Our Polish Rooster

Feeding Time

Inside the chicken coop we have a 3'6" x 3' 6" compost pile where the unused food from the cafeteria is deposited each afternoon.  Feeding Frenzy time!

The Silkies

George and Boy George


Boy George, who the previous owner thought was a girl.....

George...We thought could be a boy early on.....Nope

Our Flock

The 21 Days of Chicken Development

Egg Laying has begun

Momma Brahma began laying eggs on November 24. She has not laid an egg since late July. In July she became broody. Then in mid October she began molting. Now with a beautiful coat of feathers she has again began laying eggs. I also placed two lights in the pen extending the daylight an additional four hours.

Page Creation

2017

The blog page was created to separate the garden from the Animal portions of the Hillside High Family Farm. We thought we could concentrate more on just the animals of the farm and related topics here.

The HHS Garden began in the spring/summer of 2017. At that time we had a field trip to the LA County Fair and the discussion began on a garden and chickens. A couple of weeks after our field trip the district superintendent Dr. Nancy Kelly made a visit to our school and discussed the possibility of a garden at HHS.  I told her if she was serious and would support a garden financially we were in!  A garden at the school began in 2008, but with budget cuts, funding was never made available for the garden, it lasted about a year, but remnants of the garden still could be seen on campus.

So in July 0f 2017, a joint effort came together between the Food Service Dept. and HHS.  Funding was provided to demo the existing garden area. Then a border of 2x4 douglas fir boards was installed.  Huffingbocker donated 20 yards of garden soil. Three irrigation control valves were installed with a timer.  Around mid-July 100 pumpkin plants were installed and the garden began!

2018

In May 2018 we took another field trip to the LA County Fair. While at the fair we received a couple Brahma Chickens. I went back and picked up a couple  Brahma Hens. I was told that they had been kept in a cage with a rooster so probably had fertile eggs. We collected six eggs and placed them in an incubator. We hatched four chicks and the farm truly began!

In October 2018 we were given 15 chicks from the La Verne Heritage Foundation. The chickens were leftover from their Halloween festivities. Our school secretary acted as a contact point to the organization.

We received some Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and Wyandots. I purchased a couple of Leghorns from a local feed shop just before a lockdown on selling chickens began. The lockdown would exist for two years, letting up in June 2020