Black Jersey Giants

Black Jersey Giants are a heritage breed of chickens. We first saw them at a pioneer village. They are very big (as the name implies) and have black feathers (which the name also implies). An -wonder of all wonders- they originated in the Jersey area! What a surprise! They are a dual purpose bird with great tasting meat, and nice brown eggs. They look very pretty roaming around the barnyard, especially the roosters with their big red combs and shiny black feathers! We have had great luck with them, so I recommend them to anyone in search of a dual purpose bird that really is dual purpose!

Silkie Chickens

Silkies are very funny looking birds. First of all, their skin, bones and organs are black, but their "feathers" are white. Their "feathers" aren't really even feathers... they stay fluffy and soft. They have little pom-poms on their heads so they look like poodles. Silkies are a delicacy to some, but we've never eaten them because they are about the size of a Jungle Fowl. We bring them to the fur and feathers show, where we can get a decent price for them. When they are crossed with other types of chickens, they have interesting results... very soft feathers and half pom-poms! Silkies are great if you have a hobby farm, and they come in a variety of colours, although we've only had white. This isn't a great picture, and I'll put a better one on as soon as I find my picture uploader thing...

Jungle Fowl

Our Jungle Fowl were a present (well... not really) from a relative who was done observing their behaviour. More likely, he decided that he just didn't like them as we have. Jungle Fowl are a old type of chicken; one of the first so at first we tried to keep them separate but that didn't work to well because they are really good at getting out of fences. Now they are just sort of there, and not much use at all because their eggs are about the size of a golf ball. You also can't eat them because they are much to small. We haven't really found any good use for them except to look like pretty little lawn ornaments... when they stay still that is!

Rouen Ducks

Rouen ducks to Pekins are what domestic turkeys are to wild turkeys; fatter yet still pretty. Rouen ducks have the colouring of a mallard duck, but have the shape of a Pekin. We had 2 called Sue and Bryce. Sadly, Bryce died last year. We got them to see if we liked their meat but got to attached to them so we never tried. They are very likable ducks so I definitely recommend them.

Runner Ducks

Runner ducks are the most hilarious ducks I've ever seen! They walk standing straight up and resemble bowling pins. When they're standing still you have to look around to make sure that there's no bowling ball coming to knock them over. They come in a variety of colours including white, chocolate, black, pencilled, fawn, and 2 shades of blue. We've had all of those colours, and they look like a motley bunch running all over the farm! So far, everybody who's met them has fallen in love with their comical behavior and shape. It simply must be said that they are natures idea of a joke!

Muscovy Ducks

Muscovy ducks have white feathers and puffy red skin around their eyes, which makes them look rather ugly. They also have beady little red eyes which they use to stare at you until you freak out and run away. They are really cute ducklings; fuzzy and yellow with a little black cap, but as they grow older, the red around their eyes come out and they go from being cute and cuddly, to somewhat evil looking. They have good meat and we do a batch of them every year. We sell lots of them before they're (hem) done in, but we usually have a couple in the freezer that you can buy on whim.

African geese

African geese are expensive. We however managed to obtain one for free! Every spring and fall there is the fur and feathers show, which we go to at least once every year to buy and sell birds. African geese go for 100 dollars each at this show. By the time we got there, they were also all sold, so we thought that we were out of luck and would have to wait another year to get one. However, we found someone who had bought an African goose, which had laid an egg. We offered to buy the egg, but they gave it to us for free! We brought it home with us and put it into our incubator in the basement. Surprisingly, it hatched! I named the goose Titus and he now roams around with all the other fowl. African geese are very pretty, and if you spend time with them, they get pretty tame. As with other geese, I don't suggest getting one if you have children there often. Titus is the dark one, and all the others are Muscovy ducks.

Pekin Ducks

Pekin ducks are your typical white, fat ducks. We had a Pekin duck (called Sir Ducks-a-lot) who unfortunately got smushed by a door this year. They are a very pretty snowy white duck with bright orange feet. They have great meat and love to swim.

Emden Geese

Like Canadian geese, Emden geese are territorial and vicious. In 2007 we decided to try out some geese. We bought and raised the goslings to see if we liked having geese, and to see if we liked the meat. To say the least, we like the meat, but not the geese. We kept a breeding pair and called them Carter and Lucy. When they were younger, the geese were pretty tame to our family. This changed as they got older. At one point, if you got near Carter, he would hiss at you and if you didn't go away, he would grab onto your leg with his serrated bill and beat you with his wings. Lucy laid an egg... once. Last year we got Carter and Lucy to hatch and take care of some goslings. They grew to be even more fierce than their parents but we kept an additional one to keep our breeding program going. Or so we thought. We accidentally managed to keep 3 males! So now they run rampant in the barnyard terrifying anybody that comes their way... I don't suggest that anyone who has to get near them should get them. Especially if they have other animals or children.

Broad Breasted Bronze Turkeys

Broad Breasted bronze turkeys look like wild turkeys, but as the name implies, they are really more like domestic turkeys (broader breast) with pretty feathers. We've had good luck with them so far, and this year we bought 10 to sell. So far none of them have died from stupid reasons... except for the one that got eaten by a hawk!

Domestic turkeys

We've raised our share of domestic turkeys, and we've decided that they just aren't the thing for us. First of all, they are very stupid and they will stand outside in the rain if you don't herd them back into their house. They also get very big, and on one occasion we've had one get so big that it couldn't get through the door of the house. His name was Mr. Fluffy. Domestic turkeys just aren't as interesting as wild turkeys, or broad breasted bronze turkeys, so we have just about given up on them.

Wild Turkeys

George is our very first turkey. We've had him from the very beginning! Wild turkeys aren't as big as the commercial turkeys, but they have beautiful feathers, and are quite comical. We usually get them as polts (babies), but we've also hatched some of the eggs from our breeding pair (George and a hen). As they grow up, the turkeys have to learn to display and to gobble. It is actually really funny to watch these little turkeys (a bit less than a foot tall) following George and trying to copy what he does. Their gobble is high-pitched and fully puffed up they're only about the size of a soccer ball. You can only eat a wild turkey in the first year or two of their life; after that they get really tough and you get attached to them. Wild turkeys make very good pets, especially if you have them from a young age and spend time with them. We had one wild turkey called Mr.DodoHead, and he was so tame that you could walk up to him and pet him!