Welcome to Cranky Cluckers Farm! We are so excited you stopped by to see what we are up to! Let me start by telling you a little about us.
Cranky Cluckers Farm was established in October of 2018 on our 2 acres by my husband, Derek, and myself. Derek insisted I stop giving away all the eggs my chickens were producing! We started selling them to local food markets, allowing us to recoup some of our costs in raising them. Having only Easter Eggers at the time, I started to invest in other breeds and select birds and breeds that I wanted to have on our farm. We bought an incubator and haven’t looked back!
I wanted to select breeds that were friendly, productive, and laid eggs in a variety of colors. Nothing is prettier than collecting eggs and having all the colors mixed in the basket. Our eggs colors are light pink, blue, light and dark green, light brown, and dark chocolate brown. We are able to get so many colors because we have several breeds on the farm. There are Black Copper Marans, which lay a lovely dark chocolate color; Ameracaunas, which lay blue eggs; Easter Eggers, which lay pink, brown, and green eggs; Olive Eggers, which lay a dark, olive green egg; and Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, which lay light brown eggs. We also have a range of sizes from peewee (<42 g) to jumbo (>70 g). The difference in sizes is due to breed as well, but also to the age of the hen. Younger hens tend to lay smaller eggs at first and the eggs get larger as they age.
I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention how we tend our birds. Our birds are coop kept for their safety, but let out several times a week to forage and free range our property. They have ad libitum access to life stage appropriate feed and water. I supplement oyster shell (for calcium) and mealworms (as a treat once a week!). We celebrate #MealwormSaturday weekly. I swear my birds know what day of the week it is now! Did you know that birds are naturally long day breeders? That just means that they lay more eggs during the long days of the year (spring and summer) and less eggs during the short days of the year (fall and winter). I let my hens take a break during these low light times and rest from all their work during the long days. This is when birds will molt and need extra nutrition to rebuild their feathers, so we let them have that break and anxiously await eggs the next season!
Since Cranky Cluckers’ humble beginnings, we are now on a 12 acre farm and while the eggs from our laying hens are still our primary product, we are also growing fruits and vegetables, learning about canning, and have equines! We currently have one horse, Lena (you can see her taking a nap on a summer day in the photo above!), and two donkeys, Binx and Jack. We plan to continue growing our farm to offer more products and services!
We hope you’ll follow along as we are on this journey!
Tiffany and Derek