Clover Wreath Farm currently has laying hens for sale.
 
Please contact us prior to pick-up.
 
Again, please EMAIL ahead,
we do not sale birds without prior arrangement.
 
Current Availability: We have roosters, chicks, and laying hens for sale. The cost will be $12 for hens, feathered chicks are $5, roosters are negotiable. Breeds vary but all are laying stock. The hens will be between 18 months and 2 1/2 years old and raised on cert. organic feed and may go broody for you in the Spring. If you are interested in purchasing a Clover Wreath chicken, please read below before contacting.
 
Breeds available in October and February will vary but we crossbreed for laying production as well as maintain purebred Dominiques, Wyandottes, and Faverolles.
 
We will sell our sweet ladies, roosters, and baby chicks to those who are able to provide the chickens an outdoor lifestyle and secure housing and who appreciate the importance of sustainable chickens. We expect our chickens to be treated well and, if the time comes for them to become supper, that they are harvested with respect.
 
Please keep in mind that we have raised these chickens from the egg. Clover Wreath Farm, especially the mother hen, has poured an immense amount of love and resources into the raising of each chicken. Each chicken we raise is raised naturally, incubated and brooded by a mother hen. Each chick is fed and protected by the mother hen and taught everything it needs to know to be a chicken.
 
Our chicks understand the cycle of chicken life and may choose to raise their own young. They are taught by their mothers how to forage for bugs, weeds, herbs, and grasses. They know how to watch for hawks and other predators. (But please remember a chicken has very few defenses and neighborhood dogs are the most immediate danger.) They are socialized with children, dogs, and cats. I will not sell any chicken that has exhibited aggressive behavior. They become chicken soup.
 
Our chicks are raised on certified organic feeds with organic pasture and produce. Most of our chickens will lay regularly until four or five years of age. After this point, laying is more sporadic. Hens can live for up to fifteen years and roosters can live for thirty. We're serious. Regardless of what the internet will tell you, happy, healthy chickens can live nigh on forever.
 
We do not ship our birds.
 
Clover Wreath Farm cannot be responsible for the chicken's health and behavior after the chicken leaves our farm. But we certainly do want you to be happy with your birds and will do everything we can to make sure you enjoy the chickens as much as we do.
 
 
If you are buying chicks: Our chicks are raised by a mother hen until they are about five weeks old. By five weeks, they are fully feathered, except for their head and have no need of a heater in the evening. We do recommend that you get more than one so they can keep each other warm. They are strong, healthy, and ready to play. All they need is good feed and attention, a safe place to sleep, and a safe place to graze and stratch during the day. No brooder or heat lamp necessary! The chicks are straight run, which means we don't know if they are male or female. They will start laying four to seven months after purchase.
 
*Pullets are female chickens who have not had their first molt. In simple terms, they are young and just started laying. Pullets lay a larger quantity of eggs, but older chickens lay larger eggs.
**Broodiness refers to the desire of the chicken to sit her eggs, i.e. become a mother.
 
A Chicken Customer's Email:
 
Thanks Breann!  I will keep in contact and let you know how they are doing....they are both so sweet and have already gotten used to us...the 1st few hrs they would run away from us...but they are smart birds...after I held them and petted them and they figured out they were safe with us...they now come up to me every single time and are not afraid at all anymore....its neat!  they have not pecked at us at all either when we got their eggs...they just went back and laid more!  We are building their coop over the weekend so once we get that all done and they are settled we'll probably see about getting some of your younger ones too.  Thanks again...we are having fun with Ellie (the brown/blk one) and Tweety Bird (white one)  -Staci
 
 
When you buy your chickens:
 
  • Provide a secure (padlock the door with a hasp, if necessary) place to sleep. It will need strong, 1"  wire screen windows for warm nights.
  • Provide an area to scratch and graze during the day. If you have problems with predators and/or neighborhood dogs while you are away during the day, build a large coop, with a least 10 sq ft per bird. Then when you are home, let them out into your yard or area. The best solution to this problem is a mobile coop.
  • Have feed, oyster shells, and clean water available at all times. I use Countryside Cert. Organic Feeds. The next best available option to Countryside or buying from a local, organic farmer is Purina Sunfresh Stratch, Purina Layena, and Purina Start and Grow for birds under 18 weeks. Chicks must have the extra protein (for muscle and feather development) in the chick feed. DON'T use the run of the mill chicken feed. It is just awful. Chickens without food or water for a long enough period will quit laying and/or become ill. (For chicks, water containers should be quite shallow, or they will drown.)
  • Prevent rats and mice around the chickens, but don't use poison. A chicken can eat a mouse, so if you poison the mouse...you poison the chicken. Cover up the feed at night and adopt a cat from the shelter.
  • Have SHADE available at all times. Heat stress is a problem.
  • Grow dandelion greens for your birds.
  • Provide one nesting box (12" wide by 18" deep) for every four or so ladies. They usually like the nesting box off the ground about 18" but it isn't necessary. Don't put the nesting box under where they perch. Prevent poop in the nest. I use pine needles for bedding in the nest. If you want your chickens to go broody, you'll need a separate nesting box preferrably secluded from the others.
  • Have a dusty area available for dust bathing in dry weather.
  • Build perches, 1" to 2" wide with enough length for each bird to spread their wings inside their house. The perches can just about be any height, but the taller they are they more problem you can have with them hurting their legs or flying into you on their way out. (It hurts.) We build them about 2'-4' off the floor. You can use cedar wood for the perches, it helps prevent mites.
  • Feed your kitchen scraps, no meat, eggs, or dairy (bread often has dairy), to the chickens.
  • Use common sense and compassion in caring for your chickens.
Clover Wreath Farm
1445 New Murraytown Road NW, Cleveland, Tennessee USA      (423) 314-1182      breann@cloverwreath.com
 
Farmers' Market on Wednesdays 4-6 p.m. at the Market on Main, Main and Williams in Chattanooga's Southside