Sunshine Mesa Farm
Chirping
- Jan 7, 2018
- 9
- 33
- 54
Hello, I am a “kind of” new member but have been using Backyard Chickens as an invaluable reference since March of last year when we got our first two backyard chickens in Aurora, CO. My poor husband, who built a beautiful coop for them, had no idea what he was in for!
Those girls completely changed our life. I grew up in Denver and knew nothing about chickens, but I fell in love. As I learned about the horrible treatment of most factory birds, I decided wanted to build a better, pasture based egg farm.
Long story short we bought a 20 acre farm in February, and we now have about 160 laying hens and several roosters.
We were incredibly fortunate to source our chicks directly from Dr. Tom Whiting as we live 40 minutes from his hatchery. We got 90 various brown egg birds (Wellsummers, his ISA’s, and Silver Columbians, plus a few others), 50 Whiting True Blues, and 30 Leghorns. Oh, and we have one wonderful, friendly Svart Hona rooster I hatched myself. I’ve been really pleased with the quality, health, temperament, and laying ability of these birds. Most of our birds are extremely friendly and when people visit the farm, they are amazed to see a flock of birds run TOWARDS them instead of away.
The chickens live in our big barn and have outdoor pasture access every day. We feed corn/soy free organic feed supplemented with the alfalfa we baled over the summer. I am excited to rotate them on the pasture when spring comes.
We just officially launched Sunshine Mesa Farm on Facebook. Our goal is to make a better life for every bird I can and educate people about the benefits of eggs from healthy, happy hens. Our “signature” product is our Rainbow Dozens, thus the wide variety of breeds.
We are getting about 70 eggs a day already, and have started selling them locally. Colorado has some good laws around small producers, so I just bought me egg cleaning equipment and sent away for my producer’s license so I can sell to retail stores.
We hope to grow our farm, and be both a responsible egg producer and a voice of advocacy for humane treatment of chickens. It has been a wonderful experience so far and I owe a lot to this fantastic community for getting it all going. Thanks to all those who contribute and encourage new flock keepers!
(PS our FB page is www.facebook.com/SunshineMesaFarm/ if you want to check us out - I try and post lots of pics there!)
Those girls completely changed our life. I grew up in Denver and knew nothing about chickens, but I fell in love. As I learned about the horrible treatment of most factory birds, I decided wanted to build a better, pasture based egg farm.
Long story short we bought a 20 acre farm in February, and we now have about 160 laying hens and several roosters.
We were incredibly fortunate to source our chicks directly from Dr. Tom Whiting as we live 40 minutes from his hatchery. We got 90 various brown egg birds (Wellsummers, his ISA’s, and Silver Columbians, plus a few others), 50 Whiting True Blues, and 30 Leghorns. Oh, and we have one wonderful, friendly Svart Hona rooster I hatched myself. I’ve been really pleased with the quality, health, temperament, and laying ability of these birds. Most of our birds are extremely friendly and when people visit the farm, they are amazed to see a flock of birds run TOWARDS them instead of away.
The chickens live in our big barn and have outdoor pasture access every day. We feed corn/soy free organic feed supplemented with the alfalfa we baled over the summer. I am excited to rotate them on the pasture when spring comes.
We just officially launched Sunshine Mesa Farm on Facebook. Our goal is to make a better life for every bird I can and educate people about the benefits of eggs from healthy, happy hens. Our “signature” product is our Rainbow Dozens, thus the wide variety of breeds.
We are getting about 70 eggs a day already, and have started selling them locally. Colorado has some good laws around small producers, so I just bought me egg cleaning equipment and sent away for my producer’s license so I can sell to retail stores.
We hope to grow our farm, and be both a responsible egg producer and a voice of advocacy for humane treatment of chickens. It has been a wonderful experience so far and I owe a lot to this fantastic community for getting it all going. Thanks to all those who contribute and encourage new flock keepers!
(PS our FB page is www.facebook.com/SunshineMesaFarm/ if you want to check us out - I try and post lots of pics there!)