Hey folks! It's been a long couple of months, and we're so sorry for keeping you guys out of the loop. That being said, we wanted to give you a quick update on things going on while we've been closed. For right now, the hens are molting and likely won't be laying in full swing until next spring. You can look forward to farm fresh eggs and adorable baby chicks then!
While closed for egg sales, we are looking to rehome some handsome young roos to anyone looking for a well-behaved boy to watch over your flock! We'll make a post later this week for those interested in any of them.
We also would like to introduce you all to our new livestock guardian dog, Misha! She has been a huge help here, deterring off predators. She's already proven herself by chasing off opossums, a skunk and hawks on the daily - and at only a year and four months old!
Here's a cute little video of Misha (Great Pyrenees) and Zico (Hound mix) taking a play break from guarding the flock!
The star of our profile picture: mama Bramble was broody last year, and she hatched babies again just four days ago. 11 out of 11 eggs hatched! She is such a good mama. How cute is this?
At Ellis Acres Farm we let our hens raise their chicks almost entirely on their own. Our chickens are bred to be friendly, so the other hens and roosters do not bother mama nor her babies. She teaches them everything there is to know about being a chicken and free ranging, so that one day they may do it on their own. At night, she and all of the other broody hens and their babies are tucked in safely inside a building where they are away from predators.
In about six weeks, when the babies are feathered out, she will abandon them and they will become independent. She will join the flock again and the babies will either stay here with us, or they may go to new homes. If they are to go to new homes, they'll be friendly with humans, dogs, cats, know how to evade predators, know how to free range, and already be familiar with how a pecking order works.
All of this, thanks to mama Bramble. 🐔🐥💕
Happy hatching days! Our babies have come out of the eggs healthy as could be, looking absolutely adorable. Here's a peek of some of them! (Though, there are much more hatched out now!)
They are our friendliest batch yet! We handle them many times a day, but they are already bred to be docile and are not flighty by any means. When they are bigger they'll make great chickens for your starter flocks!
And this is exactly why we let the broody mamas out before everyone else. They're all drama.... as you can see. Somehow they still manage to not step on a single baby, though. 🤦
This heat has caused almost 1/3 of our hens to go broody this year. We've had so many chicks that come fall we'll be downsizing our flock, so keep an eye out for posts in the future. In the meantime, enjoy this dramatic video of Bellaview (left, Blue Laced Wyandotte hen) and Bramble (right, Black Sex-link hen) hashing it out. I wonder what they said to each-other.
When you step into the coop and about four hens scream at you like this, you KNOW it's spring... and chick season. We love our broody moms, but I'm not sure Dusk is very happy with us. 😅🐔
The babies have hatched! Unfortunately, we didn't have much luck with the new hatch method, so we'll be sticking to what we're used to this coming spring. Still, we are happy with three beautiful babies; Grinch, Bosco and Roi!
When you have so many chickens, stuff like this becomes pretty normal.. but still, what in the world? These hens are crazy this fall. Maybe they're just happy they get so many pumpkins! 😅🐔
