Emerson Family Farm LLC

07/08/2023

HUGE storm coming – 80 mph winds -  so Casey decided to move all of our cars out from under the trees into the middle of the pasture, just in case!! 😂

19/05/2022

Pretty girls!

02/04/2022

Fun experiment! We took a handful of Silkie eggs from the refrigerator (some washed, some in the fridge for up to a week or two) - and we incubated them. 85% started developing and 50% hatched!

12/03/2022

Update on chicks and chickens!

We have two gorgeous young roosters looking for new coops - free to good homes! One is a black frizzle Showgirl and the other is a Paint Showgirl.

Chicks are currently sold out but we expect more in about a week!

28/02/2022

Chicks!! 😍

26/02/2022

Adorable Silkie chicks, hatching now! Looks like black, white, and Paint, some with Showgirl “naked necks.” All from our Paint pen. Potential for frizzles or Satins. These chicks are from excellent quality breeding stock and are not hatchery birds.

Pick up in West Laurel starting tomorrow. PM with interest.

26/02/2022

17/02/2022

Time to pick things back up after a long, cold winter! Spring will be here soon and our hens are laying like crazy.

1. We WILL have Silkie chicks starting in a few weeks. $10 apiece, show-quality lines. No hatchery birds here; these babies will grow into chickens with big fluffy heads, balanced heart-shaped bodies, and gorgeous color (we'll have black, white, and Paint - some with specialty feathering).

2. We have Silkie hatching eggs for sale, 8 for $40 (with extras if we have them). Chicks will be black, white, and paint. They may be regular Silkies, frizzled, Satin, or Showgirl. Local pickup only.

3. We also have FREE roosters to good homes! Gorgeous young cockerels from October hatchings need a new address ASAP.

4. Now offering: DNA tested Silkie pullets! We have two available for $50 each. Both were hatched here and hand raised. They are 4 months old and super pretty (see pictures). Should start laying this summer. One is a Paint Satin and the other is a black Silkie.

09/10/2021

My favorite chicken: a black mottled pullet.

09/10/2021

Our beautiful Paint pen.

29/09/2021

19/09/2021

Anyone looking for a handsome young German Angora buck?

07/09/2021

Anyone know where these handsome boys could find some partridge-colored girlfriends? They are just too handsome to re-home so we may need a second breeding pen!

17/08/2021

German Angoras, 2 weeks old

31/07/2021

It's been awhile since an update! Chickens are growing. We have three angry roosters who will not be staying and several additional roosters still in the running for Top Dude. (Realistically, we will likely keep a couple of them so there's a Spare Heir.)

If you know anyone looking for a nice breeding-quality Silkie rooster, let us know! The three I have available are a handful (LOL) but will likely settle down once they are not competing with other roos.

15/06/2021

I blinked and these bitty babies are now super gorgeous adults!

14/05/2021

This pretty Satin loves pecking my toes.

12/05/2021

Cute new blue-eyed German Angora youngster has joined the rabbitry!

10/05/2021

Soooo everyone knows you can’t raise one single chick by itself. So thanks to the cursed silkie eggs (and a friendly source of readily available chicks within close driving distance) we now have not one but FOUR new babies. 

We also have two new colors! Our hatchling is a splash and two of the babies are Partridge.

10/05/2021

Loving these showgirls and their bigger mottled friend.

08/05/2021

Cursed Silkie eggs update! The single most expensive chick ever 😅 has hatched.

04/05/2021

The “junior juniors,” as we call them - the farm’s youngest babies.

02/05/2021

Chester got some outside time today!

26/04/2021

26/04/2021

Booo! Cursed Silkie eggs not looking good. These are all “quitters.”

Only 1 egg is still holding on at Day 7 of incubation. A bunch started and then quit developing- a big risk of shipped eggs, and much more likely when they were given a day of additional handling during their trip through the USPS 🙄.

Looks like I’ll be sticking with local eggs from now on.

21/04/2021

Ugh, these eggs!! These are the cursed Silkie eggs from Ohio. They are safely incubating now but had quite an adventure getting here.

Background: One way to get a wide variety of purebred chickens with good bloodlines is to take advantage of mail-order hatching eggs from breeders across the country. The downside is, it's not easy to mail eggs! USPS is the only legal way to go and as we all know, they have not been on the top of their game lately...

I bought these Silkie hatching eggs from a breeder in Ohio. She collected them from her hens last Tuesday and mailed them Priority. I watched the tracking carefully and saw they were scheduled to arrive at the Laurel Main Post Office on Friday and then be held for pickup. The seller even sent me a picture of the very well-marked box: HOLD FOR PICKUP and my phone number were written all over it, and specified on the scannable Click and Ship label.

Friday morning, I checked in and saw the box had been arrival-scanned at Laurel Main. Yay! I waited for a call to pick up the eggs. Instead, I got a text from the seller, who apparently was also watching her eggs' progress. The latest update said they were being returned to sender for insufficient address! ...But they'd already arrived!

I called the post office and per usual, no one answered the phone. So I drove over, waited at the counter, and was told it was too late. The eggs had headed to the distribution center. They couldn't tell me how to get them or why they'd been returned (I mean, I had a photo of the correctly addressed box...) They did give me the phone number for the distribution center.

I called. Was put on hold for 30 minutes. Hung up and called again. Repeat 30 minute hold. I drove back to the post office. "Where is the distribution center?" They wouldn't tell me, but they did say to try calling later in the day when someone would likely be able to help.

Casey got home at 5pm and I explained the situation (while downing a large glass of wine :D). He called the distribution center. Apparently the key was 1. waiting until later and 2. having a man call....grrrr.

Within 3 minutes, they had located the eggs(!), revealed that the distribution center was located DIRECTLY BEHIND THE POST OFFICE, and confirmed Casey could come over to pick up the eggs.

Hoping our problem was solved, Casey headed over to pick up the eggs. Hooray! Success! Jubilation! Unfortunately, as he backed out of the parking area at the loading dock, he hit a concrete pylon. Now we need a new bumper. These eggs are cursed.

Stay tuned for continued updates on the hatching progress of the cursed Silkie eggs from Ohio!

19/04/2021

We have just a few spotty chickens...😅

15/04/2021

A few new babies from a breeder in PA - these are fun! They are “showgirls” or “naked necks.” So ugly-cute ❤️ - also a bonus mottled color chick that Maren loves.

10/04/2021

OMG. Chimkin took a selfie 😂

09/04/2021

These guys are JUST.SO.FLUFFY! They are Silkie chickens, an ornamental breed originally from China. They do lay edible eggs, but only small ones.

The paint colored boy (who is already crowing!) is Iggy. The other big one (also likely a rooster 🙄) is Chimkin. The smaller three are Beni, Onion, and Tiny.

07/04/2021

Big news! Oldest babies are outside!

03/04/2021

It may not win any architectural prizes, but our new chicken coop is finally functional!

02/04/2021

Happy Easter weekend!

31/03/2021

Fun with chicks! These guys are 6 weeks old.

31/03/2021

Chester poses for selfies! 💕

24/03/2021

I started this page thinking it would be a good place to share some of the more crazy experiences we continue to have as we try to be farmers...didn’t realize the day I shared the page we’d have one such experience!

Casey just graveled the driveway. Apparently changed the way it was draining. We had a ton of rain today and...the barn flooded. 😱

Most of that random crap is floating 😩

24/03/2021

Our first set of chicks this spring is already getting big!

24/03/2021

Unzipping! (I swear there was a lot of movement right before the video 😅)

05/03/2021

Looks like two eggs viable in the incubator 🤞🏿