Author: Anna & Mark

I wrote previously
that I’m less-than-enamored of our White
Leghorns, but
the other hybrid breed we’re trying this year is a better fit for
our farm.  Red Stars are an orangish
sex-linked hybrid developed from a Delaware hen and a Rhode Island Red
rooster.  We chose the variety based on this glowing
description on McMurray’s website: “We have finally found the sex
link BROWN EGG LAYER that meets our strict specifications; easy to
raise, lays large brown eggs, and has a good feed conversion
ratio.”

The photo above shows our Australorps, White Leghorns, and Red
Stars as chicks this spring.  The Red Stars are the pale ones
with a tinge of orange.  One of the perks of the Red Star is
that you’re almost certain to get the sex you ask for since the
male chicks are white and the females are more strongly colored,
making them easy to sex right out of the egg. 

Now all grown up, our
three Red Stars have shown themselves to be very similar to the Golden
Comets we had a
few years ago — good layers and quite friendly.  The photo
above is typical of what it looks like when I walk into the
chickens’ pasture.  The Red Stars come running into the coop
with me to grab the choicest scraps before anyone else can find
them.  A Leghorn or two might follow, but skittishly. 
Meanwhile, the Australorps are all hiding behind the rooster
hoping that this scary person who had the temerity to bring them
food won’t eat them.

Here’s another
typical shot, taken while Mark was installing a nest box. 
“Is this edible?” asks our Red Star.



I’ve written before
about the pros and cons of a friendly
chicken, so I
won’t repeat the caveats here.  However, I will add that Red
Stars make excellent tractor
chickens since
they’re docile and run toward you when you throw a rotten fig
their way.  Presumably, the breed would also be a good choice
if you were looking for a chicken that would fare well as a pet,
while also producing lots of quality eggs.



Stars (Black, Gold,
and Red) are listed as the #7 chicken variety on the Backyard
Chickens website, making me think many of you have probably tried
them out.  Do you have anything to add for or against this
hybrid brown-egg layer?

While I’m profiling
individual pastures,
I thought it would be worth taking a look at chicken pasture 5. 
If I had the space to put chickens elsewhere, I would have seeded
grasses and clovers here last fall and left
the ground fallow just like I’m doing for chicken pasture 6.  This spot ended up
pretty bare at the end of 2011 due to moderate shade combined with
overgrazing, and the seeds I planted in 2012 mostly seem to have
perished since I continued grazing while the seedlings sprouted and
tried to grow.

But simply being left alone
for the winter did wonders for the pasture.  Some of the clovers,
grass, and chicory seem to have survived after all, and the bare spots
in between became home to a dense carpet of chickweed.  I’m sure
the latter will disintegrate by summer, but it’s currently turned
chicken pasture 5 into our laying flock’s favorite grazing grounds this
spring. 



On a grass-and-clover
pasture, the layers tend to get bored with the offerings after a day or
two, then spend most of the rest of the week lounging with only
occasional foraging behavior.  But our chickens ate pretty much
straight through the week on the chickweed pasture.



(I’m envisioning a
permaculture chicken keeper planting a whole pasture just in chickweed
for her flock’s springtime pleasure.  It might just be crazy
enough to work if you could then plant something perfect for fall in
the same spot once the chickweed was gone.)

About a fifth of chicken
pasture 5 is much more sad-looking since our birds passed through this
area all winter on their way to grazing in the woods.  The photo
above shows the overgrazed area (on the right) along with chicken
pasture 3 (on the left), depicted on moving day.  I just open the
door to a new paddock and the flock is bright enough to run through the
coop and onto greener pastures.  When they start regretting
leaving the chickweed behind, I’ve already closed up the relevant
pophole.  No more of your favorite pasture for two weeks, guys —
it needs time to regrow.