Asagi Hatchery

We love Seed Savers Exchange.  It’s a non-profit member supported organization whose headquarters is a 890-acre farm  in Decorah, Iowa that maintains thousands of varieties of heirloom garden varieties of herbs, vegetables, flowers, fruits, legumes and even garlic.  It was founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy to honor the tradition of preserving and sharing seeds.  They started with the seeds of two garden plants given to them by Diane’s grandpa – a German Pink and Grandpa Otts’ morning glory, brought to the U.S. by his parents when they migrated from Bavaria.

What started as a personal mission has grown into a network of people that are carrying on the wisdom and know-how of seeds saving, as well as the creation of a living legacy of garden varieties cultivated over the centuries by generations of gardeners.  This has proven and will prove to be even more of a saving grace in the years to come as our world’s seed supply continues to be monopolized, re-engineered, sterilized and corporatized.

In addition to our chicks, feed, and backyard farm supplies we’re carrying packets of Seed Savers Exchange seed varieties, as well as classic book on seed saving “Seed to Seed” by Suzanne Ashworth.  Gardeners may also like to know that in addition, we  carry Seeds of Change seed packets, seeds from Fukuda Seed, local fruit and spice trees, and organic seedling starters.

We’re thinking about starting a seed exchange library here at the hatchery later this year.  If anyone is interested in participating, please email lisa@asagihatchery.com.

Hey folks, it’s that time of the year again! We’re gearing up for our annual Spring Specialty Breeds hatches for 2012.

For these hatches we take orders, bring the eggs in from NPIP Inspected and Certified sources, then hatch them here in our commercial hatchery on Oahu. All chicks are vaccinated to prevent Chick Pox and Marek’s Disease, as recommended by most vets. If you are looking for heritage and other specialty breed chicks that will not have to endure the stress of travel from Mainland farms, you might want to place an order here with us.

Please remember that these hatches will be “straight run” meaning that we will not be able to determine the gender of these chicks. Nature is pretty much 50-50 with chickens and gender, there is a 50% chance that a chick might be a rooster. If you can’t have roosters, you might need to have a back-up plan (a friend living in a rooster friendly area who is willing to adopt) or consider ordering chicks from our monthly layer pullet hatches (White Leghorns or Rhode Island/White Leghorn chicks, we are able to determine the gender of these breeds of chicks).

Order deadlines: 12/31/11 for February 2012 hatch, 1/25/12 for March 2012 hatch, 2/25/12 for April 2012 hatch, 3/25/12 for May 2012 hatch. When ordering please indicate desired hatch month and contact phone number. Prices range from $6-8.50 per chick, depending on breed.

Available breeds this year include: Rhode Island Red, Barred Plymouth Rock, Golden Sex Link, Black Sex Link, Buff Orpington, White Plymouth Rock, Black Australop, Austra White, Araucana, Silver Lace Wyandotte, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Light Brahma, Golden Campine, Turken, Columbia Rock, White Crested Polish, Blue Polish, Barred Cochin, Birchen Cochin, Blue Cochin, Buff Cochin, Golden Laced Cochin, Mottled Cochin, Partridge Cochin, Red Cochin, White Cochin, Black Silkie, White Silkie, Mille Fleur, Buff Brahma, Dark Brahma, Light Brahma, Ameraucana, BB Red Old English, Blue Laced Wyandotte, Black Spanish, Golden Seabright, Silver Seabright, Partridge Rock, Silver Penciled Rock.

Hi folks,

Another batch of specialty breeds hatched this morning.

Most are special orders but we did hatch extra chicks!  Here’s a list of what’s available.  Please remember that we are unable to sex these breeds – it’s all straightrun, both males and females.

Rhode Island Reds

Plymouth Barred Rock

White or Black Silkies

Light Brahmas

Golden Campines

White Crested Black Polish

Blue Polish

Just give us a call if you are interested.

In 2010, Asagi Hatchery turned 50.

But our family’s business and it’s relationship with chickens began twenty five years earlier, around 1935 with a small chicken and egg farm.  And we wonder, maybe even way before that.

This has got us thinking about beginnings.  About how this all started, this relationship between humans and chickens.

No one alive knows exactly what happen that very first time that a human hatched a chicken’s egg.

All we can do is imagine.

We can wonder.

We can ask that very first person:  Were you foraging for wild garlic greens or dandelions?  Did you look up at the quickly darkening sky and decide to gather more?  Were you on your way to the creek, anticipating that first drink of sweet cold water before filling a gourd for your children or elderly mother?  When you came upon the nest, did you wait in the tall grass to see if the bird it belonged to would return?

In the nest of nine eggs was one already hatched?  Did the distressed peeping of something so small cause you to move from your hiding spot?  Were you amazed by its fragile softness?  What did it do to your heart when it fell asleep in your hand?  How did the warmth of the unhatched eggs feel?  Did you pick one up and could you feel it moving?  Could you hear the faint cheeping of the chicks trying to hatch?  Could you see their tiny beaks poking through a tiny hole in the speckled shell?

As you ran home in the storm – eggs, chick gently rolled up in the nest and tucked under your arm – what were you hoping for?

As you lay in your dwelling that evening as the storm raged outside, did you stay awake watching the chicks hatch one by one as the wet nest of green grass slowly dried near your fire?

And we can ask you too, fellow chicken keeper – how did your relationship with chickens begin?

Hi folks,

Hope everyone is enjoying the tail end of summer.  Here are a few updates for you.

SALE

We have an organic feed sale going on till we run out of stock – $30 for organic layer feed and $35 for organic starter feed.  These are fifty pound bags.  Sale lasts till we run out of stock.

NEW SUPPLIES

We got Poultry Protector in.  It’s a big helper if you are unfortunate to be going through a mite problem ordeal.  Usually this only happens if your chickens are in contact a lot with wild birds.  Mites are not a natural fact of life for most chickens and should be treated.  It’s similar to lice on humans.  It can lower your bird’s immune system and affect their quality of life and egg production too.  Poultry Protector is a safe and natural spray for areas, house, bedding and on chickens themselves.  It gets rid of eggs, larvae and adult mites and lice.  Weekly use is recommended until problem is gone.  Also protecting your bird’s house and bedding from visitations by wild birds is a good way to prevent.

By popular demand we brought in a few automatic waterers too.

A small one: the Biddie Automatic Waterer that needs to be hooked up to a pressure reducer before connecting to your water source.  This can be a pretty helpful thing to have especially if you live in a drier area and during the scorching summer months.

Chickens need a LOT of water.  It’s amazing how much water a chicken will drink per day.  So if you are away at work and have not found a good water set up for yourself, you might want to think about something like this.

Here’s another one.

A larger trough set-up that can hook up directly to a garden hose. Longer so more chickens can take a drink at the same time.  Good for a flock. This one does not need to be hooked up to a water pressure gauge thingo.  Little more expensive though – because of the size.

SOCIAL MEDIA

We’re on Facebook and Twitter now too in case you are too and want to follow: Facebook Twitter

You know us, hardly have time to keep up this blog!  But we try

Mahalo to Honolulu Weekly and writer Martha Cheng for coming to the hatchery to talk stories about the backyard chicken movement happening in Hawaii.  Fun article.

We’ve been following the national backyard chicken movement pretty closely.

Every day at least two articles about backyard chicken keeping comes through the google news feed.  There have been uprisings and heated county debates over the last two years as citizens force local government to rethink their anti-agriculture policies.

Many chicken lovers and food lovers have found themselves in a fight for their right to keep a few chickens and reconnect with their own food growing instincts, regain control over their food sources and security, and begin to extricate from a dangerous dependence on global corporatized food.

Every once in a  while a real gem of an article comes through the feed.  One that captures the essence of the desires and fears of our times, as played out by the characters of Governing Body and Citizen.

Here’s a dispatch from Dan Brawner of The Mt. Vernon-Lisbon Sun, Iowa.

My mom just told me that one of our regular customers came in today, he has 3 Rhode Island Red/White Leghorn hens.  While telling my mom how much he loves them, he mentioned their names:  Barbie, Teri and Ginger.  Pretty creative, cute and ironic all at the same time.

It gave us the idea to start a never ending list of the names of  chickens that have hatched at Asagi Hatchery.  It will be a new page on our website.  So please send in names of your chickens.  First and last names please.  If you are are up for it, you may also include their portraits. Email:  lisa@asagihatchery.com.

Speaking of which.  We remember how much you all like the chicken diaper YouTube posts.  So when another customer, Wes, emailed us this -

we knew you’d enjoy as much as we did:  chicken suit fashion show on Golzberg