Tater Tot has a visit from his Mom!

Although Tater Tot had to come live with us, his mom, Mary, still loves him very much and visits as often as she can.  Here are just a few pics from Mary's visit last month and she was here again a few days ago.  He loves spending time with his mom, especially since she always brings him goodies!

How do we raise our birds?

Many people are very curious as to how we raise our birds here.  I've decided to share a little insight as to what we do to keep our poultry and peafowl health.                                                  

Eggs ready to begin hatching

                                                                                                                             Most all of our birds have been hatched on the farm.  For 3 weeks after they've hatched we keep them in our "nursery" area where they are closely monitored and kept with heat lamps and food at all times.  We keep them here for 3 weeks before moving them to our brooder because they are on a special diet, medicated feed, for their first 3 weeks.  Once they are moved to the brooder their food is changed depending on their breed.  They are then kept there until they are 2 months of age or until they are able to be placed on the ground in their own enclosure.  Before leaving the brooder they are vaccinated against fowl pox. Fowl pox is a disease transmitted through mosquitoes or other infected birds.  This is something that I will blog about in the near future.  Fowl Pox is something you should be well aware of because it is not a pretty thing to go through, it's highly contagious from bird to bird, and sadly, a minimal number     of the poultry/peafowl will not survive.**                                   

Peachicks in the brooder

Our Russian Orlof "Feed" sleeping
in the food dish as usual.  He has
a taped foot to correct his crooked
toes. Something I will blog about
in the near future.

Once our birds are outside we follow a deworming schedule to keep them as free from parasites as possible.

As we do our daily clean up, feeding and watering, we keep an eye out on all the birds for strange behavior, wounds, limping etc. so that we are able to treat them immediately.  We have certain medications on hand to treat certain things right away and for other things we have a great vet that is able to treat our birds.  If you are considering getting a bird I would advise you to make sure you have a vet that is able to treat them should the need arise.

Again, just a little insight as to what we do here for our birds.  If you have any questions or would like more specifics please feel free to contact us:

SpringhillHPC@gmail.com

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**If you would like more information about fowl pox before I blog on it feel free to visit this site.  The images are a little disturbing. We've had fowl pox here, but I've never seen a case as bad as those they have displayed.

Michigan Dept. Of Natural Resources

We by no means want to scare you, but we want you to be well aware of having your birds vaccinated.

Very busy day, plus a little trivia!

Big thanks to Laura for coming to pick up the free silky roosters we were giving away.  She took them all!!  We are happy to see that we could assist in the process of her being able to start her own silky line!


Today has been a super busy day at the farm and lots of volunteer inquiries.  I can't wait to meet our new volunteers on Saturday!


A little trivia for you. Check out this picture of one of our guests, Tater Tot...... 
Question:  What do you think happened to this peacock? (answer follows)

Tater was so curious about me with camera that I couldn't get a picture of him from inside of his enclosure without his beak against the lens. 

Answer: There is a particular gene that causes this deformity at birth.  Tater Tot has no idea that he's any different than the rest and eats with no problem.  Due to the genetic defect he will not be allowed to breed and is kept strictly as a pet.  Although we have never had this problem thus far in our breeding program, we would not continue to breed any parents that produce this defect.

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What is Heritage Poultry??

Check this link out to get more information on the breeds we are trying to preserve and their interesting history.

Heritage Chickens on the Critical list

So far we have...... I believe it's 8, but I will have to check with the boss on that one.  


Want to help contribute to our cause??  We welcome donations in any amount.  It all adds up and allows us to feed and vet the birds here.

What are we? Who are we? Where are we?

We are a Florida state recognized non profit organization.  We are a hands on educational farm that focuses on raising and breeding heritage poultry on the critical list, meaning they are pretty much endangered.  Along side the breeding of these particular chickens we also raise and breed peacocks in almost all colors imaginable.  


Since we are an educational farm we do have the curriculum here for the 4H and FFA programs.  We also have birds here that are of show quality and encourage those children to visit us for a closer look before picking their pet.  It doesn't stop with 4H and FFA, we also cater to the general public that is looking to learn a few things about these birds.  Everyone that comes by has a blast on learning, being hands on, and asking all the questions they've never been able to ask before.  We do our best to make anyone's experience here a fun and exiting.  


Volunteers?? Yes, we have them, and need more!  We have several volunteers and always need more for every aspect of the farm, from feeding and watering, to the paperwork and fund raising that goes on behind the scenes.  We do our best to place our volunteers where their skills can be best utilized here.


The farm is located in Spring Hill, Florida.  The main area is on 2.5 acres and seems to be expanding.


If you are interested in coming by to see what we do and what we are all about please contact us @ springhillhpc@gmail.com 

We are getting started!!

We are just getting started so please bare with us!  Give me another day or two and I will have more information posted about us along with a few pictures of our farm!