TheMaineHomestead
In the Brooder
Our little farm in Maine has hosted a small flock of chickens for five years now. In the past two years I began breeding rare and fancy chickens both for my own enjoyment and to sell to pay the feed bill. We are not wealthy people, but that has never deterred me from enjoying life. A brilliant blue or deep copper colored egg in the nesting box might as well be gold to me. My Polish hens are my pride and joy.
In deciding what breeds I wanted to focus on, I purchased hatching eggs and sought out mature birds locally. The breeds included; Silkie, Polish, Maran, Ameraucana, American Breese, Cochin and Easter Eggers. After some time with the birds and considering the cold climate up here in Maine I whiddled the list down to reflect my focus of winter hardy, docile birds and beautiful egg colors. To do this, I ditched the Silkies and Breese. In that past year I lost my aging Easter Eggers and my big daddy Partridge Cochin.
White Eggs (3 layers)
Breese roosters went mean time after time and I had to do them all in—though I kept one hen because she's a reliable broody with a kind personality. Breese lay huge rather round white eggs with the faintest hint of pink—only noticeable next to the pure white of the markedly smaller, slightly pointed Polish eggs. Right now, I have two Buff Polish who are beyond adorable and by far the most gentle and calm breed I've had the pleasure of handling. The rooster is from a young lady nearby who was looking to re-home. I already had a few roosters, but I decided the influx of new blood would be good for the tiny mating trio I keep here.
Olive Egg Crosses (2 layers)
I crossed an Easter Egger with a Black-Laced-Silver Wyandotte to get a light green laying Olive Egger named Sally. She is over gray on the neck and black otherwise with intricate patterns on her breast. Sally's eggs often have a few tiny brown speckles on the rounder end. My second Olive Egger is result of crossing a Red Sex-Link with an Ameraucana. Her name is Lucille and she lays large dusty-olive colored eggs which are so rounded I cannot tell the top from the bottom. Much of the time they have white flecks adoring them on one end—which I think indicates the top as this is where speckles appear most for my other breeds. I am in the process of other Olive Egger lines, including a Maran Ameraucana cross, and breeding my Olive eggers back with a Maran I've selected for particularly dark eggs.
Copper Tone Eggs (4 layers)
There is really no substitute for the deep, lavish copper color found in French Black Copper Maran egg lines. I spent a lot of time bidding on hatching eggs on eBay before I found some from a reputable breeder for a fair price. Out of the three dozen hatched, I kept only the darkest layers. Out of the following generation I chose the best standard markings as set forth by the American Poultry Association before they came of mature egg age. We simply could not afford to feed them all and I didn't want to stray too far from markings in order to seek the perfect egg color. The second generation are the birds I have now. They lay a "5" on the Marans of America color chart and, with an influx of high-pedigree hatching eggs this spring, I hope to breed in a deeper color and fresh genetics into my little flock. Currently, I keep four mature French Black Copper Maran hens and one magnificently huge and perfectly marked rooster.
Most stunning in our egg cartons, is one of my Marans crackled-copper eggs. She only lays one or two of these gems a week. They have a reddish brown base and extremely dark copper crackled overlay.
Blue Eggs (2 layers)
Last year I incubated two dozen Ameraucana eggs I'd bought online, to make a long story short, the hatch was not very successful. Four were roosters and one was a hen—the rest were duds. I had to choose between the roosters and in the end I kept the most docile White Ameraucana rooster and have bred her with my lone Splash Ameraucana hen. She lays the most lovely blue eggs and I'm happy to have her in my flock. They are a well-mannered breed which are incredibly winter hardy—they are often the only ones out in the deep freeze white the others will roost early on frigid days. One Easter Egger remains of the old girls I had five years ago. She lays a lovely aqua-blue egg every so often, but not like she used to.
Pink Eggs (1 layer)
A Barred Rock Easter Egger cross I've had for three or four years now lays the pinkest eggs I've ever seen. They are a dark pink, not faint or slightly pink—but a solid dusty rose color of pink. These eggs will often have large, faint pink spots all over and certainly stun my egg customers. I'm not sure how I'll ever reproduce such a lovely egg color as hers, but I am planning to give it a try.
Ho-Hum Brown (2 layers)
Then there are my two beloved mutts. One lays a light tan egg and the other lays a dull brown. They might be boring ho-hum normal chicken egg colors but—unlike most of the specialty egg color layers—they lay most every day at the same time. I have not the slightest clue of their mix as I was given five roosters from a school teacher who'd hatched them as a life sciences project and I mixed them with a flock of Red Sex-Link hens already in my coop. Either way, I like them just fine. Occasionally, they will lay a gem sprinkled with a galaxy of variously sized speckles.
In the end I love the color pallet I have ended up with, and feel better knowing I have well-behaved winter hardy birds. Each week I deliver in north-central Maine from our little cabin on the peat bogs in Alton, Maine and down along the Penobscot river through Bangor and Brewer. In the summer we offer a list of fresh produce as it comes in season that our egg customers can get delivered along with their weekly egg fix—but it's the eggs that hook them and keep them as loyal customers. Urban folks who can't keep chickens or just don't have the time tale great pride in a bowl full of colorful eggs on their kitchen counter.
White Eggs (3 layers)
Breese roosters went mean time after time and I had to do them all in—though I kept one hen because she's a reliable broody with a kind personality. Breese lay huge rather round white eggs with the faintest hint of pink—only noticeable next to the pure white of the markedly smaller, slightly pointed Polish eggs. Right now, I have two Buff Polish who are beyond adorable and by far the most gentle and calm breed I've had the pleasure of handling. The rooster is from a young lady nearby who was looking to re-home. I already had a few roosters, but I decided the influx of new blood would be good for the tiny mating trio I keep here.
Olive Egg Crosses (2 layers)
I crossed an Easter Egger with a Black-Laced-Silver Wyandotte to get a light green laying Olive Egger named Sally. She is over gray on the neck and black otherwise with intricate patterns on her breast. Sally's eggs often have a few tiny brown speckles on the rounder end. My second Olive Egger is result of crossing a Red Sex-Link with an Ameraucana. Her name is Lucille and she lays large dusty-olive colored eggs which are so rounded I cannot tell the top from the bottom. Much of the time they have white flecks adoring them on one end—which I think indicates the top as this is where speckles appear most for my other breeds. I am in the process of other Olive Egger lines, including a Maran Ameraucana cross, and breeding my Olive eggers back with a Maran I've selected for particularly dark eggs.
Copper Tone Eggs (4 layers)
There is really no substitute for the deep, lavish copper color found in French Black Copper Maran egg lines. I spent a lot of time bidding on hatching eggs on eBay before I found some from a reputable breeder for a fair price. Out of the three dozen hatched, I kept only the darkest layers. Out of the following generation I chose the best standard markings as set forth by the American Poultry Association before they came of mature egg age. We simply could not afford to feed them all and I didn't want to stray too far from markings in order to seek the perfect egg color. The second generation are the birds I have now. They lay a "5" on the Marans of America color chart and, with an influx of high-pedigree hatching eggs this spring, I hope to breed in a deeper color and fresh genetics into my little flock. Currently, I keep four mature French Black Copper Maran hens and one magnificently huge and perfectly marked rooster.
Most stunning in our egg cartons, is one of my Marans crackled-copper eggs. She only lays one or two of these gems a week. They have a reddish brown base and extremely dark copper crackled overlay.
Blue Eggs (2 layers)
Last year I incubated two dozen Ameraucana eggs I'd bought online, to make a long story short, the hatch was not very successful. Four were roosters and one was a hen—the rest were duds. I had to choose between the roosters and in the end I kept the most docile White Ameraucana rooster and have bred her with my lone Splash Ameraucana hen. She lays the most lovely blue eggs and I'm happy to have her in my flock. They are a well-mannered breed which are incredibly winter hardy—they are often the only ones out in the deep freeze white the others will roost early on frigid days. One Easter Egger remains of the old girls I had five years ago. She lays a lovely aqua-blue egg every so often, but not like she used to.
Pink Eggs (1 layer)
A Barred Rock Easter Egger cross I've had for three or four years now lays the pinkest eggs I've ever seen. They are a dark pink, not faint or slightly pink—but a solid dusty rose color of pink. These eggs will often have large, faint pink spots all over and certainly stun my egg customers. I'm not sure how I'll ever reproduce such a lovely egg color as hers, but I am planning to give it a try.
Ho-Hum Brown (2 layers)
Then there are my two beloved mutts. One lays a light tan egg and the other lays a dull brown. They might be boring ho-hum normal chicken egg colors but—unlike most of the specialty egg color layers—they lay most every day at the same time. I have not the slightest clue of their mix as I was given five roosters from a school teacher who'd hatched them as a life sciences project and I mixed them with a flock of Red Sex-Link hens already in my coop. Either way, I like them just fine. Occasionally, they will lay a gem sprinkled with a galaxy of variously sized speckles.
In the end I love the color pallet I have ended up with, and feel better knowing I have well-behaved winter hardy birds. Each week I deliver in north-central Maine from our little cabin on the peat bogs in Alton, Maine and down along the Penobscot river through Bangor and Brewer. In the summer we offer a list of fresh produce as it comes in season that our egg customers can get delivered along with their weekly egg fix—but it's the eggs that hook them and keep them as loyal customers. Urban folks who can't keep chickens or just don't have the time tale great pride in a bowl full of colorful eggs on their kitchen counter.
Beautiful colored eggs 
As much as I LOVE Orpingtons, I prefer as does lazy gardener, small combs & no feather footed.
