Hello! I’m Velvet Sparrow. I have raised and owned chickens for eggs and pets in Southern California since I was a child, and as an adult my husband, daughter and I have continued chicken keeping- - and I get lots of questions about keeping chickens happy and healthy. Jack’s Henhouse is named in honor of our original rooster, Jack, pictured here. Jack is no longer with us, but his descendants are.
We live in northern Nevada, and our current flock of 46 or so (‘or so’ because we are suckers for chickens and the number is always fluctuating) birds is a mix of different breeds, standard size and Bantam birds, hens and roosters that range in age from 6 months to 12 years old. We keep a mixed flock of many different breeds but try to stay away from the more aggressive breeds.
I grew up on a small farm where we had a mixed fruit orchard, a large vegetable garden, horses, chickens, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, guinea pigs and quail. We raised chickens, turkeys and rabbits for meat and eggs, and had a few as pets. On our farm we did most everything ourselves- - from building horse corrals to growing, harvesting and canning our own vegetables, fruit and jam, to slaughtering and processing chickens and rabbits for food.