All I want for Christmas is a Chicken?

When the thought of  Christmas gifts come to mind some may think of diamonds, pearls, electronics or stylish clothes. Others might go for the whole package in one swoop and wish for stylish clothes emblazoned with diamonds and pearls, which electronically sing Christmas carols.

At any rate, I suppose a lot of people wish for those types of items, and for good reason. However, some of us are inspired by nostalgia, things rural--the farm. Born out of love for the aforementioned and necessity, we think of buckets with heaters, tractor supply gift cards, Carhartt clothing, muck boots--and  chickens. Chickens? Yep, that’s right. All I want for Christmas is chickens.

Snowball Silkie

We absolutely love our feathered fowl at Verde Farm. When we bought our first two chickens, "just for fun,” we bought two roosters, Mack and Bucky. We didn’t want to deal with eggs and by no circumstances did we want baby chicks. A few months after the roos came to live with us, we felt so sorry for them we bought them a pretty cream girl named Pearl. Verde had a population explosion. We started reading, buying poultry magazines and learning all we could about these interesting entertaining and hilariously fowl birds.

Some Mixed Bantam Roosters 

It didn’t take long to realize there are thousands of chicken breeds and variations. I started looking for unusual and fancy chickens and stumbled on some great resources. Silkies, Polish, Tolbunts, Red Combs, Mille Fleur, just to name a few, caught my eye.  We decided we really wanted to breed some beautiful birds and specialize in selling some of them in addition to our colorful, mixed bantams.

Fancy

Charlotte

Last year, we ordered a pair of Polish white crested black chickens. They were gorgeous and we named them Edgar and Betty. We’ve had them for a year and a half and never gotten one egg from Betty. Not one. Edgar has fathered a few mixed chicks, Brighty being one of them. Edgar’s affairs can only be interpreted as a lack of support for poor Betty’s barren ways. Shame on you Edgar.
On a side note, Edgar lost his beautiful white mane when Betty and the rest of the hens pulled out his head feathers, one by one, and pecked his head until he, in a daze, had to be removed from the chicken house. Poor Edgar.

Our first foray into chicken breeding obviously didn’t go well. Edgar and Betty are separated. We are back to square one.

Betty-alone

Henpecked Edgar

We were not deterred. Instead we decided it was time to jump in with both feet and get the varieties we wanted. In the fall, we ordered a beautiful trio of calico mille fleur from Nancy Krohn at Bluff Country Backyard Chickens. They are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

Chaucer and Lydia

Chaucer and his girls (Betty is visiting)

In November, we also ordered a group of polish, silkies and tolbunts from a wonderful place in Maryland called Bare Necessities Farm. Now, my friends, maybe I am biased, but we have some of the prettiest chickens you’ve ever seen--real beauties.  It may be difficult for some to imagine a beautiful chicken--unless accompanied by gravy and biscuits. All I can say is this: I’ve never seen an ugly one. To me, chickens are a lot like butterflies. They are flitting, flying, running bursts of color, decorating and brightening even the dreariest day.

The Silkie Gang

Pretty birds, pretty birds

With the arrival of 14 new chickens, we knew we had to house them. We ordered a chicken chalet, which was scheduled to be delivered this week but now has been pushed back because of the weather. The chalet is a link to spring when I’ll paint it, name it and plant flowers around it.

Foof

Smoke Silkie

If the good lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise, we’ll have these breeds for sale in 2011. I can’t wait to see what we get.  If you are thinking of adding or starting to raise chickens, you may want to pick one of ours in the spring. We do ship.

Lad and Blue

So, this Saturday, when you’re opening your felt covered jewelry boxes, packages wrapped in pretty papers and bows, just think of us. Our “fowl” packages may smell a little funny--but we will be just as excited.

Cockadoodledoo to you and yours this Christmas