The Waterbrook Flock

Ah, where to begin?  Which came first, the chicken or the egg?  

From humble beginnings (two dyed Easter chicks from our generous uncle) over a decade ago, the Waterbrook Farm flock has increased to a large multi-generational family of healthy birds.    We have three separate chicken coops, guarded by their respective roosters, who, besides keeping peace in the coop and protecting the hens, notify us that the sun has yet again risen on a new day.  It never gets old!  Our lovely hens are extremely productive, and unless they are molting or incubating eggs, we gather an abundance of brown and blue eggs in the evening.  We have a variety of different breeds, but as we allow the hens to hatch their own clutches, we often end up with combination birds.  We introduce new chickens to the flock every few years to maintain healthy genetics.  Some of the breeds we currently have are Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Buff Orphington, Black Australorp, and Araucanas.

Benito is a prince among roosters.

The bugs don't stand a chance!

  

Our beautiful feather-footed hen, Darby, is in the mothering mood.

Resting after the birth experience

Our chickens love to forage in the woods and pastures, eating grass and bugs.  We feed them a freshly ground mixture of corn, oats, and soybeans that we buy from a local farmer.  They are spoiled now and simply won't eat any other type of feed. 

 

Chickens are certainly one of God's most interesting creatures.  You can read every book in the world about them, and they will still surprise you.  One little rooster decided he was going to sleep on our mare's back at night and continually made his way into her stall!  And she, surprisingly, didn't mind.  

We have found that children are especially drawn to chickens.  In fact, many of our birds that have names received their titles from the children who come to visit.  Maybe that's not so surprising, since that was the first task given to man in Eden.  

Our dear friend and her hen, "Miss Silkie"