Chickens
Black Copper Marans
The Black Copper Maran is our flagship chicken breed. This beautiful French heritage breed with mysterious origins in the East Indies fighting-bird trade was refined in Marans, France during the early 20th century and breed into the affable, classy birds we have today. A hen will lay around 200 eggs per year. The eggs are thick-shelled and arrive covered a chocolate colored 'paint' coating that is darker in shade during the cooler months and lighter chocolate in the warmer months. The flavor qualities of the eggs and meat of this heritage bird are legend, but on our farmstead we favor these large birds because they are hardy working birds. We love them for their ability to forage on rough terrain and their impressive cold tolerance. These guys will turn your compost and till your garden beds in a jiffy, but don't let them in the garden until after the harvest!
Welsummer
If we had to recommend a heritage breed for the family backyard, the Welsummer would be it. This beautifully colored Dutch breed is a reliable egg producer, producing around 200 eggs per year. The eggs are large and dark reddish-brown with red speckles. This versatile breed works the land as hard as our BCMs and are just as hardy, laying right through the shortest of days. Their sweet, lovable disposition makes them easy to handle and they would be a great choice for kids. They also don't like to roam far from base, which is another great quality for the backyard. Our current layer flock is led by a wonderful Welsummer Rooster named 'Bartholomew'. He's shown no signs of aggression and has the loveliest crow that almost seems in key. It is easily slept through. This latter quality is a treasure we are hoping to carry on through future generations.
Speckled Sussex
Ye' Olde Speckled Sussex is a wonderful English breed dating back to Victorian times and potentially beyond. The speckled hens will lay 180 - 200 eggs light brown eggs per year. A very traditional breed, the Speckled Sussex is gentle and can make a great pet. They do well in forests and brushy areas where their feathers provide a nice camouflage. This may or may not have an influence protecting them from predators, but we don't risk free-ranging in these parts without a protective portable electric fence and wouldn't know. The English hen has an endearing personality and can make an excellent addition to your flock.
Ducks
Indian Runner
Indian Runner ducks are our flagship duck. The perfect breed for permaculture work, these upright walking ducks are incredible foragers. They will forage dusk to dawn; no bug or slug is safe. They are also really fast. You can turn your back for an instant and they'll be way across the yard working another pile mulch and then turn your head again and they'll be back near you working on the same pile of mulch they were at before. They tend to be a bit flighty in their youth which can discourage some duck owners looking for pets, but they mellow out as they age. They are valued farm workers here and we love letting them be their best duck. The story goes that an English sea captain found these domesticated ducks while sailing through the East Indies in the mid 1800's. The Indonesian natives drove these upright walking ducks to the market. Indian runners come in several different colors and the hens are prolific layers of large delicious eggs.
Silver Appleyards
There is a breed of duck that will devour every last plant you own. Or at least within reach. And since it's almost the size of a small goose, this reach is pretty impressive. This is the venerable Silver Appleyard. Appleyards are a large English duck bred in the 1930's for multipurpose meat and bulk eggs. Their size makes them a force to be reckoned with in the garden. They do eat bugs and slugs, but they graze much more vegetation than the other ducks we have. They are not picky eaters, caring much more for quantity than quality. Because of this they are a great duck choice for supplemental foraging and fertilizer production. They are beautiful birds, with crimson and indigo highlights. They are also the least flighty of the breeds we raise and would make a great bird for children in the family backyard.
Khaki Campbells and Welsh Harlequins
Khaki Campbells and Welsh harlequins are the enforcers of our flock. They have Indian Runner in their bloodlines and can produce the same large quantities of eggs. As far as ducks go they tend to be the smartest of the breeds we have and often run support behind the Indian Runners. Their intense foraging skills do a much more thorough job, systematically picking up on all the tasty morsels the Runners left behind on their race to greener pastures. Their intelligence gains them access to areas other ducks can't go, getting through fences and other barriers. When ever there is a jail break in their morning run its usually because the Khakis found the weakness in the defenses. Both Khakis and Harlequins are cool ducks to observe and will be the first to eat out of your hand.
Ducks
Indian Runner
Indian Runner ducks are our flagship duck. The perfect breed for permaculture work, these upright walking ducks are incredible foragers. They will forage dusk to dawn; no bug or slug is safe. They are also really fast. You can turn your back for an instant and they'll be way across the yard working another pile mulch and then turn your head again and they'll be back near you working on the same pile of mulch they were at before. They tend to be a bit flighty in their youth which can discourage some duck owners looking for pets, but they mellow out as they age. They are valued farm workers here and we love letting them be their best duck. The story goes that an English sea captain found these domesticated ducks while sailing through the East Indies in the mid 1800's. The Indonesian natives drove these upright walking ducks to the market. Indian runners come in several different colors and the hens are prolific layers of large delicious eggs.
Silver Appleyards
There is a breed of duck that will devour every last plant you own. Or at least within reach. And since it's almost the size of a small goose, this reach is pretty impressive. This is the venerable Silver Appleyard. Appleyards are a large English duck bred in the 1930's for multipurpose meat and bulk eggs. Their size makes them a force to be reckoned with in the garden. They do eat bugs and slugs, but they graze much more vegetation than the other ducks we have. They are not picky eaters, caring much more for quantity than quality. Because of this they are a great duck choice for supplemental foraging and fertilizer production. They are beautiful birds, with crimson and indigo highlights. They are also the least flighty of the breeds we raise and would make a great bird for children in the family backyard.
Khaki Campbells and Welsh Harlequins
Khaki Campbells and Welsh harlequins are the enforcers of our flock. They have Indian Runner in their bloodlines and can produce the same large quantities of eggs. As far as ducks go they tend to be the smartest of the breeds we have and often run support behind the Indian Runners. Their intense foraging skills do a much more thorough job, systematically picking up on all the tasty morsels the Runners left behind on their race to greener pastures. Their intelligence gains them access to areas other ducks can't go, getting through fences and other barriers. When ever there is a jail break in their morning run its usually because the Khakis found the weakness in the defenses. Both Khakis and Harlequins are cool ducks to observe and will be the first to eat out of your hand.
Sheep
Clun Forest
Clun Forest sheep are a hardy breed of sheep renown for their adaptability and productive qualities in lambing, mothering, fast-growth, mild meat flavor, wool quality, and rich milk production. They originally hail from the hills of the Southwest English/Welsh borderlands. Although there are mentions of them in the early 19th century, they didn't standardize as a breed until the 1920's.
On our farm, these friendly sheep will be bred for milk, wool, and meat while working an intensive silvopasture system. As a dairy sheep, they produce a rich milk high in butter fat, leading them to be referred to as the "Jersey cow' of the sheep breeds. We are looking forward to producing cheese from this luxury milk and also using their wool as a source of sustainable fiber for ourselves and our community.
Finnsheep
We have three beautiful Finnsheep ewes that make up the other half of our flock. The Finnsheep breed is a wonder in the world of domesticated livestock. Born out of a necessity for specific survival traits, this breed is one of the most useful sheep breeds to have in your flock. In Finland, winters are long and dark, lasting up to seven months in some areas. To accommodate a short grazing season, they developed a breed of sheep that could breed prolifically in a short period of time. This allowed them to keep a small flock in the dark of winter when feed and resources were scant, and then rapidly birth a full size flock in the short grazing season. Finnsheep are often bread multiple times per year. Because Finnsheep are prolific breeders, they are often used to increase the prolificacy in other sheep breeds.
The Finnish breeders also needed a practical sheep that can wear many hats, thus their sheep make great homesteading sheep with excellent wool quality and milking ability. We have them on our farm to diversify our flock and because they are hardy foragers suitable to our silvopasture system. We love the rich wool colors they produce and we love their sweet personalities.