Farm News

January Farm Update

January 15, 2026 alchemist_farm Farm News

January Farm Update

Hey there, this is Franchesca: Alchemist Farm‘s head chicken wrangler 🙂

This blog post is separated into two sections, a “short of it” for folks who like a 2 minute read and a “long of it” for folks who like a bit of a more robust update 🙂

I am so honored to start another season with you all, thank you for being here with us as we continue to pioneer humane treatment of chickens!

The short of it:

Our first hatch of 2026 and weekly pickups will begin Feb 17th which is also the start of Lunar new year (that’s pretty cool!) shipments will begin March 24th 2026. If you look at our master list of breed availability for shipping we may look like we are sold out – just push the calendar forward to March 24th and beyond and you will start to see shipping dates available.

Our breed highlight for January are our Heritage Welsummers because they started laying first out of all of our breeds and they loved running around in the rain no matter how hard it came down. They are a no fuss incredible breed that deserves a space in everyones backyard flock 🙂

New years health shifts: our family has been doing a deep dive on red-light therapy and after a lot of research we landed on Lumebox to use at home. It has been a game changer for all of our health, this link will get you $260 off if you want to try it for yourself!

The long of it:

scroll down below 🙂

The longer update:

The Land: We had an unseasonably warm December with gentle rains that made for some epic pasture growing weather. Our whole farm is a lush green as our rye seed is bursting forth reaching to the sky and welcoming the birds to come scratch and look for bugs. In December Ryan and I also built a nice new coop thanks to some help from a grant from the Pine Cone Foundation. We finished just in time before some major storms blew in! The birds were slowly shaking off the rains this week and were happily dust bathing and stretching out in the sun.

Rhythms: January is a really sweet month here for us on the farm. It is a big time of transitions. The farm chores are quietly happening in the background but the hatchery itself is hibernating. All of our incubators and hatchers are quiet, taking their rest before we start them up at the end of this month.

December was wet wet wet. Our children were home from school for a nice long stretch and we got to hunker down with them while the big rains blew in, we lost power but thankfully no incubators were running so we could just enjoy being inside with candlelight on Christmas Eve. We said goodbye to 2025 through New Years we pondered the previous year and made a nice long list of intentions as a north star for the upcoming year. I believe 2026 is going to be a beautiful year here on the land and I am so grateful to have you with us, we are here because of your support of our family and farm, thank you so much!

Health: Each year we focus on making at least one healthy shift in our lives. This year I did a deep dive into the positive effects of sunlight and the negative effects of short wave light (including screens and other blue light). Simply put, we humans live our best lives when we get to be outside the bulk of the day (this is why we love having chickens to care for) but what about the days that are spent inside or folks who rarely get outside? Really compelling studies are coming out that Near Infrared Light and red light therapy can have massive health benefits to combat the excess hours most of us spend inside and away from sunlight. Now I know it sounds like I am about to put on a tin foil hat here but stay with me! Dr. Glen Jeffery is the leading scientist who has done all sorts of studies on proper dosage red light therapy and how it helps the mitochondria of our cells. His academic papers are dense but he gives a good interview that I found easy to follow. 🙂 After a whole lot of research and wading through the sea of redlight therapy devices offered on the marked I landed on using the Lumebox for our family. I use it for days I did not get outside and was doing a lot of computer work, digestion support, any sign of starting to get sick (if you have littles in your house you know this is a constant), needing to wind down at the end of the day or if I have inflammation from intense days of farm work (hello building new coops in record time!). The lumebox is actually 3rd party tested and it packs a serious health punch, I was blown away by how immediately I felt the positive effects of it. Using this link gets you $260 off. Let me know if you tried it and how you liked it!

Prayer: Prayer is a constant for me on the farm, I am always asking for guidance on how to best care for the natural world and speak on its behalf. January is a particularly focused time of deep prayer for us as we set ourselves up for the hatching season. We pray for the health of our flocks, the health of our team that helps us and we pray for everyone that we get to share our chicks with because we are all connected in such beautiful ways that we do not yet understand. If you are someone who would like to be added to our prayer list, it would be an honor to pray for you or whatever life is bringing your way. When folks ask for prayer I add them to my morning/evening prayer list, it is another layer of depth and connection that I appreciate, I am here if that calls to your heart!

Some resources you may find helpful:

As you get ready to plan your 2026 season here are some infrastructure things that I have found so useful for caring for my flocks:

Avaplex: a power gut health booster for your flock that ACTUALLY works. There is so much out there in the world that is geared toward chicken keepers that is not effective but this formulation has been lovely for keeping all my birds robust and strong throughout the seasons.

Roll Away Nesting Boxes: These are some super sturdy ones from Hen Gear that will keep your eggs clean and prevent your ladies from roosting in the nesting boxes themselves. Use code “Alchemist” for 10% off.

Calcified Seaweed from LitChicks and I am seeing good results with my flocks, they have nice thick shells and all the ladies seemed to be more comfortable during our high heat waves. If you use the code “AlchemistFarm” you get 10% off any orders for life, if you go for a subscription they will give you free shipping – I like the size and shape of the calcified seaweed, it can easily double as grit for adult birds 🙂

If you made it to the end of this newsletter you are my long form communication people! I hope this month brings you deep nourishment, inspiration and moments of joy as you begin your year 🙂

The Beginning of a Cycle

January 27, 2024 alchemist_farm Farm News

🌱The Beginning of a Cycle🌱
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Today is the day we turn on our incubators for the first time in 2024 to start the process of bringing our hatchery out of dormancy. As each incubator hums to life we say a prayer over each egg, every bird, all the humans here on the farm, every person who will be supporting us and every shipment of birds we will be sending out. We give thanks and also ask for protection for us all. We are connected through these little eggs that will turn into chicks in a profound way that words cannot do justice.
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This powerful moment for us acknowledges all of the incredible daily work it takes to keep 14 different breeds of chickens happy and healthy. Happy chickens lay strong viable eggs. Those eggs allow us to hatch healthy chicks which are the manifestation of our labors of love. All the positive energy we pour into our land and flocks gets sent out into the world, we hope that you feel it when our chicks arrive to you – they are like little love letters from each us ❤️
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While the weather is cold and rainy for us and snowing for most of the United States, our incubators will quietly hum away as they turn the eggs, warm them and provide the perfect humidity for life to form. In 21 days our first hatchlings of 2024 will emerge and we will be hatching weekly there after until October 2024.
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Pre-orders for all available hatching dates in 2024 are open on our website. Will you be bringing some of our chicks into your flock this season?

May Farm Update

May 17, 2023 alchemist_farm Farm News

Farm Update

The Birds: Our long winter has provided us with lush gorgeous pastures for all of the birds. All 13 of our breeding groups are happy, healthy and laying strong. We have had a mild week of weather and now it looks like we are heading straight into summer with temperatures over 85 degrees. As things warm up we like to give all of the birds an electrolyte/probiotic boost to help them feel comfortable as they transition into the longer warmer days. We do a double take of all of our automatic watering systems to make sure they are functioning perfectly so everyone stays hydrated in the coming weeks and months.

Caring for the flocks in this way is a holistic approach, we look at our farm as a whole living organism of land, birds, and humans. We think three or four steps ahead in our everyday to ensure the birds comfort. If they are stress free then they are stronger and more resilient to the big temperature swings we may see as well as whatever else nature sends our way this year! Last week we opened up all of the ventilation on the coops to ensure everyone is comfortable and we are also seeing a lot of signs of broodiness from the hens. There is lots of big mama energy happening on the land right now. 🙂

Humans: we are are entering the last month of school and preparing for summer break. We know many of you will be traveling with your families and most likely not thinking about raising chicks in the next two months. Before summer break hits take some time to do a little flock planning for the fall. Now is a good time to order chicks for late summer/fall when your littles return to school. Currently we have availability of all of our breeds including our Alchemist Blue Females which have been sold out for a bit here. We LOVE raising chicks in heat of late summer and fall because it is naturally warmer for them and they grow up over the winter months when full grown hens take their laying break. Come spring of 2024 your chicks will have fully grown and will be ready to lay eggs for your family.

Staying home for the summer and ready to dig into your homesteading dreams? It is finally warm enough to put in a garden and work on your coop! We are still hatching chicks weekly and offering them for local pickup as well as shipping. We have hatches on the following dates: May 30th, June 6th, June 20th, June 27th, July 11th, July 25th and beyond until Halloween this year.

We hope the warm weather is bringing you all joy and a boost of vibrant energy.

The Cycle Begins

February 3, 2023 alchemist_farm Education, Farm News

This week we turned on the incubators for our 2023 season and began the process of turning these incredible shades of eggs into baby chicks for you all.

It is a remarkably powerful moment that begins our weekly cycle from now until November of hatching. Every day I go into our hatching space and quietly touch each incubator, feeling the hum of its little motor. This practice helps me connect with the life that is quietly growing inside. I pray with each one for healthy chicks, solid hatches and the homes that each chick will end up in. We are all so connected, when you support us with your energy we support you back with these incredible beings and the prayers that go along with them.

We are 18 days away from seeing our first little Alchemist chicks emerge. This is that moment of the year that holds so much anticipation and excitement, it is hard to contain it!

This year orders have been a bit different, I believe folks are feeling the unsettled state of the greater poultry industry so they are securing their chicks early. If you know you are wanting chicks in spring I recommend ordering on the sooner side because February and March we are sold out of some breeds already.

We are so grateful for your support over the years and we look forward to adding to your flocks in 2023!
Eggs by color from the top:
French Black Cooper Marans
Heritage Welsummer
Sage Egger
Two lighter colored Moss Eggers along with Alchemist Blues
Azure Eggers
Dark Moss Eggers

Chickens in our Everyday Language

November 16, 2022 alchemist_farm Education, Educational Information, Farm News

Our Language

Some may think that a chickens behavior is simplistic and nothing like her own. Step back for a minute and look at all of the interesting phrases we have in our English language derived from a chickens behavior and from our interactions with them.

We don’t count our chickens before they are hatched, we certainly don’t want to put all of her eggs in one basket. We like to hatch out ideas, we can be cocky or we can chicken out, if we are worried we find ourselves walking on eggshells. Feeling frazzled? Perhaps you are running around like a chicken with your head cut off! If we are feeling stifled we want a chance to spread our wings and we definitely don’t like being cooped up!

Perhaps we are far similar than we realize.

Pictured here is the gorgeous feathering of one of our French Black Copper Marans Roosters. Presales for this breed and many others are open on our website for 2023!

Feathered Friends

May 26, 2022 alchemist_farm Farm News

From olive Eggers to sage eggers, from dark brown eggs to sky blue eggs. We have you covered here at Alchemist Farm.

Our Heritage chicken breeds have been carefully bred over the last nine years by us. We select not only for fun egg colors but also temperament and climate resilience so you can rest assured that your new feathered friends will be robust and healthy.

We believe there is a chicken breed for everyone, from fancy show chickens to humble homestead style birds, every chicken has a place on our farm! Thank you for your support each year and allowing us to continue to pioneer humane breeding and hatching.

The beauty of Imperfection

May 18, 2022 alchemist_farm Farm News

The Beauty In Imperfection
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Everyday we collect our hatching eggs from our breeding flocks by hand. We intimately know every nest, every hen, every secret hiding spot.

The daily egg collecting trains our hands and eyes to spot eggs that would not be suitable for hatching. All of the eggs here in this photograph are the “oddball eggs” the eggs that are double, triple hollers, and eggs that are incorrectly shaped. Shape and size matters with fertile eggs because properly shaped eggs ensure correct bone development/ shape for the chicks. Pointy eggs can lead to spraddle leg. Tiny pullet eggs can lead to weak smaller chicks with failure to thrive.

All of our oddball eggs are set aside for eating and make their way to our breakfast table. Each one is its own delight for its unique oddness. This week I brought some of them together to share with you all.

Do you all get fun oddball eggs from your flocks? May we all look for the beauty in moments of imperfection, there is always something positive to focus on.

Nature Knows

April 1, 2022 alchemist_farm Farm News

Perfect Design
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Every Tuesday during our hatching season we open our hatchers and sort/count the weeks fluffy chicks. After the chicks have been carefully moved from the hatcher we inspect the eggs that have not hatched to see if any chicks are still making a late entrance into the world.
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This chick was quietly sitting in its shell, looking around at the world around it. It was pausing before making its final pushes to get out of the only home it has ever known.
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We know they the chicks are quite snug in their eggs but this visual was a stunning reminder of nature’s perfect design. There is not a millimeter of extra space inside a chickens egg. The chicks grow to fill the space and then carefully, oh so carefully peck their way out.
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Nature only takes what it needs, and uses its spaces and resources wisely. It is a powerful example for us humans to follow.

All Breeds Available For Pickup & Shipping This Month

February 17, 2022 alchemist_farm Farm News

Hey everyone!

We have ALL of our breeds available for shipping as well as pickup as early as next week February 15th and all of our website ordering issues have been worked out. Thank you to everyone for you patience as we ironed out our new system!

If you are looking for instant gratification on your chick order we can make the magic happen for you

What Sets Us Apart

May 17, 2021 alchemist_farm Education, Farm News, Projects Around The Farm

What Sets You Apart?

I recently had someone write and ask “what sets you apart? Why should I purchase chicks from you and not a big hatchery?”

The question made me realize that I have not listed our mission statement clearly in a post in sometime so here goes!

We are different and worth supporting because we are a fully integrated farm and hatchery family business. Every chick we hatch, every egg laid comes from birds we work with and see everyday here.

We are a no kill hatchery (look up what hatcheries do to their extra male chicks). Every life is respected that we work with and hatch.

All of our chickens are free to roam on pastures, they are not in warehouses or breeding cages.

We breed for kind docile temperament and select sweet roosters year after year to break the cycle of people being afraid to go into the barnyard. Sweet roosters exist!

We breed for gorgeous egg color and season after season we develop fun new shades of color to create interesting depth to your daily egg collecting basket.

We have a strong environmental focus. We run on

solar power generated in an array in our pasture.

We have

plastic free compostable packaging for our eggs, chicks, and shipments/pickup boxes.

We are a zero waste farm, always making shifts to generate less and less waste. We love educating on this process and encouraging others along the way.

We donate a portion of our sales to the @childrenseternalrainforest for their reforestation efforts in connecting rainforest corridors. Boosting the lungs of our planet.

We do our own shipping/customer service so from first order placed to chicks arriving in your brooder you have help along the way.

We ship nationwide and also offer farm pickups for chicks. We are about to enter the sweet spot of weather being warm enough for us to ship to every state. From the first week of May on we will be shipping everywhere and you can order in confidence.

We offer chicken and quail keeping classes so you can work with your birds in confidence.

Why are we worth supporting? Because our hearts are in everything we do and we love introducing chickens and the lifestyle they create to the world. Less waste, self reliance, more outside time.