by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm The feather is what sets birds apart from every other living species. Birds use feathers to fly and escape danger. Though chickens aren’t the best of flyers they still share in this unique attribute that is specific to birds. Feathers have been on my mind lately as the […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm When people ask me “Why do you raise chickens?” the short answer is “for eggs, we raise them for eggs.” But really that’s not the whole story. If I never got another egg, I would still raise chickens. They are a part of our farm as much as […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm For a long time I thought my future was going to take route in becoming a Japanese interpreter. I studied Japanese language for 6 years and decided to change majors after considering how all the traveling would effect my family life. And while I’ve forgotten much of the […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm I always look forward to Fair time. The poultry barn will be  filled with interesting breeds of chickens. Beautiful specimens of Silver Laced Wyandottes, Crested Polish and Rhode Island Reds to name a few. The breeds on display boast near perfect plumage, wonderful body type, clean smooth legs…everything […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm Scrambled eggs are a relatively simple meal. If you eat eggs, chances are you’ve had them scrambled. Even the most amateur of cooks can usually master something resembling scrambled eggs right, so why write a post about them? It’s true that when it comes to eggs, scrambled is […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm Here at Iron Oak Farm, the spring time hatch is over…well, as far as us humans are concerned. It was a fun and exciting season that included new breeds of chickens, turkeys and all the treasured moments that new babies bring. If the chickens decide to hatch something […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm To give an honest answer to my own post title, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t raise bantams. You see, I’m a big chicken kinda-girl. You show me an Orphington, Brahma or a big ole Cochin and I wan to wrap my arms around it’s fat fluffy self and bear […]

We just hatched out 6 beautiful little chicks. It’s been our first indoor brood in a few years. I’ve been letting our broody hens take care of hatching for the past few springs, but this year I had a specific breed I wanted to give a try. Hopefully some of these little babies are pullets […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm I have a goal this year. And that goal it to increase our turkey flock. We chose a heritage breed of turkeys because I wanted a breed that could sustain itself year to year after we harvested the birds that we plan to eat. Turkey poults are expensive […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm Right now at Iron Oak Farm we have chickens at all different age levels. I have an existing adult flock in our coop; teenagers who are too old for the brooder; and week old chicks still in the house. Balancing all these birds and providing for their different […]