Eclipse Feathered Farm

08/05/2022

Happy Mothers Day to all the broody mamas out there 🐣

17/04/2022

That looks screams "You have betrayed me" 😭😭😭

15/04/2022

Ive had a pretty challenging week in the henhouse, so reading this review really made my day. I do my best to pack my orders with care and educate my customers on ways to ensure hatching success. I really appreciate the appreciation of my efforts, and I relish in other peoples success!

So many factors are out of our control- usps shipping delays, dropped boxes in transit, power outages during incubation, faulty incubators, inaccurate thermometers/hygrometers. It can feel like the odds are all stacked in your favor. But when it works out, the struggle makes it all the more satisfying. Crossing my fingers they'll be sending me photos of duckies in a few weeks🤞

12/04/2022

Not gonna lie. I'm infatuated with roosters. All the roosters. They become more and more handsome as they age. These studs are just growing into themselves. Soon they wi have even longer plume tails, extra shimmery feathers, and their giant ornamental head dress comb and wattles... Guess I must have been a hen in my passed life cause I just cant get enough 🖤🐓

04/04/2022

USDA: Biosecurity 101
By practicing good biosecurity, you can reduce the risk of people, animals, equipment, or vehicles carrying infectious diseases onto your property – either accidentally or on purpose. You will also help protect other flocks by preventing the spread of disease.

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites always use a .gov or .mil domain. Before sharing sensitive information online, make sure you’re on a .gov or .mil site by inspecting your browser’s address (or “location”) bar.

23/03/2022

Over the moon 🌙 about my new carton stamp! Packing orders is usually the boring part but doing it with that personalized touch makes it so much more fun

21/03/2022

YIKES. Check out this monster cayuga duck egg! Cant even imagine how this felt being laid 😬

20/03/2022

::How do ducks and chickens lay eggs every day?::

One of the ducks I harvested was still laying eggs, so I was able to preserve the reproductive cycle. Over the course of aprox 24 hours a tiny egg yolk leaves the ovaries. It passes through the nearly 2 feet of oviducts growing and adding layers of egg white. It reaches the uterus and adds its shell. Then it passes out the vent to be laid. Only it doesn't happen just one at a time- because of the speed, there is a succession of egg yolks in all different stages throughout the oviduct! I thought this was pretty fascinating. In my jar you can see the transition in reverse- nearly fully formed egg still inside the uterus, all the way to the preserved o***y with all the tiny forming eggs attached.

26/02/2022

If you dont laugh every. single. time. you see this, do you even have a pulse?

25/02/2022

First chicks of the season!!! Im so stoked to play with all the cuties before they go to their new flocks 🖤🐣

13/02/2022

The Ayam Cemani ladies are laying goregously. Super stoked for chick season 🐣 Nothing stimulates that seretonin like tiny lil fluffy black chick butts! Hatching eggs are ready to ship every Monday- Click the link in the bio

09/02/2022

Someone had an accident in the duck pond today, but now they're angrily cheeping- demanding snacks. So we cool.

31/01/2022

Banshee is headed off to a new flock today 😭 He's one of our favorites but sometimes managing your birds means you have to let some go. Refocusing my breeding projects has been about making a lot of tough decisions. My back has been doing significantly better and my energy levels have definitely improved but I don't want to push too hard too fast! Meanwhile, Banshee will have plenty of new ladies to care for 🖤

19/01/2022

Blackie Lawless and his ladies snackin on that good good scratch

16/01/2022

Fertility check - looks like our new rooster Blackie Lawless is doing his job! The books are open for 2022 season Ayam Cemani and Cayuga Duck hatching eggs 🥚 Website link is in the profile

It's been a long winter filled with trials. Sometime around October I had a return of a back injury that put me down pretty good. After numerous dr appointments and xrays I was diagnosed with lower back degenerative retrolisthesis, and osteoarthritic degenerative disc disease. Basically a vetabrae is out of place and the disc's around it are deteriorating, from an untreated injury in my early 20s. Since then I've been doing rehab but it's a long road to recovery. Meanwhile, I've scaled down my flock to keep the labor manageable. It has been quite the disappointment- we were in the process of expanding over winter, but life throws challenges at you and you just have to adapt!

15/01/2022

20/10/2021

Cute dog photo to buffer an incoming sad.

The hashtag often has foreign accounts, since the breed is more common in Indonesia than the US. I really love seeing all the gorgeous photos of exotic foreign breeds, but every once in a while I come across cockfighting videos. It's awful. Most recently a breeder was using their platform to also showcase monkeys and owls for sale- both protected by international law and endangered. I can't get the monkeys terrified face out of my mind, as the seller dangled it for display by the scruff of the neck.

Despite being internationally available- Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have major problems monitoring foreign language content. John Oliver did a whole segment calling them out on his show. Its well worth watching- https://youtu.be/OjPYmEZxACM

If you come across anything that looks questionable that is from a non-US account PLEASE REPORT IT. 🙏 Force the social media companies to pay attention. I know this isn't going to entirely stop animal abuse or the illicit trade of endangered animals, but as a person who uses social media as a sales tool I know how important it is for their revenue stream. If they can't advertise, they can't sell. I'm gonna do what little I can do. Thankfully it worked! I was able to rally enough folks together to report the account and have it removed.

19/10/2021

Slimy surprise

28/09/2021

Shiver's new harem of lady ducks finally started laying. Look at this gorgeous black lil bb egg! Right in time for October 🖤🍁🍂👻🕷🎃

12/09/2021

Well, college classes started back up so I've been slow to make updates. I thought maybe the ladies had slowed down too but apparently not 🤦🏻‍♀️ ITS SEPTEMBER. Give it a rest!!

06/09/2021

This post is pure gold for chicken keepers!

19/08/2021

Needs a bit of a scrub but I scored big time on a full Apimaye insulated hive and a honey extractor yesterday! Not really season to start a new hive, but come next spring I'll bee set 🐝🍯

05/08/2021

Time to makeshift a feeder hat. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone decided to Scrouge McDuck in their feed 🤦🏻‍♀️ If you get this reference, you might be a 90s kid!

03/08/2021

The Svart Hona cockerels get more handsome by the day 😍

26/07/2021

We have a few Cayuga duck drakes availabe. Black with striking iridescent green and purple feathers. Hes not quite mature yet- no tail curl, not quite fully colored plumage, but his quack gives him away. This is a heritage breed that is considered at risk by the Livestock Conservatory. They are large and good for meat or eggs. He was hatched from shipped eggs so he would make a good breeding drake if you already have a flock. He has been handled quite a bit but he is resistant to it. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Can't win em all.

We only do local pickup for live animals. Pickup location is the Herrick Ave farm stand in Eureka CA but can meet up or deliver within a reasonable distance

19/07/2021

Co-parenting moms update:
how freaking cute is this??

13/07/2021

Fertility check today! Lookin good!

The only way to be certain your egg is fertile is to crack the egg open and look for a blastoderm- the white bullseye. If it is not fertilized, it will have a blastodisc- a white disc without a dot in the middle. Here's a comparison of one of my eggs vs eggs from a local farm without a rooster. It's not always that clear and easy to see. These just happen to be really good examples.

Many folks think that if a shipped egg is a dud and doesn't show development during incubation then it must not have been fertile. Unfortunately the handling and movement in transit jostles the fragile insides and can cause them to no longer be viable. Just think- in the best circumstance the chicken egg isn't moving much farther than the nesting box over before its incubated and hatched. Theres no way to test fertility of an egg after its been incubated. The blastoderm disintegrates from the process. That's why it's my responsibility to check my fertility regularly when I'm not actively hatching my own chicks!

12/07/2021

All about fermenting feeds- why you should and how to!

Since we decided to expand I've been mulling over some different ways to stretch our dollar on feed cost without sacrificing nutrition. We already free range our flocks which is super beneficial in both departments, but seems like we still go through feed like crazy! I started experimenting with fermenting feeds- I don't know why I never tried this sooner. Its so easy and has big benefits! Fermenting helps the ladies absorb the nutrients and it quadruples the feed quantity. Just be careful not to overfill your jars when you're making it! See the photo in the comments for why 😆

It seems counter intuitive that expanding the feed would be more nutritious since the chickens feel full from eating less overall. The bacteria that's created during the fermentation process "pre digestes" the food so to speak. It breaks down starches, thereby making more nutrients available for absorption that would normally pass through the digestive system. It also decreases the phytic acid in food that prevents some nutrients from being absorbed. It's similar to eating a seed vs eating the sprouted seed. Seed casings are hard to digest and lock all the nutrients inside. Sprouting seeds breaks that casing down and makes it easier to access those nutrients. (Speaking of which, sprouting seeds and growing fodder is also a good nutrient boost- that's my next project!)

How to ferment your feed-

▪️Put your feed, any feed, in a container. I use half gallon and gallon jars, but you can go as big as a 5 gallon bucket. Whole grain feeds work best since they don't turn to mush but my chickens don't seem to mind the mush. Leave room for the feed to expand. Start with 1/4 full just so you can see how much yours will expand.

▪️Fill with water till its just covering the top of the feed. Stir well.

▪️Cap with some paper towels or cheese cloth and a rubber band to let air escape but bugs out. Fermenting, airlock, and sprouting lids also work if you have them.

▪️Stir in the morning, stir at night. Add water if it looks dry.

▪️Feed is ready in 3 days. Strain it and serve.

▪️Store leftovers in the fridge. This halts the fermentation process and keeps the taste from becoming too sour.

02/07/2021

The ducklings LOVE spinach so much, the moment you bring it out they hit hyper drive and all you see is a blur 😆

02/07/2021

July 1st. Time seems to have been moving so quickly! Half the year has already slipped by, and summer is full tilt. What farm goals have you accomplished so far this year? What are your goals before year end?