A great part of any farm, urban or full size, is chickens! Chickens eat your food and garden scraps and, in return, give you love (awwww), nutrient rich manure, and eggs!
Chickens at Hollyhill Hummingbird Farm
At our Santa Rosa Farm we have tried 6 different popular home garden varieties of chickens. Each variety has a different look, level of friendliness, and egg color. Let’s meet the girls!
| Variety | Weight | Egg Color | Eggs per year | Our Notes |
| Columbian Wyandotte | 8 lbs | cream to brown | up to 200 | friendly, put on weight quickly – good if you are looking to eat your roosters |
| Golden Comet | 5-6 lbs | red-brown | 250-300 | friendly, fun chickens, each one might look different enough for you to tell them apart |
| Easter Egger | 4 lbs | blue, green, olive…? | 200 | Lisa’s top pick! Super friendly from day one, each one looks different so it’s easy to tell them apart, fun egg colors! |
| Silver Spangled Hamburg | 4 lbs | white | 200+ | beautiful, good at foraging, but shy and skiddish, great for avoiding predators but not a good choice for those who like to hold their birds |
| Barred Plymouth Rock | 6 lbs | light brown | 200-300 | Dave’s top pick! a great backyard variety, easy to pick up, enjoy sitting in your lap, great at watching out for threats and hiding from predators |
| Buff Orpington | 6-8 lbs | light brown | 150 | super friendly, we call them the lap-dog of chickens, they enjoy cuddling and sitting in your lap and are very calm |
Our chickens were born July 20, 2016. Below are pictures of the girls at just a few days old, 8 weeks old, and a few months old.
Columbian Wyandotte
Golden Comet
Easter Egger
Silver Spangled Hamburg
Barred Plymouth Rock
Buff Orpington
Previously…
At our Cupertino location we had a flock of “Barred Plymouth Rocks”. They are a heritage breed which means that they breed true and may sustain their flock, unlike the hybrid chickens used by the commercial flocks. They are popular for the home farmer as they are good at foraging, watching out for predators, and they breed easily.
