The Cracked Egg

11/18/2023

10/31/2023

Designer pumpkin by the artists collectively known as the “group of chicken”.

07/26/2023

05/09/2023

Marans cross day olds. Dark chicks are from marans hens (black copper), covered by mottled Orpington roo, light coloured on the eggs is by lavender marans roo over mottled Orpington hen. All have leg feathering.

02/27/2023

Day olds available. Variety pack. EE, ameraucana, legbar, Orpington, barred rock. Egg colour range from cream to blue, feather colours may be chocolate, mauve, lavender, cream/opal legbar, mottled, wheaten, blue/black/splash. Pic from the blue egg hatch (ameraucana & legbars).

01/22/2023

Day olds, straight run, 10 available. Mixed breeds, include, lavender & chocolate Orpington, black copper maran, brown leghorn, various colours ameraucana. From blue, brown and white eggs. Primary roo is ameraucana. 5🐣 each, 40🐣 for all 10.

01/19/2023

Hatch in progress, days olds will be available over the weekend. Variety of hens, Orpington, legbar, ameraucana, bcm, brown leghorn, covered by ameraucana, legbar, brown leghorn Roos. $5 each, or package deal on the lot (possibly 8-14, can’t count the chickens before they hatch!).

07/28/2022

Darling Nikki would like to remind you that we also do telemedicine appointments if you are far away or it suits you and your lifestyle better! We can unfortunately only serve folks living in Ontario and of course there are some things that we can't diagnose over the phone but it's a good option if you're stuck or need help urgently, although it's not an emergency service and we aim to work co-operatively with your primary care facility.
You can book directly here: https://hockleymobilevet.as.me/

05/28/2022

4 polskie day old chicks, straight run. These are a cross from a white Polish hen covered by a blue Silkie roo. Some have 5 toes. Coming out of the incubator today. Not yet exposed to the outside world.

05/01/2022

Let’s talk about eggs.

Cage free - this simply means they don’t live in a cage. But what defines a cage? Packed in a metal building with limited space still feels like a cage if you ask me.

Free range - sounds good but this simply means they must have access to the outdoors. But how much access?

Antibiotic and hormone free eggs - no eggs contain these. Just like meat is not run through a processor without proper withdrawal time for antibiotics same with milk.

Organic - honestly all this means is they are getting organic feed. What about their well being?

Vegetarian fed - we’ll then they for sure aren’t free range nor are they eating their natural diet. I’m not sure how this label is even a thing since a chicken will eat a mouse, lizard, bug, anything that walks past it that it can catch. How could one be sure s chicken never ate such thing? (Confinement?)

Now the whole orange yolk ordeal - if you raise chickens you can tell when your birds are foraging well based on the color of their yolks. One would think the same about store bought eggs but egg producers have caught on and feed dried marigolds to enrich the color of the yolk without actually enriching the chickens lives.

So what’s the best option? Buy from a neighbor who’s raising hens in their backyard. Even if they are confined to a coop and run i still would almost bet they are more humanely cared for than the ones being mass produced. I’d almost bet money everyone has someone within a reasonable distance of them that would sell some of their eggs it just might take some looking depending on the regulations where you live.
Shared from Graham Family Ranch

04/05/2022

By kawarthaNOW. Health unit says risk to human health is low but residents should not touch any sick, injured, or dead wild birds.

03/26/2022

NOTICE; We will have to cancel our vaccination clinic tomorrow - Sunday March 27th. There are 3 barns in our surrounding area that are highly suspicious of having avian influenza. This is a contagious disease. Based on that information, we have decided to cancel the clinic to ensure the safety of the birds we care for. We will post when it is safe to resume our vaccination clinics.

03/21/2022

Update: They have diagnosed AI in a red tailed hawk in Waterloo region. We will continue to update folks as we hear about cases, but please be vigilant as this is likely the tip of the iceberg.

02/24/2022

It's hit Michigan, so now it's just a waiting game for Ontario unfortunately.

Full report: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/stakeholder-info/sa_by_date/sa-2022/hpai-michigan

12/31/2021

This is almost certain death. Chickens love to gasp, sneeze then die. You can try janky s**t to fix it, but reality is, they have weird tiny fu***ng lungs that don't cope well with disease, viruses, dust and everything to do with staying alive, so yeah. It will die.

12/21/2021

11/25/2021

Cream Legbar cross silkie day old females (currently 2 available).

11/21/2021

Some of the cheapest, widely available eggs tested by Marketplace may be just as nutritious as some of the most expensive.