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Anthony Stokes 678-863-9612
About Our Chickens We raise three different types of chickens, and sometimes a fourth. Most of our hens are high-production birds with a lot of Rhode Island Red in their background. They are obvious because of their red color. They are very efficient and produce the bulk of our eggs. The partridge-colored birds with beard muffs are descended from chickens kept by the Arauca Indians in Chile. They lay far fewer eggs, but in lovely shades of olive and turquoise. The last group are called Cochins and are mostly feathers. They even have feathers on their legs. They are important because they really like to raise babies. They don't care who lays the eggs. They just want to mother them.
The other group of chickens which we only rarely keep are for meat production. They lay very few eggs but are kept for their flavorful meat. We also keep a rooster around even though they aren't necessary for egg production. I've just always found that my hens squabble a lot less if there's a rooster on the farm!
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Our
beef cattle thrive on open pastures and sunshine, with all
the grass, hay, and water they want. They also enjoy an all-natural seaweed and salt mixture to build strong bodies and
immune systems. On rare occasion, we give a therapeutic dose
of medicine to an animal to save its life, but unlike
commercial producers, we never give daily antibiotics or
hormones. Most of our animals are completely antibiotic- and
hormone-free. We keep records of any animal that has needed
life saving medicines and will share that information at
your request.
Farm fresh eggs from wild foraging hens
are one of my favorite foods. We keep a flock of about 30
hens (and one very happy rooster). They are a major work
force here at Stokes Family Farm. They clean up spilled feed
that would otherwise be wasted. They clear parasites from
the pastures. And they provide high-nitrogen manure for
vegetables to be sweet and delicious. As a bonus, we have a
few dozen of the best tasting, prettiest, green and brown-shelled eggs available for our customers every Saturday.
(Unfortunately, production is very limited.)
Our birds work as
a part of a complete, environmentally-sound system. If we
added a few hundred more, our fields would turn brown and
die from too much manure. As a result, production is
limited, and the waiting list is long. All eggs must be
pre-ordered by e-mail (see sidebar, top). Orders can be placed
by email, starting at noon
each Saturday for the following Saturday's pickup. If I'm
sold out for the upcoming week, I'll hold your order for
the next available pickup date. I cannot promise eggs
for specific days in the future. Please forgive me, but
Mother Nature and the hens make these decisions.
