Isa Brown

The hubster and I ventured way up north to Ortonville, Michigan last night to purchase some Isa Brown chicks. Last year we didn't have any hens that we kept for the sole purpose of eggs (we hatched almost all that were laid on our farm), and we knew that this year we wanted to have a group of good layers. I had talked to the breeder on the phone, and you could just tell that these chicks were well cared for. The guy, Mark, reminded me a lot of my husband, so excited about his chickens and hatching that it borders on being nerdy. Mark boasted that his Isa Browns were the best around. 


Isa Browns are a pretty boring breed of chicken. It is a hybrid breed, a cross of a Rhode Island Red and a Rhode Island White. They are bred to have the easy going temperament of the Rhode Island White and the egg production of the Rhode Island Red. Isa Browns produce about 300 eggs per year. They are the hens that lay most of your brown grocery store eggs.


So, when Mark let us know that he had "the nicest" Isa Browns, we took it as it was. We are used to hard to find, special breeds of chicken, so we didn't put much stock in his birds. But, Isa Browns were the first layers we owned.We know that they are dumb easy going, lazy not flighty at all, and they lay a nice, normal brown egg pretty much every day. 


We dropped the kiddos off at my mom's house and ventured up to Mark's place. He showed us our chicks and we boxed them up. He asked if we would like to see their parents, and we answered, "sure, why not?" After all, we were without our own brood and it is always nice to have an evening alone. So we headed out to the coop and I couldn't believe it...he really did have some *awesome* chickens! The roosters were beautiful! The brown of their feathers was so dark, it was nearly black! The hens were exactly what you would expect from a Rhode Island White, they came right up to us to say hi and when they realized we had no food, they went along on their way. He really did have some nice birds, we were impressed.


All that to say, if you are in the market for a laying hen late this spring, we will have a few Isa Brown pullets at the point of lay for sale. We will be raising them until the end of May at which point we will keep our 6 and sell the rest. They are estimated to start laying the beginning of June 


They will cost $25 each. To hold them you must pay a non-refundable $10.00 deposit. The rest is due when you pick them up. Like I said earlier, these ladies will lay 300 eggs per year, for 2 years *minimum*. Figure the cost of what you pay for your farm fresh or organic eggs and you will see that these ladies will save you a lot of money in their lives. On top of that, they really are easy going birds that are fun to watch. 


I will leave you with a picture of our new babies...aren't they cute?