Classic Snaps: "I got your back if you've got mine."

The Cutest Thing That You Ever Did See...

Polly turns 1...

one week, that is.

Polly and Puddles: Day old Ducklings

I couldn't hold out any longer. I think it was the combination of reading about what amazing insect control ducks provide and that last itchy mosquito bite. I caved, embraced my need for a pair of runner ducks and ran with it! I think I'm in love!

Puddles

Polly

 
To see a video of these adorable little ones click on: Splish Splash!

Green eggs and ham? Olive Eggers!!!!!!!!

HSC is soo excited to be offering gorgeous olive egger pullets that are ready to move into your coop! These beautiful birds are offspring of a Greenfire Farm's Black Copper Maran crossed with an Ameraucana. They are a gorgeous blend of browns and blacks and will add some lovely color to your egg collecting!

Baby chicks available at Home Schooled Chickens!

Hatched on August 10th, HSC now has very limited quantities of the following breeds:
ameraucanas
white and blue cochins
bantam buff brahmas
cuckoo marans
blue lace red wyandottes

Cochin Frizzle Chick

New Life on the Farm: Baby Miniature Nigerian Goats!

Chomo, named after Mt. Chomolhari in the Himalayas

Shasta, named after California's Mt. Shasta

Our beautiful Luca gave birth to two beautiful blue eyed boys on Friday, August 5th!

The Amazing Polish Frizzle

Certainly the inspiration behind Sesame Street's Big Bird, the Polish Frizzle is certainly a creature to encounter! I have been on the search for these amazing chickens for the past two years and cannot believe I finally have three of them, right here at Comfort Farm! Here's my Motley crew:

"The Pom Poms"

Thunderdome, a white crested, chocolate Polish frizzle

 

 

 

Waffles, a buff laced Polish frizzle

 

 

 

 

If you are interested in a Polish Frizzle, feel free to drop me a note and I can put you on the waitlist.

Home School Chickens for Sale!

"I'm looking for someone to follow around and love!"

Old English Game chick born 6/23/11

"Not only beautiful, but sweet as pie!"

 Sultan/Silkie Laying Hen (sold) and silkies (hatched 5/5/11)

Too cute for words.
Genuine White Ameraucana
(hatched from the bluest egg I've ever seen 7/29/11)

Email us at homeschooledchickens.com to find out more about taking home these cuties!

Bantam Frizzle Cochin (hatched 7/6/11)

Frizzles, and Silkies and Marans and More!

Bantam Frizzle Cochins!

Blue eggs and brown eggs and cream eggs and more, come buy a basket of chicks that will fill your egg carton with a rainbow of colors!
For more information, please email homeschooledchickens@gmail.com.

Cuckoo Marans!

Setting a new hatch: Silkies, Ameraucanas, Polish, and Icelandic Chickens!

After a harrowing week, all of the eggs are in! The poor silkie eggs ended up being bumped around in the mail for exactly SIX days (oh dear...). We were so fortunate to have HSC's very own silkie, Mochi, go broody, so they have a lovely mama hen to hatch them!

Mochi as a mama

The rest went in the incubator a few days earlier. There aren't a lot of Polish eggs, but we've got Ameraucanas and Icelandics to the brim! If you don't know about these birds here's the rundown:

Ameraucanas are the genetic origin (along with the Araucana) of blue/green egg layers. When I unwrapped these particular Ameraucana eggs I was shocked by the richness of their color. They looked like they had been dyed! So, not only will your eggs be bountiful but a bright blue as well. These chicks will be grow up to be either pure white or wheaten (kind of a mix of wheat shades and white), puffy cheeks included!

The Icelandics are a magical find that I am thrilled about. I have spent over a year trying to hunt down these eggs. I believe the ones I got are from one of the original and only Icelandic chicken breeders in California. She is devoted heart and soul to bringing these gorgeous birds back from extinction. They are known for great egg production, beauty and sweet personalities. To read more about the breeder take a look at this link: www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=34566-my-icelandic-chickens

These eggs are due to hatch 
at the end of the July!

Pre-orders are highly encouraged for the Ameraucanas and Icelandics as the Polish and Silkies are already sold out.

Take a look at the FAQ page and email homeschooledchickens@gmail.com if you are interested in pre-ordering.

For the record: Most eggs laid in a day!

The record for a chicken laying the most eggs in one day was... seven!

Heirloom Chickens: Preserving What We Have

"People eat more eggs and poultry than ever, but the world’s reliance on a few high-yielding breeds is edging out hundreds of others: Nearly a third of chicken breeds are at risk of extinction. That’s alarming because many varieties have traits, like heat or pathogen resistance, that could be invaluable in the future." -National Geographic

 Take a look at some of the chickens that are endangered:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/food-ark/heirloom-chickens#/1
 (Yay for the Dorking who made it in!)

Home Schooled Chickens is committed to hatching exclusively heirloom/ heritage chickens. While they might not have the fame of the Leghorn or the Rhode Island Red, many of these chickens lay eggs for many years more than the new hybrid breeds and have wonderful dispositions that we need to keep in the gene pool!

The Survivors: A Hatch Disaster!

It was about 11 am today when the eggs were pipping and zipping and hatching when here in our sunny Californian suburb, the power decided to go out - for an HOUR! We brought the incubator out in the sun and put it under all of the wool blankets I own. There were 29 eggs that went into lockdown three days ago, and here we have the eleven sturdy survivors.

If you are interested in these hardy chicks, email homeschooledchickens@gmail.com! 

Next hatch: Silkies, Icelandics (Hurray!), Ameraucanas, and Polish!

One silkie, mille fleur and mottled d'uccles

seramas

and one buckeye!

My Dream Chicken: the Buff Laced Frizzle Polish

Hello. I'm seven weeks old. If I am a boy, I will be available for sale. (Let me know if you would like a rooster like me at homeschooledchickens@gmail.com.) If I am a girl, I am home!

Next Hatch: A Beautiful Bunch of Banties!

Bantams are basically small chickens, or as some of us like to say, "petit pollos." They are space and food efficient, often come in breeds that only come in these small sizes. Have a small yard? Get some small chickens!

Here is what is going in the incubator at Home Schooled Chickens:
Mille Fleur D'uccles - so gorgeous my Dad asked me to get one!
Bantam Black Cochins - cute and cuddly as can be.

baby mochi, the sweet silkie of HSC

Silkies - the fluffiest and most famous of the bantam world for their beauty and sweetness.
Seramas - the beautiful, miniature birds of the chicken world.

Hurray for the little guys!!

To reserve bantams for your backyard flock, email homeschooledchickens@gmail.com.

On the Farm

To see where home schooled chickens are raised take a peek at:  A Day at Comfort Farm

Baby Chicks for Sale!

Golden Penciled Hamburgs, Araucanas, Dominiques, Sultans, Salmon Favorelles...and who knows who else will peep out into our world?

See someone you want to take home?

email homeschooledchickens@gmail.com

Lockdown: When Eggs Become Chickens!

"Lockdown" is the final three days before hatching day. The humidity increases during this time to ensure that the shells don't dry out as the tiny chicks chisel their way out to the big wide world.

It's a Very exciting time, and we are constantly peeking into the incubator with a flashlight to look for signs of life.

Today, May 23rd, is lockdown for the latest hatch, so I thought I'd share what is on the way!

Golden Penciled Hamburgs - Gorgeous small chickens that are prolific layers. Rarely go broody. 
Genuine Araucanas from Sonoma County, all with the potential to have tufts and be rumpless
Sultans - A delight of the chicken world. Something that one might imagine to be a cross between a Silkie and a Polish (these should all be white and are all vaccinated for Marek's).
Dominiques - Beautiful barred chickens that are one of the oldest breeds in the US. These are also on the highly endangered list (female sexed and vaccinated for Marek's)
Salmon Favorelles - Gorgeous in their quirky way, these chickens are wonderful egg layers and make lovely, sweet pets! (female sexed and vaccinated for Marek's)

If you are interested in any of these breeds feel free to email homeschooledchickens@gmail.com. Reserving chicks is Highly recommended (see our FAQ page for details)!

HATCH DATE IS MAY 26TH!

The Oval Super Food: Backyard Eggs are Packed with the Good Stuff!

According to the US Department of Agriculture, eggs from hens raised on pasture show 4 to 6 times as much vitamin D as typical supermarket eggs!
They also have:
• one third less cholesterol
• one fourth less saturated fat
• two thirds more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E 
• 7 times more beta carotene

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/eggs.aspx#ixzz1MjVx9kVN

A Hatch of All Sizes: New Chicks at HSC!

This has been such an exciting hatch as the breeds we went with this time are so diverse. All of these chicks were hatched under broody hens! Thank you to all of our HSC foster moms. Happy Mother's Day!

A blue wheaten Ameraucana hanging out with a couple of Seramas

There are big fluffy blue wheaten Ameraucanas, silly capped buff laced Polish, five toed Silkies and the world's teeniest chicks, Seramas. Come build a lovely flock of ALL shapes and sizes!

BIG SILKIE, lil serama

 

serama buddies

Silkies are sold out!

These chicks hatched over the weekend 
of May 7th and are ready for new homes!

Email homeschooledchickens@gmail.com.

Egg Freshness, and Preparing and Peeling the Perfectly Boiled Egg

My hens have always been nesting box layers, always, that is, until Hatty started a revolution. She decided that she would find her own special places to lay eggs. We found the first dozen at the end of the alley alongside the house, under a broken table behind some bricks. As soon as she realized her "nest" had been discovered she moved on to a new spot, the back left corner of the goat's house. The rest of the chickens have been following in step. It's like an Easter egg hunt nearly day, and while that might sound really fun, the " nearly every day" part somehow makes it a little less fun, but amusing nevertheless.

What has become a really helpful tool has been the "water test" that can be used to test freshness of an egg. Here's the scoop.
You put the egg in a glass of water.
If it lays flat (left egg) it is fresh.
If it tilts (middle egg) it is a week old.
If it stands on one end, it is three weeks old.
If it floats, you probably shouldn't eat it.

compliments of http://recipehut.homestead.com

A fantastic site all about peeling fresh boiled eggs 

(I know, it can drive you crazy!): 

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/BoiledEggs.htm

3 coop ready Silkies for sale!

We were born on March 6, 2011. 
What a nice planet! 

White Silkie

Partridge Silkie

Yummmm!

These lovely silkies are as sweet as can be. Best of all, they are ready for you to take them home and put them out in Your coop! To take these cuties home, email homeschooledchickens@gmail.com.

Boom Boom!: A German Angora Bunny

Welcome to the newest family member at HSC. Boom Boom is 3 months old right now and so cute, we still aren't completely convinced that he is real!

Apparently, the Easter bunny's eggs have hatched!

Easter Chicks! Delawares and Langshans!

Easter chicks hanging out with the Fibromyalgia duck

4 days old, both of these breed are perfect for the urban chicken owner. They are both known for being prolific layers with great personalities. Even better, both are on the endangered breeds list, so they are dependent on us to keep these wonderful breeds around!

All of these chicks are pullets and vaccinated for Marek's. To learn more about Delawares, go to: http://www.delawarepoultryclub.org/index.html

ONLY 3 DELAWARES LEFT! Interested? Just email HSC at homeschooledchickens@gmail.com!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Hatty gets a Bath

It wasn't like I didn't feel like we were making this the worst day in her life, but what could we do? Hatty Really needed a bath.

Almost dry!