Originating in France and named for the port town of Marans, this breed is prized for laying the darkest eggs in the chicken world.  From a deep speckled chocolate to reddish terra cotta, finding their eggs in the coop is always like discovering treasure. 

James Bond and Queen Elizabeth II supposedly preferred Marans eggs - whether for their beauty or the belief that the heavier bloom on them makes them safer to eat, it's unclear.

Early spring season eggs will be darker than later season eggs as the hens 'run out of ink' later in the year.  After their molt and winter rest, the color will darken.

A standard sized bird with a calm temperament.  We are currently working on improving the type and feather quality our self-blue (also called 'lavender') birds.  Ameraucanas (not to be confused with 'Americanas' or Easter Eggers) have muffs and beards, a small comb, and lay a pastel blue egg.

Their small comb lends itself well to our cold Northern winters, and even without supplemental lighting, these birds are some of our most consistent off-season layers.  Our Ameraucanas have a calm and quiet temperament, and their unusual coloring and lovely eggs add good variety to any flock.

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Silkie chickens are the lapdogs of the chicken world.  They are calm and friendly, and their fluffy, non-barbed plumage make them particularly soft .  Silkies are a bantam breed (meaning they are smaller than a standard chicken) and may not do well in flocks with larger birds.  They lay small cream colored eggs and often go broody.  If given the opportunity to hatch chicks, they make excellent mothers.

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Silkies are fibromelanistic birds - their skin, muscles, and bones are black.  They also have a fifth toe on their feathery feet.

We breed to the APA Standard of Perfection for bearded silkies in white, black, and buff.

Our Olive Eggers are frequent layers of beautiful green eggs in shades from a pale sage to deepest olive green.  We have one group which consistently lays a light/medium green with dark brown speckles which reminds me of mint chip ice cream.  Our Olive Eggers are large, stoic birds that most often feather out in either white or black.  

Icelandic chickens are a land race- there is no one standard look for them, they will often have a wide variety of feather patterns and colors.  They are intense foragers and like a lot of space to run and hunt down bugs.  They do incredibly well in below zero temperatures and ours lay all through the year.  Their eggs are small and cream colored, similar to silkie eggs.  Unlike silkies, they have no trouble integrating into a flock of larger birds.  Icelandics are not considered bantams, but they are small for a standard sized chicken.  They will also go broody and hatch their own young if given the chance.

This is our project line of layers- the hens lay eggs in pastel shades of grey, pink, and purple.  What makes these eggs such interesting colors is the abnormally heavy bloom on the outside of the shell.  If you wet these eggs, you'll find the color underneath to be a simple brown or green.

Birds may feather out white or black.  White Heavy Bloom Layers are descended from White Marans, while the black ones are descended from Black Copper Marans.

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Our barn mix is an assorted group- including genetics from: Barred Rocks, Easter Eggers, Pearl Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, Marans, Icelandics, and Olive Eggers.  They lay a variety of eggs from white to tan and medium brown.  The eggs from these birds usually nicely round out an egg rainbow, plus they're all very consistent layers.