The chicks are hatching!

With only a week into spring, the chicks have made their presence known. Hatch rates have been fantastic, and the chicks are growing like weeds. So far we have Easter Eggers, a few mixed brown layers, some stunning blue and black copper marans (some clean legged, some feather legged), blue and black ameraucanas, and the latest hatch this weekend was some beautiful blue and black barred olive eggers and mottled javas! (I have another very large hatch of both these breeds due towards the end of April, if anyone is interested). I will post pics very soon. The next hatch will be this weekend, of F2 olive eggers and some more black copper marans, plus some show-quality mottled cochins and porcelain d'uccles. These will be offered for sale. The next few hatches I will be doing this year will be some black ameraucanas (from a very nice show line), silver ameraucanas (John Blehm's line), wheaten and blue wheaten ameraucanas, a mixed maran group (including some golden salmon and golden cuckoo marans), lavender orpingtons, buff leghorns, plus more olive eggers, blue copper marans (Davis), and blue ameraucanas (Cree Farms line).

I do have chicks arriving from Whitman Farm soon (welsummers, delawares, and ameraucanas).

I will have some chicks available at the Gilman swap on 5/7. Happy hatching!

Linus returns with big wins from the TB Celebration Show!

Linus, Leo and I traveled to the Thoroughbred Celebration Show in Lexington, VA from March 17th-20th. This show would keep Linus very busy. Shown as 'Tinsel Town', he definitely turned some heads at the show. Although it's hard to miss a 17h grey horse, especially one as cute as he is. He took 5th place in our first 2 3" jumping class out of 15, which I was very proud of him for. He has tons of scope and shows so much promise; we still have work to do but I'm very pleased with his progress, with his confidence ever increasing. We rode in 4 hunter pleasure classes, 2 on Friday and 2 on Saturday. Linus won BOTH of his classes on Friday, and on Saturday he took a 2nd (out of approximately 24 entries) and a 5th. He was Champion in his first division and Reserve Champion in the second division. Leo was shown in-hand in the model class, and while he didn't pin, he certainly showed himself to have the aptitude to be a well-behaved hunter.

This show was mostly a spectating event for Leo, to get him used to the show scene. I'm proud to say he handled everything in stride, and was a perfectly behaved gentleman. He received lots of compliments on his good looks and cute head, and I even found time to hop on him a few times in the evenings. He is showing great promise, and will be taken to a few more shows to spectate before his debut in some pleasure classes later this spring.

The chicks keep coming! As of right now I have 6 Easter Eggers, 1 buff orpington, 1 olive egger, and 4 'mixes' that will eventually lay a brown egg. Expected this week are blue and black copper marans as well as some stunning blue and black ameraucanas from Chicken Scratch Poultry in IL. Next week will be very busy with 2 hatches, including barred olive eggers and mottled javas from a breeder in TX, and olive eggers plus black copper marans from a breeder in WA. While I'm not much of a bantam fan, I saw some show-quality birds from a breeder in GA and couldn't say no to eggs from her mottled cochins and porcelain d'uccles. Those will be out on 4/2. I will have a limited number of chicks for sale from these hatches. Later in April and early may I will have hatches with more barred olive eggers (these produce a speckled green egg!) and mottled javas, and I am expecting live chicks from Whitmore Farm in MD.

First horse show of the season for Linus, and chick update!

Linus went to his first show of the season on February 19th, and took home a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the Low Hunters. For not much winter schooling I was really proud of him. Our next show is 5/5. We're both very excited for the upcoming Thoroughbred Celebration Horse Shows, held at the VA horse center. These shows showcase the off the track thoroughbred, or those bred to race that were in race training that for one reason or another never made it to the track. Both Leo and Linus will be attending.

Chick News! The first eggs in the incubator for 2011 are due in 12 days. So far it looks like I've got about 80% that are developing, so crossing fingers everything goes well for the remainder of the incubation. We've had some extreme weather fluctuations lately, which luckily has not affected the temperature much inside the 'bator, but definitely plays with the humidity a bit.

The next set of eggs I will be incubating are some olive eggers from Texas (black and blue barred) as well as some Black and Blue Copper Marans, and some blue egg-laying true Ameraucanas.

I plan to be at the Gilmanor Swap on May 7th.

Welcome to Shady Lane Farm!

First, let me welcome you to the Shady Lane Farm blog. I will admit, the thought of maintaing a blog at first (and still) seems like a daunting task, as simple as it might have initially been envisioned. I once had a great love for creative writing, less of a love for reading, but a great interest in research. When I first began my undergraduate career, I was convinced my full-time career would eventually be medicine. After my second year, I realized this was not a field I was meant for. I transferred schools and made a big plunge: I would major in Fine Arts, specializing in Illustration. After finding that there was a need for trained medical illustrators, I knew I had found what I was meant to do. This lead me to graduate school, where I was accepted into the Biomedical Visualization program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During my second year I had the great opportunity to intern at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, where I studied under the great David Williams. Shortly after graduation I took a position in Boston doing educational and training materials for the Pharmaceutical industry. After 4 years I was ready for a change, and accepted a position in Virginia doing defense materials for medical malpractice cases. The illustrations I create are used in the courtroom to help the jury understand the allegations. I'm constantly researching, learning and strategizing, and it's the perfect job for me.

Outside of the office, I have a very active life on the farm. I currently have two Off The Track Thoroughbreds (commonly known at OTTBs) in training. Linus, a coming 6 year old, is a 17 hand grey gelding with a personality just as big, and is by Weshaam. He's a fabulous horse, excellent mover, and is always mistaken for a warmblood. Thanks to a wonderful show scene in the area, I'm able to get out to horse shows most weekends from early spring through late fall. He showed last year in the 2' baby greens and will be moving up to the 2' 6" divisions this year. I also will be taking him to a few combined tests, and hopefully his first trial. Leo (registered name Powerful Storm), my newest acquisition, is a coming 6 year old as well, stands about 16.2 hands and is a lovely bay gelding. He came off the Finger Lakes Track in early December of 2010, after a 4 year racing career. He is by the great Thunder Gulch out of a Turkoman mare, and was bred by Adena Springs in KY. (Of note, he was once ridden by Kent Desormeaux! He didn't win...) He did finally break his Maiden but never really could cut it after that, and he came to me in need of lots of weight (he was thinner than what I would consider 'race fit') and some treatment for ulcers. After 2 months he is finally starting to come around, and is putting on some nice weight. He's an incredibly sweet horse, and will always try to get in front of Linus when it's peppermint time. I'll probably start his official training in a few weeks, as I firmly believe that OTTB's need time to relax their mind and body before embarking on a new career. As I show throughout the year, I will post results and pictures. last but never least, Paddy, my amazing 27 year old QH gelding, has been with my family for 20 years now. He is retired and enjoying his days on the farm with 2 mares and lots of hay and sunshine.

My other great interest is in chickens. I currently have around 15 laying hens, and sell the eggs locally. Among the breeds I keep are Wyandottes, Barred Rocks, Leghorns, Welsummers, Orpingtons, Delawares, and a few others. Chicks being raised this spring include several varieties of Marans (the chocolate egg layers), easter eggers, olive eggers, the true Araucanas (blue layers), RIR's and a few leghorns. Needless to say, my hands will be full. Plans are in the works to add more pens, and if I'm feeling lucky, I might try to obtain a nice incubator and hatch a few eggs from some of the excellent breeders in the area. I always prefer to buy and support local when I can. It makes for a happier healthier bird.

This blog will focus on the training and showing of my thoroughbreds, different farm activities, recipes, and other information of interest. If you'd like to see some of my paintings, please visit www.suesimonstudios.com. Thank you for visiting, and check back weekly for updates and news.