All Things Poultry (chickens)

Fresh Farm Eggs For Consumption... BSL F1 Hybrids as Meat Birds

.We currently are custodians of and are breeding Bred to Standard/Heritage/SOP Rhode Island Reds, Barred Plymouth Rocks, and our own line of Black Sex Link F1 Hybrids, aptly said to be egg laying machines... (RIRxBPR-BSL F1 Hybrids) These are all large fowl, dual purpose birds that lay Lg/Ex.Lg brown eggs.

Our animals are raised and cared for with primarily holistic protocols, both for nutrition, overall health, and the construction of their coops and runs. Our Layer Feed is a 17% whole grain with amendments ration milled by Mule City Feeds, Benson, NC. Additional feed supplements are from Fertrell, probably the foremost manufacturer of feed supplements in the US. No hormones, synthetic chemicals, immunizations or medicated feed are used in the care of our birds. Due to the abundance of predators in our area, they only have as much supervised free range as our schedules allow but their coops and runs are designed to mimic the areas where they free range wiith lots of space and very deep natural litter. We gather our eggs at least twice daily and store them, unwashed, at room temperature. They are in our customer's posession, usually within 3-6 days after gathering. This keeps the bloom on the eggs for improved quality and unwashed eggs can be stored in the carton on your counter, refrigeration is not needed. When you are ready to use them, just wash gently with water, cook and enjoy. There is no difference between white or colored eggs nutrition wise. It is just that different varieties of chickens lay different colored eggs. We chose these breeds because they are large fowl, dual birds (raised for both meat and eggs), have good overall health characteristics and with a good tendency to develop natural immunities, not seriously affected by hot or cold weather (we are one state/county that has both extremes), lay lg/ex.lg eggs in good numbers, exhibit predator awareness and are voracious foragers. They also give us the ability to breed the Black Sex Link Hybrid which is the original Sex Link hybrid developed for feeding the exploding US population after WW II.

FRESH EGGS FOR CONSUMPTION

If you are seeking quality fresh eggs for consumption, please email or call/text us for information about ordering eggs and picking them up. We have an egg pick up box for your convenience and offer sales of 12, 18 or multiples there of.

HARD BOILED FRESH EGGS

iIf you wish to have hard boiled eggs, we suggest the steaming method. We do not boil our eggs (fresh). instead, we steam them in the top of a double boiler steamer for 15 minutes. Start the clock as soon as you put the water in the pot and turn on the heat. Rinse/wash the eggs and place in top part, cover. Get out a larger bowl/pot than the steamer part and fill with water and some ice. After the 15 minutes move the whole steamer section to the ice bath and add more ice. Set timer for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes take some of the eggs and put them in a plastic container with water half to 3/4 covering the eggs. Cover and shake vigorously but not violently 40 times. Take eggs and rinse off shell bits under running water. Last week I did 14 eggs in the steamer and deshelled 7 at a time. Took all of 2 minutes to have 14 perfect eggs in a container ready to go into a recipe or the fridge. No need for any materials to be added to the water... just steam, ice bath and shake...

2025 PRICE LIST

Consumable Eggs, Lg/ExLg, unwashed................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,................ $ 6/doz....... $ 9/18 or multiple there of

BSL cockerels/roosters for finishing and harvesting as meat birds............................. $ discuss for price

Fertilized Eggs & Live Birds

Fertilized Eggs, Chicks, Pullets/Cockerels, Hens/Roosters For Your Flocks

We were fortunate to have located and developed a relationship with a well known, local Heritage/Bred to Standard/SOP breeder of Rhode Island Reds. They were willing to sell us a male and four hens from which we are developing and improving our lines. This year we will again breed this BtS RIR male with our best Barred Plymouth Rock females giving us an even better Black Sex Link hybrid than the one pictured.. We are also adding a breeding quintuple of BtS/H BPRocks Spring of 2025. This will allow us to be self sustainable with both our RIR BtS and BPR BtS lines and to improve our Black Sex Link hybrids even more. We will then be breeding as a closed flock operation.

Our animals are raised and cared for with primarily holistic protocols, both for nutrition, overall health, and the construction of their coops and runs. Our Layer Feed is a 17% whold grain with amendments ration milled by Mule City Feeds, Benson, NC. No hormones, synthetic chemicals, immunizations or medicated feed are used in the care of our birds. Due to the abundance of predators in our area, they only have as much supervised free range as our schedules allow but their coops and runs are designed to mimic the areas where they free range wiith lots of space and very deep natural litter. We gather our eggs at least twice daily and store them, unwashed, at room temperature. They are in our customer's posession, usually within 3-6 days after gathering. This keeps the bloom on the eggs for improved quality and unwashed eggs can be stored in the carton on your counter, refrigeration is not needed. When you are ready to use them, just wash gently with water, cook and enjoy. There is no difference between white or colored eggs nutrition wise. It is just that different varieties of chickens lay different colored eggs. We chose these breeds because they are large fowl, dual birds (raised for both meat and eggs), have good overall health characteristics and with a good tendency to develop natural immunities, not seriously affected by hot or cold weather (we are one state/county that has both extremes), lay lg/ex.lg eggs in good numbers, exhibit predator awareness and are voracious foragers. They also give us the ability to breed the Black Sex Link Hybrid which is the original Sex Link hybrid developed for feeding the exploding US population after WW II.

FERTILIZED EGGS FOR INCUBATION

For those who wish to begin husbanding chickens or increasing their current flock we will accept orders for fertilized RIR and BSL eggs. As we are incubating and hatching these two types we will also do the same for those who wish not to have to incubate themselves.-All eggs sold for incubation are candled for cracks and weighed (to meet the 60-65g recommendation).

Beginning in late spring 2025, if you are interested in purchasing and hatching some fertilized eggs, we can work out a plan for getting you some eggs in the quantity you need. We will also have chicks and pullets/cockerels. At this time we will only have fertilized eggs and chicks or larger birds available to those who place an order as we do not have the facilities/acreage to hold greater number of animals.

Offerings other than eggs for consumption are done as a service to those who want better quality animals than what the big hatcheries sell.

LIVESTOCK PREDATORS WE PROTECT AGAINST

Some of you have inquired about the livestock predators we have in our area. Those we have actually seen, have on trail camera, or have seen evidence of (scat/track) are: Coon, Possum, Weasel, Mink, Bobcat, Feral Dog (and dogs off leash), Feral Cat, Coyote, Coy-Dogs (serious broblem in eastern Va.), Black Bear (in Wake Forest and Leesville Rd areas as well as in the Neuse River corridor), Feral Hogs, Red Tailed and Red Shouldered Hawks, Barred Owls (we have yet to see a Great Horned Owl in Wake County) and Bald Eagles. There is also the possibility that a Red Wolf from the population on the Coast goes into a dispersing travel and can reach the Neuse River Corridor. In addition, although pooh poohed by many, the Cougar probably exists in the remote parts of NC in extremely limited numbers. With all these potential predators, there is good reason that you often see the Great Pyrenees (or donkees), one of the better known LGD, on many farms and homesteads. There have been no confirmed sightings of the grey wolf in this area for well over a century.

2025 PRICE LIST

Fertilized Eggs...............(57-65g).......................................................................................

Rhode Island Red-Bred to Standard/Heritage/SOP.... $ 20.00/ doz

Black Sex Link... RIRxBPR-BSL F1 Hybrid................. $ 17.50/ doz

Chicks....straight run.......after the 28 day whole milk/plain yogurt protocol................ $ 12.50 each

Chicks....sexed................after the 28 day whole milk/plain yogurt protocol................. $ depending on age, discuss for price

Chicks....BSL F1 Hybrid........after the 28 day whole milk/plain yogurt protocol.......... $ 12.50 each

Chicks....straight run.......growouts older than 5 weeks not yet at POL........................ $ discuss for price

Breeding Pair Breeds at POL -- 18-20 weeks................................................................... $ discuss for price

Breeding Trio Breeds at POL -- 18-20 weeks................................................................... $ discuss for price

Breedung groups other sizes other ages........................................................................ $ discuss for price

Black Sex Link F1 Hybrid pullets not yet at pol.............................................................. $ discuss for price

Single BtS/H cockerels/roosters....................................................................................... $ discuss for price

BSL cockerels/roosters for finishing and harvesting as meat birds............................. $ discuss for price

Some of Our Birds

One of our RIRxBPR-BSL F1 Hybrids, This Black Sex Link produces between 250 and 300+ Lg/ExLg brown eggs per year.. She is aptly said to be an egg laying machine...

Our Bred to Standard Rhode Island Red breeding rooster with one of our BtS RIR breeding hens.

Our Bred to Standard Rhode Island Red breeding rooster.

Drew holding our Bred to Standard Rhode Island Red breeding rooster. This fellow is very docile (but if you look closely, you can see he is keeping an eye on the Barred Plymouth Rock rooster that is sneaking up in the lower right of the picture.

HOLISTIC PREVENTATIVE PROTOCOLS WE PRACTICE

NC... We practice a long list of holistic protocols. One of which is how we have been able to stay insect pest/disease/internal parasite and bone/joint-bumble foot injury free for now 10 seasons husbanding chickens. Holistic for us means that we look at the whole of everything, not just one thing, and many things work together to be successful. Below are the components we use to make our dusting/dustbathing mix the last time I made up a batch...

******************************************************

4- cups...BYL...Barn Yard Lime (no, not First Saturday Lime... that overhyped over priced material which is really just BYL as the active ingredient...)

6- cups... Wood Ashes to which we add some home made Bio-Char

2- cups... Carolina Brick Red Clay, dried and pulverized... Kaolin Clay and Bentonite Clay also can be used

2- cups... Granite Dust/Quarry Dust/Asphalt Screenings/Screenings just different names for the same thing depending on your location

1- cup... DE... Diatomaceous Earth

1- cup... Bt... Bacillus thuringiensis

1- cup... Sulfur

1- cup... Powdered Permethrin... currently using a commercial "garden dust/poultry dust" with permethrin as the active ingredient from TSupply

****************************************

This "dusting mix" is used in the coops/nest boxes as part of our deep litter protocol and when we add dry clay and screedings under the coops where they dust bathe extensively, digging another pit as they do so. We have not used it directly on the birds as we have not had any infestations. All of the above ingredients have been researched as individual materials to treat/prevent insect pests so I figure why not just combine them so their application is easier and they are continuously working together.

If you use any of the above materials indivudually or all together I would be VERY interested in how they work for you...

CAUTION: do not use in such a manner as to create a dust cloud as inhalation could have negative effects.

Yearly Coop Cleaning Method We Practice

NC... this is especially for Esther who says she is preparing to clean out her coops...

First off, we practice a form of deep litter method in our coops. The coops are all 18-20" off the ground (so we have an ultra dry area underneath for a safety zone and dust bathing) and it locates the nest boxes at a preferred height, 12" off the coop floor. The inside is all raw lumber (not painted/stained/treated), the floor is plywood with a piece of removable plywood used as a "grunch pad" for added protection (if you paddle white water in a fiberglass boat you know about grunch pads)...

FIrst thing we do is remove roosting bars and coop dividers.

Second, remove all loose organic matter. When possible, remove the grunch pad. Then scrape all stuck on OM from everything. Then wirebrush all those "soiled" wood surfaces including roosting bars and nest boxes and the grunch pad. Remove bulk of OM from in cracks but not necessary to get it all (besides being next to impossible). We broom out fines after each step. Lastly, we use a leaf blower to remove all fine particulates and that allows us to get all the dust and cobwebs from ALL surfaces.

Next step it to make a Barn Yard Lime slurry (1/3 of a 5 gal bucket with 2/3 full of water). That amount covers our 5x12 sq ft coop, sides, roosting bars, nest boxes and grunch pad. Using a very coarse large brush like a masonry brush whitewash all the brushed wood surfaces with a heavy amount of the slurry... once everything is well covered we sling the remaining sediment from in the bucket all over everything whitewashed.

Let dry

Apply a heavy dusting each of BYL and another of Wood Ashes to all whitewashed surfaces. Then apply a dusting (moderate) of DE. Lastly, apply a dusting (normal) of the dusting mix (mix ratios given in another posting).

Reinstall the roosting bars and grunch pad.

Add a deep layer of litter (we use pine shavings on coop floor and wheat straw in nest boxes). Apply dusting mix on top of the litter and a goodly amoung ot BYL under the roosting bars.

When all dust has settled, allow birds back inside.

Weekly or biweekly we rake the litter and add more BYL under the roosting bars.

As needed we add more litter/wheat straw with a liberal amount of BYL under the roosting bars and a dusting of the dust mix over everything.

Continue raking and adding materials until next clean out.

We did let the big coop (pctured) go for two years without any negative affects which we know of. After 1 year the litter is about 8-10" deep and to err on the side of caution we do a clean out once a year.

Our birds are Bred to Standard/Heritage/SOP and some Hatchery/production... RIR, BPR, NHR and from our own breeding both Red and BLack Sex Link Hybrids. All LF Duals so they are large birds with a good amount of manure.

As a side note, our runs are VERY (6-12") deep natural litter, we are trying there to immitate the areas where they get supervised free ranging. Our birds are voracious foragers.

The 5x12 coop is pictured right after constructin completed. Now using pine shavings and roosting bars are 2x4 turned flat side up.

How We Determine Which Eggs To Use For Incubation and our incubation / growout procedures

This is a rough draft and will be fine tuned over the next few weeks.I

t Begins with The Molt. We follow the recommendations found in PoultryBreeder Nutrition https://www.facebook.com/groups/4908798409211973/ for The Molt and the 12.5% Molt Ration. We follow that up with the 18% regrow after the Molt.. Some time after the Winter Solstice we change to a Pre Breeding Ration and then when we are read to collec fertilized eggs we change to a maintenance ration for breeding.

Our fertilized eggs are no older than 10 days, stored in a basement office with ambient temp 68-69 and 35-40% humidity. Currently weighing and dating all eggs in the range of 58-65g. Eggs stored unwashed.

As eggs are wiped with hydrogen peroxide as they are set.

We dry hatch with temp at 99.5F and 35-40% humidity. At lockdown we add some water to increase humidity as needed to raise humidity to 60-65%.

We are currently using a 22-egg Nurure Right 360 incubator with auto turner. We turn off and remove the turning rack at lock down day 18.

We remove chicks within 8 hours of hatching when dry and fluffy. They go into a large tote with the brooder plate heater on legs with one end one click higher than the other. cardboard on bottom of tote with non medicated 22% chick starter grower spread on cardboard for litter and to encourage immediate feeding. Small feeder and waterer in Tote. As chicks are removed from incubator they are examined for defects and weighed and beaks dipped into water and feed.

Most of our chicks which will hatch do so on days 21-22. We crack open unhatched eggs on day 25 for analysis. Chicks are then weighed again and transferred from tote to our brooder which is a modified dog crate with cardboard and chick starter grower as litter and both the waterer and the feeder and the brooder plate heater. Chick grit offered free choice.

We practice the day 3, 7, 14, 21, 28 day whole milk/plain yogurt protocol to aid the development of natural immunities.

Some time betseen week 3-4 chicks are transferred from brooder to a grow out trailer with pine shavings for litter. Feed changed to a recommended growout ration. Every time we transfer we weigh and inspect birds. When appropriate, grit size is increased from chick grit (smallest) to grow our grit to large grit.

If the growout trailer is needed for an upcoming hatch currently in the brooder, those in the grow out trailer wil be transferred\ to a coop/run set up. We do not normally mix mature birds with growouts/chicks.

At 8-10 weeks any Black Sex Link Hybrid cockerels and culled RIR or BPR cockerels will be transferred to a finishing coop/run for harvesting.

eigh our eggs as part of the selection of which to incubate and this is probably where we begin practicing our preventative holistic protocols... research has found that if the eggs are 58-61g you get optimum hatch rates AND the chicks have very good vitality (all other things being within recommended ranges), 60-65g is recommended by most in Poultry Keepers 360 and some who go by egg size want LG/ExLG... so we have decided to do our next egg selection using 57-65g as a base rate... being that they are RIR we will up the humidity a little once it begins to naturally increase from the dry hatch % of 36-38% to the lower 40%... we are having difficulty with the thick membranes which BtStandard/Heritage/SOP RIR are know to have. We also look for deformed eggs and we candle for cracks in the shells as well as mottling caused by incomplete calcium. We store the gathered eggs in a basement office where temp and humidity are constant at 67-68f and 35-38%, and do not use any over 10 days old. All of the above are for increased hatch rates and to improve the vitality of chicks as they hatch. We also provide water and feed within 8 hours of hatching with UNMEDICATED 22% ground chick starter as litter using a heat plate on legs. Brooder is a modified large dog crate. Chicks are on the 28 day whole milk/plain yogurt protocol---1 hour days 3, 7, 14, 21, 28. Chicks are weighed when transferred from incubator to brooder and then once a week thereafter.

All Things Bees

Local Honey from our own Hives

Currently, our regular Landscape and Irrigation customers are purchasing all of our honey production but we anticipate having more honey and associated products available as the additional hives come into production. We expect to have some product available mid to late summer 2026 for new customers.

Our honey is gathered from strong colonies beginning in their second year/summer. We do not feed our bees sugar water which is done in commercial high production operations. (If your honey has sugar crystals forming in it, it is sugar water honey) It is strained. Not filtered, heated nor pasturized. Generally we do not include comb with the honey but some customers have requested it so we can do so as per your request.

Logout Edit page