Old Homeplace Farm

Our chicken flock consists of New Hampshire Reds, a heritage dual-purpose breed that would have been at home on most any American farm over the past 200 years. 

As their name suggests, dual-purpose breeds do admirably well both laying eggs and growing into broilers.  Some chicken breeds specialize in one category or the other, but we value the versatility exhibited by our flock.

When our pastures are growing we manage our flock with movable electrified netting.  While this allows us to determine where the chickens will forage, its primary purpose is to protect the flock from predation.  As with our other animals, we maintain our chickens with rotational grazing.  After the flock has fed on a plot of pasture for several days (they particularly like white clover and curly dock) we move the netting to a fresh section.

We prefer to keep all of our animals on pasture as much as possible - even the chickens.  However, in 2010 we began overwintering our chickens in the hoophouse.  The flock seemed to enjoy the balmy temperatures, and egg production remained relatively high all winter long.