Opry Hill

08/27/2026

Helping a friend find homes for her 4 Rouen ducks. One drake and three hens located near Robert’s. Please PM for details! They were purchased this spring.

08/27/2026

Speckled and freckled? The speckled freckle? Sandpaper sallies? Frecking specking? Dotty little spotty? Idk guys I have never been good at naming these dang things.

Blue egg gene homozygous multi generational Olive Eggers bred toward an expression of the highest deposit of pigment in speckled patterns.

08/27/2026

Okay…you are onto something here Stephanie! I will be using this idea. Accountability buddies unite!

08/25/2026

Went camping and came back to inbox chaos. HOW IS ANYONE STILL WANTING TO RAISE CHICKS!! It’s been the longest year of my life! This is suppose to be the slow season. We are all suppose to turn off the incubators and relax. Why are we like this??!

08/25/2026

This is raw reality. Thank you for sharing and being so transparent. Finding joy in raising these birds is a challenge but there is always a beautiful egg rainbow at the end of it ❤️ stay strong, sweet Friends. So lucky to know you!

08/21/2026

Eeeeeee she be showing off!

08/19/2026

Thank you to all the amazing people out there who are posting reels/photos/updates and tagging me. You are single handedly keeping my posting alive 🤦‍♀️❤️🤣

I will be back. Once I can get our oldest back to school. I am soaking it all up. They grow up way too fast 😔😔 posting seems silly when you have a precious little soul who wants to ask me 100 questions in under an hour and “mom watch this” in between ❤️

08/15/2026

❤️❤️❤️

08/05/2026

Well said ❤️

After more than 8 years of breeding poultry here’s one fact that seems to upset people every single year…

Black Copper Marans egg color fades.

It fades throughout the laying season, and it also becomes lighter as hens get older. That’s not an opinion or a breeder’s excuse, it’s simply how the breed works.

What doesn’t fade are the genetics.

A well bred hen can still pass those dark egg genetics on to her daughters. That doesn’t mean you can buy light production quality Marans from a large hatchery and magically produce dark egg layers the next generation. Genetics still matter, and quality breeding stock is the foundation.

What I wish more people understood is this…

Please don’t judge an entire breeding program because the eggs you received in the summer time aren’t as dark as the photos posted in Early winter or Spring.

Selective breeding has never been about instant gratification. It’s about improving the next generation.

To me, the reward isn’t getting the darkest egg today. It’s hatching those chicks, raising them, and opening the nest box months later to find those first deep chocolate eggs from birds you bred.

That’s why I chose to focus on Black Copper Marans chicks instead of hatching eggs this season. Honestly, it’s been much more peaceful.

After eight years, one thing has become very clear to me, the best breeders aren’t chasing one perfect egg for social media they’re preserving genetics for the next generation.

Maybe I’ll open egg sales for Black Copper Marans for 2027. But I haven’t decided yet. We shall see.

08/05/2026

Happy little trees indeed young lady!