mandy picking rocks first year garden

First Year Garden: Breaking Ground & Soil Prep

Early this spring, we bush-hogged much of the overgrown brushy areas and a place for ourĀ first year garden. Time flew by as late winter days gave way to warmer weather. The first days of spring brought baby goats, litters of rabbit kits, hundreds of chicks, dozens of turkey poults, goslings View Article

black copper maran wheaton mountain farm maine hatching eggs chocolate chicken eggs

About Black Copper Marans Chickens

Black Copper Marans chickens are known for laying lavishly dark eggs. Colors range from deep reddish-copper, crackled-copper with dark brown flecks, to a decadent dark chocolate tone.

breese bad aggressive rooster. how to tell a hen from a rooster

How to tell a hen from a rooster in 7 steps

LAST UPDATED SEPTEMBER 12, 2023 Let’s tease out the best ways for how to tell a hen from a rooster. The diagram below shows two very different looking chickens. Bu many breeds exhibit similar traits between hens and roosters. This includes breeds with short combs on both sexes, or on the View Article

a gray celadon quail lays blue eggs

About Celadon Quail

Tired of waiting for your chickens to lay eggs? Most chicken breeds take 21 days to hatch then another 6-8 months to lay eggs. Celadon quail hatch in only 17 days and start laying between 6-8 weeks old. Males can be harvested between 5-6 weeks as a food source.

mandy wheaton building a cattle panel high tunnel hoop house seaweed makes excellent garden mulch

How to build a cattle panel high tunnel hoop house

Plans for: 6-foot wide, 12.5-foot long structure, that is 6-feet tall. The past few years, I have considered building a cattle panel high tunnel hoop house. Things around here have settled down and I’ll be committed to spending my time on the farm with SO many chicks hatching this spring View Article

a pair of bielefelder chickens on wheaton mountain farm

Golden Bielefelder

This dual purpose autosexing breed is an excellent choice for a homestead. They are curious and gentle, making them a good choice for farms with small children. By only five months of age, the roosters were by far the largest we have ever raised here on the mountain, and have never had an argument.

Why do people put bands on their chickens?

So, why do people put bands on their chickens? Im not talking about the silly bracelets. Our bands are solid colors fro the time they are chicks to 14 weeks old. Having chickens from several lines in an undivided area can be tricky. Banding simply by color can keep originating View Article

deathlayer hatching eggs shipped in us lay eggs every day forever

Deathlayer Chickens

I was SO excited to start breeding Deathlayer chickens as our first auto-sexing breed! But, unfortunately, We stopped breeding Deathlayer chickens due to problems with their legs caused by generations of systemic inbreeding in smaller, backyard flocks since their importation to the US. I would buy them directly from Greenfire View Article