Storybook Cottage Farm
Meet the birds and breeding projects behind our colorful egg basket.
Lavender Birchen Marans
We’re pairing a Hickman Homestead rooster with hens from Evergreen and Hickman Homestead.
We plan to preserve multiple families of Lavender Birchen Marans to maintain genetic diversity, while introducing thoughtful outcrosses to Black Silver Birchen Marans to help maintain feather quality.
Our breeding goals include beautiful, bloomy pink eggs and birds that meet the Marans Standard of Perfection (SOP). We’re always working toward that standard, while recognizing that every flock is a work in progress.
Welsummers
Light eggs. Big speckles.
We’re pairing a rooster from Jillybeans Rainbow, who hatched from a large, “Dino”-speckled egg, with our Welsummer hens carrying Clutch of Color genetics. Our goal is lighter brown egg backgrounds with large, bold speckles, with each egg showing its own pattern and personality.
Alongside egg color and speckling, we’re selecting for healthy, well-built birds and clear autosexing chick markings to help distinguish males and females at hatch. We’re always striving toward the breed’s Standard of Perfection (SOP), while recognizing that every flock is a work in progress.
A little prehistoric charm, right in the nesting box.
Silverrudd’s Blue
Ruhn, our Silverrudd’s Blue rooster, is homozygous for the blue egg gene and is paired with a variety of hens in our Silverrudd pen.
Our breeding goals focus on egg size, beautiful egg speckling, vigor, and working toward the breed’s proposed Standard of Perfection (SOP). We’re thoughtfully evaluating each generation, with the understanding that every flock is always a work in progress.
Black Copper Marans
Dark foundations. Bloomy ambitions.
We’re pairing Rhysand, our rooster from Crosshatch’s Purple Marans line, with hens from Open Gate Farm and Farmstead Provisions. Our breeding goals focus on dark egg color and beautiful blooms.
The Marans Standard of Perfection (SOP) is always our goal, while recognizing that every flock is a work in progress.
Cloudbloom Project
All the blooms.
This one is going to be fun! Meet Legolas, our rooster who hatched from an egg with an exceptionally heavy bloom. We’re pairing him with some beautifully bloomy girls and other thoughtfully chosen hens as we explore fun egg colors and blooms.
Cloudbloom is a mixed-breed project, guided by our love of colorful eggs and beautiful blooms rather than a breed Standard of Perfection (SOP). We can’t wait to see what the next generation brings to the egg basket.
The Speckled Project
For the speckle obsessed.
We’re pairing a Welsummer rooster with Easter Egger, Olive Egger, and Silverrudd’s Blue hens, along with some of our pink-egg layers.
This mixed-breed project is all about exploring beautiful speckling across a varied egg-color palette. We’re excited to see the colors and patterns the next generation brings to the nesting boxes.
Wildflower Project
Beautiful feathers. Speckled blooms.
Led by Fenris, a descendant of Hollyoaks rooster Vale, our Wildflower Project celebrates beautiful plumage and the white-speckled blooms showing up in this family’s eggs.
We’re thoughtfully pairing Fenris with hens to explore those beautiful blooms alongside a colorful variety of feather patterns and plumage. A little beauty for the egg basket—and the flock.