Day-old Hatchlings
ORDER YOUR SPRING 2010 HATCHLINGS NOW!
2010 Offerings
We are currently accepting orders for Ancona chicks, White and mixed-color Dorking chicks, Cayuga ducklings, Narragansett turkeys, and started black Muscovies.
Ancona This is an old Italian breed, being indigenous to the central Italian region: Umbria, Lazio, and Le Marche. It is a small, efficient layer, eating little while producing many eggs. It is the premier layer at Yellow House Farm.
Although the cockerels are not truly suited to being roasted, due to their smaller size, this is the type of heritage fowl used for traditional fryers. When bred, extra cockerels of this breed are slaughtered at fourteen to sixteen weeks of age. If raised until eighteen to twenty weeks of age, they make good fricassee fowl.
Anconas are recognized for early maturity, and pullets often begin laying white eggs at as early as 4 1/2 months. They are persistent layers, laying right through our cold New England winters without pause.
We keep both rose-combed and single-combed birds together, although most are rose-combed birds. We have combined a show-bred line of RC's with a production-bred line of SC's with goal of developing a production-bred line of RC's which are more suited to our northern clime. Although with hens it is less important, we strongly recommend selecting only rose-combed cockerels for breeding stock, as they are much less likely to suffer extreme frostbite. Single-comed cockerels will not do well over the coarse of the NH winter without a source of artificial heat.
An added benefit to the Ancona is its elegance and beauty. Black plumage is mottled in lovely white. Anconas are extremely active foragers and, although they stand confinement quite well, will range far in search of food if given the opportunity. Due to their plumage coloring and alertness, Anconas are more recommended for free-range operations if predators are a concern. Larger fowl prove easier prey. This ability to avoid predation to a greater extent than larger, more lathargic fowl, is rooted in their personality, which is cheery, yet wary of danger. When tending Anconas, it is best not to frighten them with hurried actions lest they grow to identify your with danger. Calm gestures and a treat from time to time are a recipe for success.
If you are looking for an excellent layer, Anconas are for you.
White Dorking The White Dorking needs no better resume than their more than 2000 years of service on the homestead. This is an ancient breed dating back to the Roman Empire. Indeed, it is generally accepted that these were the first chickens brought by English settlers to the New World.
Dorkings are a dual purpose fowl for meat and egg production. They are exquisite table fare, which has been their crowning glory for hundreds of years. In 2009 the Ayreshire Farm-ALBC taste-test of various heritage and industrial fowl reaffirmed their position of superiority once again. The White Dorking is the premier roasting fowl offered by Yellow House Farm.
Hens will brood, having some of the best mothering skills in the chicken world. When a hen is broody, however, she does not lay. Dorkings like to spend the summer months mothering, and egg-production may consequently fall off, resuming in the fall after her molt. Therefore, if year round egg-production is the goal, Anconas should be given precedence to Dorkings.
Dorkings tend to be quite gentle and low key. They are exceptional foragers, although more vulnerable to predators than Anconas due to their white feathering and superior size. White Dorkings are extremely rare.
Due to our own hatching needs, Dorkings will be available in limited supply in 2010. Please be willing to be flexible with regards to pick-up dates when ordering Dorkings.
Cayuga Ducks
Cayuga ducks are beautiful solid-colored ducks. We run black, blue, and silver cayugas, and ducklings will be a mix of colors. As cayugas age, their dark feather turn white just as people's do. Our black cayugas are prize winning.
Cayugas eggs are large and delicious. They range in color from white to creamy olive drab to black. The meat is richly flavored. Unlike many breeds of domestic ducks, female cayugas are great mom's.
Cayuga ducks are the only traditional breed of duck originating in the United States. The first documentation is 1809 in the Cayugas Lake District of New York State.
Black Muscovy Ducks
Muscovies are a supreme meat duck. They are very well muscled, lean, and flavorful. Muscovies are ideal for the homestead. They are excellent foragers, excellent and prolific mothers (often raising multiple clutches), free from disease, and full of personality,
Our stock comes from two prize-winning strains and is rather beautiful--in that way that only a muscovy can be beautiful.
Long-lived and productive, muscovies will be a great addition to your farm or homestead.
Narragansett Turkeys
Narragansetts are the original New England turkey. They are strikingly beautiful and quite docile. Narragansetts, unlike industrial turkeys, are capable of natural reproduction, and Narragansett hens make excellent mothers.
Heritage turkey meat is most flavorful--aromatic and multi-dimensional. It is certainly a step up from the ever blander industrial ersatz.
Narragansett turkeys, like all heritgae breed turkeys, are excellent foragers, and will scrounge much of their own food if allowed to roam.
Ordering Information
1) Eggs are set to order. All stock is sold straight run, an approximately 50/50 mix of pullets and cockerels. Breeds cannot be mixed. If both Anconas and Dorkings are desired, one must purchase a minimum of 12 of each. When space is limited, 12 is a good place to begin. However, most homesteads will find that a minimum of 25 chicks is needed. 50 chicks is a common hatching goal when sufficient hatchlings are desired to provide both layers and meat-birds for the freezer. In 2010, only Anconas are offered in lots of 50.
2) Pricing:
Anconas: 12/$48.00, 25/$75.00, 50/$125.00
Dorkings (: 12/$72.00, 25/$125.00
Cayugas: 12/$72.00, 25/$125.00, 50/$200.00
Narragansetts: 6/$48.00, 12/$84.00, 25/$150.00
Muscovies are sold as started ducklings between 6 and 8 weeks of age. They are $15.00 each and will be available by mid-summer.
3) The following order/pick up dates are available for chicks. An order must be received by the order date in order to be included in the requested hatch. Ducklings and Turkey poult orders are scheduled in the order of receipt. Customers will receive a postcard with the anticipated pick-up date.
HATCH #1: Anconas only. Order due date--3/10/2010; order pick up date--4/10/2010
HATCH #2: Anconas only. Order due date--3/24/2010; order pick up date--4/24/2010
HATCH #3: Anconas and Dorkings. Order due date--4/7/2010; order pick up date--5/8/2010
HATCH #4: Anconas and Dorkings. Order due date--4/21/2010; order pick up date--5/22/2010
HATCH #5: Anconas and Dorkings. Order due date--5/5/2010; order pick up date--6/5/2010
HATCH #6: Anconas and Dorkings. Order due date--5/19/2010; order pick up date--6/19/2010
HATCH #7: Anconas and Dorkings. Order due date--6/2/2010; order pick up date--7/3/2010
HATCH #8: Anconas and Dorkings. Order due date--6/16/2010; order pick up date--7/17/2010
4) To order, send check or money order to: Yellow House Farm, 541 route 202, Barrington, NH, 03825. Be sure to include any appropriate contact information, the number of chicks desired (6, 12, 25, 50), and desired pick up date.
5) Orders are not considered booked until full payment is received. An e-mail or phone call of inquiry does not constitute an order.
6) Orders are non-refundable.
7) Only a certain number of eggs will be able to be set for any of the five available hatch dates (see above). So, please order early if you are hoping for a certain date.
8) Stock is picked up at the farm on the assigned pick-up date (see above). Orders that are not picked up on the assigned date will accrue a $5.00 babysitting fee per day. Any stock not picked up within one week of hatch will be forfeit.
9) Unfortunately, we shan't be shipping stock for the 2010 season.
10) We specialize in rare heritage breeds that are excellent for homesteading. In our breeding programs, we breed to the Standard, emphasizing production qualities first and more superficial show qualities second.