Meet the Cast - The Golden Girls

Other than lots of poo, our farm was not producing much; one shearing from a llama cria is nothing to write home about. (I did though, as it was exciting for us.) The garden was at fledgling stage having just been planted, it would be a while before we were eating from it. So we opted for some laying hens. Well, technically day old chicks would be more accurate. I like options so to have choices as to what we could get was thrilling. I had raised and shown poultry in 4-H as a kid but what I had had been given to me so this was very exciting. I let the kids pick out 2 chicks each, thinking I'd cover the bases in case something happened to one of theirs... you know..... I figured they'd pick two of the same, (silly me) they are my kids, they like options too. Faith chose a New Hampshire and a Silver Laced Wyandotte, Andrew chose a Light Brahma and a Rhode Island Red. My niece also chose a Light Brahma, but it would live at Twistie's farm because their hens wouldn't accept it into their flock. Rounding out the flock includes a Buff Orpington, Golden Laced Wyandottes, Black Astrolorps, Barred Rocks, and an Araucana, for a total of 12. To make a long story short we do not have the Light Brahmas, we got the Araucanas instead, due to a mix up at the feed store..... I say Araucanas, but we are down to just one, the other turned out to be a rooster and has since been dispatched. My son was heartbroken, and we'll leave it at that. I call the flock as a whole 'The Golden Girls', but they are each named individually, we have Sophia, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, Knit, Purl, Gimp, Screech, Queenie, Merrily, Queen Hatshepsut, and Little Mouse. (FYI the rooster was named King Tutankhamen even before we knew he was a rooster! That'll teach us!) For over a year now we've been producing our own farm fresh free range eggs! The yolks stand up SO tall and proud and the color is almost an orange-ish yellow, far superior to those supermarket eggs in my opinion. Talk about local!

(On a side note: cage free does not always mean not-confined, <-my soap box for today!)

In addition to eggs, the girls provide us with entertainment, you have not see funny until you've seen a chicken run! They are also great recyclers, they turn kitchen scraps into delicious eggs! Yum!