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We grow heritage birds, most of which are listed on the American Livestock Breeds Conservacy, Conservation listings. Growing heritage breeds instead of commercial breeds has it's own advantages. We grow heritage chickens to help preserve old fashioned American farming and food traditions, by growing heritage breeds for meat and eggs, it encourages consumers, breeders and hatcheries to carry more breeding stock and to collect and hatch heritage chicken eggs, thus reducing the demand for genetically modified chickens and increasing the demand for heritage breeds. Heritage chickens are natural breeders, and do not require artificial insemination, many heritage breeds go broody and set their own eggs, which is a very nice perk and thus reducing the need for incubators, hatchers and brooders.

These chickens come in all colors and sizes, the eggs they lay are also a variety of colors, shapes and sizes, you never know what your going to get, from teenie-tiny eggs to giant double yolkers, from white to dark green. Heritage chickens mature between 4 - 8 months from hatch, depending on breed and growing conditions. They are fantastic foragers, they scratch for bugs, grubbs and miniature seeds, they love to dig fox-holes to hang out in and molt, generally they get along well with each other, once they have established their pecking order, yes, even the roosters get along just fine.

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Heritage chickens fly when necessary to reach higher ground. At night chickens have poor eye sight and they are smart about flying up high to roost for the night, this helps to protect them from predators, many of our chickens like to go inside their coops for the night, where they feel safe and secure.

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Many heritage breeds of livestock are becoming rare, endangered and in some cases extinct, leaving us with genetically modified hybrids. By supporting small family farms, you are in turn really making a difference in our environment, food supply and helping to maintain a natural food chain. Please visit our farm photos section. We will be updating on a regular basis. Thank you for viewing Rainbow Ranch Farms blog on Local Harvest.

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