SSHilltopHens
In the Brooder
Hey yall! I'm Alex, nice to meetcha 
Rocky Road the Fibro EE, Cassiopeia the Prairie Bluebell Egger and Pantera the Ayam Cemani.
Fairly new chicken mama here (we got our first chicks back in February) who is just starting to dip my toes into breeding, so I've come to this forum to learn as much as I can from all of you seasoned chicken veterans about breeding chickens, from infrastructure to breed standards to cultivating pure, healthy bloodlines. Also just looking for a place where I can document my breeding journey and share all of my frustrations, failures and successes with like-minded individuals
My boyfriend and I have a small farm on 5 acres in Tennessee City (Dickson Co). We started out with only 7 chickens, which then became 18 chickens and 2 geese, and then chicken math really hit us over the head like a sack of rocks. We currently have 46 babies occupying our brooders/grow-out pens and 26 eggs in the incubator, so our humble little flock has quickly turned into a chicken army
Honk Hogan and Lucy Goosey, our wonderful watchdog geese
My boyfriend getting lots of lovin' from his favorite ladies
When we first started our chicken journey, we didn't know one breed from the next and just got whatever was available at our local co-op at the time. The more we delved into learning about different breeds, the more fascinated we became with chicken diversity and genetics, and we soon found ourselves driving 6+ hours all over the state in pursuit of high-quality stock to fuel our new project/addiction.
Since then, we've started S&S Hilltop Hens with the purpose of preserving certain endangered breeds and making uncommon/rare breeds more accessible in middle TN. Our breeding program currently consists of Vorwerks, Appenzeller Spitzhaubens, Ayam Cemanis, Salmon Favorelles, and Silver Deathlayers, and we hope to be able to add more breeds that we love to that list as we increase our infrastructure
One of our young Deathlayer cockerels, Arthas
One of the newest additions to our flock, an adorable Vorwerk chick named Saxony
Murloc the Silver-Spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben
In addition to running our chicken farm and working from home full-time, I work part-time on a flower farm throughout the week and occasionally farm-sit for local farmers and homesteaders in my community. My boyfriend and I dream of buying a large plot of acreage and creating a fully operational, self-sustained, income-producing ranch at some point, but that seems like a ways away, so for now I'm just trying to get as much experience as I can working for others who have achieved that goal and learning how to run and operate a successful homestead.
At some point, I would love to add sheep, goats and perhaps a mini-cow or two to our little farm, but for now we've decided to just focus on building/expanding our chicken breeding program. Our chickens aren't the only animals demanding every ounce of our attention, though! We also have two five year old rescue kitties (Tali and Sia) and a 9 year old German Shepherd named Amadeus.
Our Ragdoll kitty Sia becoming very well acquainted with one of our Fibro Easter Eggers, Vanilla Bean (not seen: Sia immediately getting pooped on after taking the pic)
Tali, the mysterious and elusive Tortoiseshell
Sia and Amadeus sharing some quality time
If you've made it this far, thank you for sticking with me, and I hope you've enjoyed getting to know a little about us and our farm!
Some people in other places have chastised us for wanting to breed so-called "pretty birds" rather than prolific layers/production birds, so I'm hoping that you guys will be a little more open to what we're trying to do. Our primary goal is to fill a gap in our local market for uncommon chickens and provide more access to some of these beautiful rare and endangered breeds. We have poured so many hours of research into the breeds that we've chosen to cultivate, and we raise them because we love everything about them and want to perpetuate a high-quality breed standard.
All that being said, I'm looking forward to engaging with the community and getting to know some of you
Rocky Road the Fibro EE, Cassiopeia the Prairie Bluebell Egger and Pantera the Ayam Cemani.
Fairly new chicken mama here (we got our first chicks back in February) who is just starting to dip my toes into breeding, so I've come to this forum to learn as much as I can from all of you seasoned chicken veterans about breeding chickens, from infrastructure to breed standards to cultivating pure, healthy bloodlines. Also just looking for a place where I can document my breeding journey and share all of my frustrations, failures and successes with like-minded individuals
My boyfriend and I have a small farm on 5 acres in Tennessee City (Dickson Co). We started out with only 7 chickens, which then became 18 chickens and 2 geese, and then chicken math really hit us over the head like a sack of rocks. We currently have 46 babies occupying our brooders/grow-out pens and 26 eggs in the incubator, so our humble little flock has quickly turned into a chicken army
Honk Hogan and Lucy Goosey, our wonderful watchdog geese
My boyfriend getting lots of lovin' from his favorite ladies
When we first started our chicken journey, we didn't know one breed from the next and just got whatever was available at our local co-op at the time. The more we delved into learning about different breeds, the more fascinated we became with chicken diversity and genetics, and we soon found ourselves driving 6+ hours all over the state in pursuit of high-quality stock to fuel our new project/addiction.
Since then, we've started S&S Hilltop Hens with the purpose of preserving certain endangered breeds and making uncommon/rare breeds more accessible in middle TN. Our breeding program currently consists of Vorwerks, Appenzeller Spitzhaubens, Ayam Cemanis, Salmon Favorelles, and Silver Deathlayers, and we hope to be able to add more breeds that we love to that list as we increase our infrastructure
One of our young Deathlayer cockerels, Arthas
One of the newest additions to our flock, an adorable Vorwerk chick named Saxony
Murloc the Silver-Spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben
In addition to running our chicken farm and working from home full-time, I work part-time on a flower farm throughout the week and occasionally farm-sit for local farmers and homesteaders in my community. My boyfriend and I dream of buying a large plot of acreage and creating a fully operational, self-sustained, income-producing ranch at some point, but that seems like a ways away, so for now I'm just trying to get as much experience as I can working for others who have achieved that goal and learning how to run and operate a successful homestead.
At some point, I would love to add sheep, goats and perhaps a mini-cow or two to our little farm, but for now we've decided to just focus on building/expanding our chicken breeding program. Our chickens aren't the only animals demanding every ounce of our attention, though! We also have two five year old rescue kitties (Tali and Sia) and a 9 year old German Shepherd named Amadeus.
Our Ragdoll kitty Sia becoming very well acquainted with one of our Fibro Easter Eggers, Vanilla Bean (not seen: Sia immediately getting pooped on after taking the pic)
Tali, the mysterious and elusive Tortoiseshell
Sia and Amadeus sharing some quality time
If you've made it this far, thank you for sticking with me, and I hope you've enjoyed getting to know a little about us and our farm!
Some people in other places have chastised us for wanting to breed so-called "pretty birds" rather than prolific layers/production birds, so I'm hoping that you guys will be a little more open to what we're trying to do. Our primary goal is to fill a gap in our local market for uncommon chickens and provide more access to some of these beautiful rare and endangered breeds. We have poured so many hours of research into the breeds that we've chosen to cultivate, and we raise them because we love everything about them and want to perpetuate a high-quality breed standard.
All that being said, I'm looking forward to engaging with the community and getting to know some of you
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Wow I love your little farm
