By now, the world knows that I am obsessed with silkie chickens and other fancy breeds. They’re soft, fluffy and make great pets! But we need these chickens do a job, which unfortunately isn’t cuddling with me. I decided to look into how productive these fancy breeds are for the jobs we need them to do, fertilizing, pest control and laying.

I did some research and found out that when it comes to pooping and eating bugs, all chickens do a pretty good job at that. So the real question is, will fancy chickens be as productive laying eggs as a more standard breed? The simple (and sad) answer is no. A hybrid layer, such as a Golden Comet will lay around 280 eggs a year, which is ideal for our needs.  A silkie chicken however, is less reliable with the amount of eggs they produce, (under 170 per year on average). They have seasons of high production then their rates begin to taper off in the colder months. Further, their eggs are much smaller than the conventional egg we are used to seeing in stores, making their eggs not as desirable. Most people actually just keep silkies as fun pets, and not so much for eggs.

So the sad truth is that if we want chickens that are going to provide us a lot of eggs, silkies are not the chicken for the job. Thus, the search continues for a cool looking chicken that produces the amount of eggs we need.

One important focus for the chicken team, is to make this project appealing to the administration in any way possible, and what better way to get their attention than with a solar powered chicken tractor! Yes, they exist! As ridiculous as this idea may sound, there could be a great interest for the school to look into such a project. One way we could get students involved in LaFarm and have the chickens play a role as a teaching tool is to have an engineering class create this crazy machine. The students get a hands on learning experience and the chickens get a mobile home!

A drawback to the classic stationary chicken tractor is that it has to be moved by hand every so often to make sure the chickens are covering enough ground to till the soil, eat pests and fertilize. With a solar powered chicken tractor, this takes one job off the hands of the busy farmers and student volunteers. Plus, this could be a great bragging point for the school on our sustainability page which they are always looking to improve.

Here’s an example of what it would look like:

A few months ago in the summer, I came across a Facebook page by the name of “Raising Chickens without the Drama”. I joined it mostly because I thought the name was funny, but it has since become a very useful tool on this chicken journey. It’s 8,000+ members are chicken lovers from all over the country! Members will post trying to sell and pass along roosters, or concerned chicken owners will post asking questions about sick chickens.

Although this is a much less formal way of getting information on chickens, the honesty of the members and years of experience make up for the lack of proper grammar. One of my biggest concerns with getting chickens for LaFarm is the prospect of chicken disease. These illnesses are easily spread among a flock and can often take the whole coop out in a matter of weeks. This page has given me a better understanding of common chicken illnesses, infections and skin diseases. While preventing them isn’t always simple, these people have a wealth of knowledge on curing illnesses and how to protect the rest of the flock.

Other tips on this page includes what breeds get along well, how to make your own chicken feed and what to do with aggressive roosters. I am hoping that as we get closer to the implementation stage of the chicken farm, this community will be a great resource to us.