4H projects

Our boys (ages 5 and 6) have only been in 4H for a short amount of time, but the amount of things they have been able to participate in and learn have been amazing. They went from being too shy to introduce themselves at the first meeting to leading the pledge and presenting projects in under 6 months.

Both boys chose Poultry as their main project and they set out on a mission to acquire breeds of chickens that would lay a rainbow of eggs. We started with the white egg layers - Silkies, Polish, and D'uccles.

Next up was tan layers. The boys chose 2 pretty little Red Sex Link hens, who were quickly adopted by little sister.

Now we were able to move on to the more fun colors. We met a local friend who was willing to sell the boys some of her beautiful Easter Eggers. They are ended up laying the most perfect olive colored eggs.

So, what was left? Aaron really wanted a true blue egg and Hunter was on a mission to add a chocolate color to the egg basket. After some searching on Craigslist and within the local chicken groups on Facebook, we came across a man selling out of his Crested Cream Legbars. We made the drive to south Arkansas to pick up a trio and they proved to lay perfect light blue eggs. We also added 2 black Ameraucana hens to the flock. We were now up to 4 blue egg layers.
The search for our chocolate colored eggs has proved to be the hardest. Lucky for us, the local farm store happened to have a couple of Cuckoo Marans mixed in with their chicks. We bought them both and ended up with one hen. Her eggs are a nice deep brown, but we are still searching for that true chocolate. We do have a Black Copper Maran hen also, but she hasnt started to lay yet. Finger crossed.

The kids have enjoyed learning about the genetics that goes into breeding, but the best side effect of this project has been the eggs!