Welcome to 2018

Welcome to 2018!!

At home, in Bruce County, 2018 has included some extreme weather changes.  January started out with two weeks of extreme cold and heavy snow.  This was quickly followed by a 20 degree rise in temperature that resulted in record flooding, as all our snow melted in 24 hours.  Thankfully we have a full barn this winter and everybody is dry and warm!  The same is true in the house.  We have had some bus cancellations and storm stayed guests that have kept our home full of big meals and great visiting.

When I am not feeding people or poultry, I use this time of year to look back on the past season and plan for the next one.

2017 was an exciting year for the poultry part of our operation.  We adopted the Cirrus Hill Farm Chantecler Breeding flock and many of their loyal customers.  What a wonderful responsibility.  The transition was not without a few bumps along the road, but we really enjoyed the hundreds of chicks and the dozens of people we met.  Each person had a unique story about how they make room for heritage poultry in their lives.  Our own story was featured in The Rural Voice, a local agricultural magazine.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us with patience while we transitioned to a larger operation quite quickly.

We are looking forward to more great people and chicks for the 2018 season.  You will find our website up to date and ready to go.  There are only a few changes to make note of:

Chicks and Poults

Day old  Chantecler chicks and Beltsville small white turkey poults available for on farm pick up, (we can not ship live birds.)

• Order now to ensure availability.  We are taking pre-orders now for chicks and we will begin filling them in early march.
• No Minimum order.  We have eliminated the minimum order for chicks.  I would still recommend that you start with a full hatch tray if you are hoping to establish a small personal breeding flock.  The full tray provides the best price per chick and enough genetic diversity to ensure a healthy small flock for many generations.  If you just need a few chicks you can now order in smaller numbers.
  
• Poults available.  We still have a family flock of our beloved Beltsville small white turkeys.  We will have a few poults available for anyone looking to add a some to their chick order.  If you are looking for a large number or to breed your own then I will happily make arrangements with Cirrus Hill Farm to get you some pedigreed stock from their larger breeding flock.

Fertile Eggs

Little has changed in our fertile eggs shipping system, but we only have room for a few more pre-orders this year.  To ensure we can fill all the orders we are limiting the number we are taking at this time.  If your order was carried over from last year, you will be at the top of the list this year.  You can expect to hear from us as soon as the weather starts to warm up enough for shipping.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Chanteclers or placing an order.  While the ground is still frozen I have an excellent response time 🙂

I hope this season finds you all safe, warm and contented through the slower season.

Thank you for your support of rare breeds.

Heather Newman