The Eugene Backyard farmer will be hosting the first of what we hope to be a yearly  pullet sale.  This event is in cooperation with the Oregon Cooperative  Hatchery and will take place on Saturday, October 2nd between 11 and 3.

The Coop will be bringing yearling hens, pullets, and maybe even ducklings, chicks and quail.  Prices will vary depending on breed and age.  Most pullets will be between $5 and $9, and hens will be between $10 and $15.  All the birds are from the Coop’s heritage breeding stock and are well tended and healthy.

This is a cash/check only sale.  Although the store does accept Visa/MasterCard and will be able to handle all of your chicken feed and accessories needs.

In addition the Coop is able to take your roosters for you.  These roosters will be feed up properly and then butchered.  This is done on a small-farm and sustainable level.  So if you happen to have a rooster that is starting to crow, you can buy a new one of roughly the same age and not have do deal with what is a difficult task for some.

Please call or e-mail The Eugene Backyard Farmer with any question.

Having a cat or two is critical for a feed store.  Fresh chicken feed attracts mice and the store is in the middle of an active rat population.  Sophie and Sonia are working cats who are here to protect the stock.

Of course it doesn’t hurt that the cats are such sweethearts as well.  They enjoy playing with each other as well as the chickens and our visitors.   But their primary job description is to catch mice.

Sonia’s first mouse came as part of a training exercise.  I knew we had some mice behind the straw bales so when I got down to the last few, I carried the kittens out side and propped them on a nearby straw bale.  As I pulled the last two bales away from the wall the mice went scrambling.  Sonia caught one right away while Sophie watched the excitement from a safe distance.

Since then Sonia has been a most dutiful mouser and has even caught two rats.  We appreciate Sonia’s diligence and so do the neighbors.

When Sonia is not busy catching mice, she likes to sneak into the coop’s nesting box so that she can pretend to be a chicken.  Feel free to drop by and congratulate our employee of the month.