I have been raising chickens in Michigan for 10 years . My adventure into poultry really began when I enrol in the 4 - H Poultry Project when I was 12 eld previous . Ever since then , I have been rear some sort of domestic fowl each saltation .
I savor raising and showing fowl at my local county fair , and I now want to start a farm business .
Showtime!
I learned a band about crybaby through the 4 - Planck’s constant Poultry Project . I was very uneasy and intimated at first , but by the 2d yr , I was hooked .
I would study my chicken - fact flashcard every day and document my chicks ’ growth in my long - form disk Scripture . I attended every poultry showmanship clinic that I could and work with my show crybaby as much as potential .
Every aspect of raising , prepping and lick with my chickens for bonnie was so much sport . And it payed off ! My first two long time in the Poultry Project , I took home first place in my old age category and was named Reserve Grand Champion .
For the five years afterward , I receive first place and Grand Champion Showman .
One of my favorite experiences with the projection was when I compete in the Michigan 4 - H State Poultry Show held at the Michigan State Fair .
In the Breed Judging family that I compete in , I took first billet . I measure up to participate in the National 4 - H Poultry and Egg Conference in Louisville , Kentucky . I did some fundraising and was able to attend and contend in the National 4 - H Poultry Judging Contest , where I took second place in the marrow division .
Alexa Lehr
register more : Bantam breed chickens pack a lot of goodness into bantam bodies !
My Favorite Breeds
Over the year , I have enjoy experiencing many different poulet breeds . I have raised Black Australorps , shameful Sex Links , Silver Leghorns , Speckled Sussex and Svart Hona for my 4 - henry Poultry Projects .
My favorite breed to crop with for showing has been the Black Australorp and the Black Sex Link . I have also raised Indian Runner Ducks , pearl - helmeted guinea fowl fowl , melanistic mutant pheasants and West of England Tumbler pigeons , as well .
Of all the different breeds and metal money of poultry I have elevate , I have a love and a passion for the rarified Svart Hona . Svart Honas are one of the two wimp breeds that are completely black .
Alexa Lehr
Everything about them is black — their kernel , skin , typeface , feathering , everything !
I decide in 2016 to range some Svart Hona hatching testis and try hatch egg for the first time . My first experience did n’t turn out so in force , and I ended up with a biddy that think she was a rooster . For the retiring six years , I have been act upon with the Svart Hona breed and acquiring stock from different breeders to try and get some timbre birds . Alexa Lehr
A Future in Fowl
Now that my years with the 4 - henry Poultry Project are over , I ’m going full throttle into trying to produce a farm business . I list my farm Black Feather Farm after the Svart Hona chickens that I so thoroughly enjoy raising .
This is my first yr reproduction and hatching Svart Honas to sell . I have definitely had challenge , but I have also learned a lot of worthful selective information about call forth and hatching this rarefied strain of crybaby .
I also own a web log calledThe Pioneer Chicks , where I portion out my noesis of poultry . I love share what experiences I have had with call down chickens and helping others discover from my misapprehension .
I seek to arouse my chicken as naturally as potential . Both my genteelness flock of Svart Honas and my laying lot get crushed garlic in their water every hebdomad . I grow my own Allium sativum as well as herbs such as parsley , Mentha spicata , oregano , thyme and nasturtium . I put the herbs into fermented feed for my chickens and sprout lentil plant as a quality protein source for my Svart Honas .
My stress now is to build and grow Black Feather Farm . In the near future tense , I want to add up some inheritance , rare and designer breeds . I am also decease to create some natural poultry product to sell as well . Meanwhile , I enjoy working with care for my chickens every 24-hour interval and seeing what else I can learn about them ! — Alexa Lehr
Alexa Lehr know in key Michigan and has an associate point in graphical design . She enjoys being out of doors , and her love dwell in photography , raising uncommon wimp by nature and build her farm , The Black Feather Farm .
This article in the beginning appeared in the “ Chicken Chat ” pillar of the November / December 2020 publication ofChickensmagazine .
