Our Chickens

Housing

Here is our Swedish Flower Hen coop. The birds have 40+ sq foot each in the run. The coop is for egg laying and sleeping only as they have ample outdoor space that is out of the elements. We cannot do completely free range, as the hens end up in the neighbor’s yard. However, I try to provide ways for them to get all that same goodness as if they were. We keep Swedish Flower Hens to help preserve this beautiful landrace bird. We currently have 4 hens, a pullet and a roo.

Our Beilefelder coop houses 7 hens, a roo and several juveniles. Our goal with these birds is to have an autosexing dual purpose breed. I keep the hens and butcher the Cockrels, unless I see a bird that shows improvement over the Roo in the pen. I am also working out how to keep a backup roo for each of these pens in case something happens.

Feed

We feed whole grain feed, that I mill on the farm. It includes Whole roasted soybeans, Whole corn, Whole wheat, Whole oats & whole barley. To this I add a vitamin balancer and fish meal from fertrell and alfalfa pellets. And when I have it, add whole milk powder. I’m currently saving up for a pellet machine so that I can make a pellet with alfalfa meal, the vitamins and the fishmeal or any other powders I’m adding to feed, as a balancer pellet.