“That Ginger one, I reckon she’s their leader.”- Mr. Tweedy
Prepare yourself for tongue-in-cheek puns and quotes from one of our favorite movies, “Chicken Run”!
Note: All page content is 100% Feather-Friendly.
We take pleasure in caring for the health and happiness of our laying flock. In return, our fine feathered girls bestow rich eggs in abundance, comedic entertainment, and an element of completeness to the Ranch. Being a 100% natural homestead, all insects and forage are chemical/pesticide-free, too.
Our flock is currently comprised of Delaware and Blue Australorp, with a few Easter Eggers for their pretty green shells.
Check out our Egg-cellent Recipes and chicken trivia, too!
Highland Glenn Chickens
We strive to improve the heritage chickens we raise. Why? Quite simply, we are working toward hardy birds on our sustainable Ranch, ones that can thrive in harsh conditions without requiring heated housing or supplemental light in order to lay, and broody hens that will raise chicks naturally.
We started out with hatchery chicks, doing careful research to choose heritage breeds that are cold hardy, and fast feathering. From day one, our young chicks did not have the typical appliances used in a brood box. Being off-grid, we utilized a straw bale cold brooder set up and a Mother Hen box (read the details here). This resulted in chickens that from the beginning are well-adapted to cold conditions.
It is our hope that the Mother Hen box will awaken the instinct to brood chicks that have been diluted in most breeds. We will find out soon enough!
Our henhouse is not insulated or heated, nor is it completely draft-free, but it does provide dry shelter from the elements. There are ventilation openings at the top of the north and south walls, and their entry door is open all day and night.
We care very much about every animal on the Ranch! However, we feel a chicken that will not reproduce offspring without human intervention is not realistic to have if you are even remotely serious about being sustainable.
We sell hen-raised pullets upon request for in-person pickup only.
**Please visit our Sale Barn for availability**
While we cannot compete with large hatcheries, nor do we wish to, we can offer a bird that is hatched by way of a broody hen, much more cold hardy, and resilient than those from commercial breeders. We feel providing other sustainable homesteaders in cold winter climes chickens that will further their goals is a valuable service!
A Hen’s Life
The ladies leave their cozy henhouse where they roost at night safe from predators, to enthusiastically enter a world of sunshine, breezes, grass, and soil between their toes! They chase bugs, dust-bathe, and joyously scratch around. As evening settles in, they make their way back to the henhouse for another night of slumber. It’s a happy life, one richly deserved by the lovely hens producing our delicious eggs.
Our hens’ egg yolks are sunny yellow and packed with flavor. Once you’ve tasted pasture-raised eggs, you’ll never want to go back to the pale, tasteless store-bought eggs again! When compared to the USDA nutrient data for commercial eggs, pastured eggs have more of the good stuff and less of the bad stuff.
The hens’ forage-based diet is supplemented with corn & soy-free non-GMO fermented grains, and extra garden produce, herbs, clabbered milk/kefir, as well as homemade herbal suet cakes in winter. The chooks also have occasion to scratch up manure in the pastures hunting for protein-rich bugs and adding their own fertilizing manure, thus strengthening the soil and improving the pasture. They are healthy and active with bright combs and glistening plumage!
When the hens are too old to lay eggs they are retired to the freezer with gratitude. The rich flavor of these stewing chickens is fantastic!