

1 dozen coloured eggs, great fertility. Offspring will lay chocolate and/or olive.
1 dozen Speckled Sussex, have always gotten great hatch rates from these guys.
Parents are well rounded, friendly chooks & find that helps drastically with hand raising the offspring.
Pm for more info. Will be ready tomorrow! 💛

05/06/2025

Loss no matter the size of the animal is hard. Life keeps turning... the farm keeps moving. A little quieter, a little emptier.

I wasn’t prepared for this part of homesteading.
No one really talks about it.
Not in the starter guides. Not in the feed store. Not on the sunny Instagram reels.

The part where you pour your heart into something—
into someone—
and lose them anyway.

The chick you helped hatch.
The goat you stayed up with all night.
The duckling that followed your kids around the yard.
The quiet moments when you whisper “come on, baby” and they still slip away.

I didn’t expect how heavy it would hit.
I didn’t realize how quickly a little life could become part of your every day.
How deeply you could grieve something so small.

And still—we do it again.
We mend the fence.
We clean the stall.
We gather eggs with a lump in our throat.

Because this is part of the life we chose.
A life full of sunrises and heartbreak.
Of muddy boots and miracles.
Of losing, and loving, and doing it all again.

No, it never gets easier.
You just learn to keep going.
To hold the hard alongside the beautiful.
To let your heart break open and still believe in new life.

That’s the farm life.
That’s the cost of raising anything worth loving.

25/05/2025

Day 3 of our big boy hatch 😎 candling tonight went extremely well! Will be able to go through my order requests once I can confirm sexes of these hatches & will be posting up any leftovers once able.
Please note we typically sell at POL (16 weeks).

In this hatch:
✨️ Speckled Sussex
✨️ Coloured eggers (due to the rooster paired, these will be olive OR chocolate brown layers)

21/05/2025

Hobby farms ARE farms.

We wake up early. We haul feed. We clean coops. We build, fix, tend, and care — every single day. We deal with heartbreak, with predators, with loss. And we keep showing up because the animals depend on us.

Maybe we’re not supplying grocery chains. Maybe we don’t have 500 acres or employees. But we’re still growing food, raising animals with care, and learning what it takes to be good stewards of the land.

Small doesn’t mean insignificant.
Backyard doesn’t mean uncommitted.
And hobby doesn’t mean it’s just for fun.

We do this because we love it- because we want to be more self sufficient- and because we love the animals in our care. Hobby farmers are building skills, feeding families, and passing down knowledge that matters.

If you’ve ever raised a flock, pulled your first harvest, or stayed up late to nurse a sick animal — you know it’s real work.

And if that’s not farming, I don’t know what is.

19/05/2025

The reason we have been so quiet lately! Secretly plotting our pick up for our girl these past few months! 🫣 newest addition to our pack
Maggie "Honey I Herd You"
8 week old tri chocolate merle border collie & already so so loved. 💛