Comb and Claw

Comb and Claw Comb and Claw is a small hobby farm in Central Wisconsin. We specialize in producing gentle roosters, colorful eggs, and anything else that takes our fancy!

The babies are sure growing fast! This little babe has a unique feature! Can you spot it?v v v v v vThey've got an extra...
04/06/2023

The babies are sure growing fast! This little babe has a unique feature! Can you spot it?

v v v v v v

They've got an extra toe!

If you remember from Flock Fridays last year, we highlighted a breed called the Salmon Faverolle. They have 5 toes on each foot (typical chickens have 4), feathered feet, and beards.
This little baby has feathered feet and when we looked closer we discovered it's got a tiny extra toe on one foot!

That means this boy/girl is half Faverolle! Can't wait to see what they look like as they get bigger!

03/29/2023

We're up to SEVENTEEN!
😳😳😳

First baby!Others are pipped now... we're all gleefully monitoring the incubator ❤️
03/28/2023

First baby!

Others are pipped now... we're all gleefully monitoring the incubator ❤️

Good morning!Here at Comb and Claw we're getting ready to kick off the Spring 2023 Hatching Season!This intrepid little ...
03/28/2023

Good morning!

Here at Comb and Claw we're getting ready to kick off the Spring 2023 Hatching Season!

This intrepid little chickie is the ~first~ pip of the year! A "pip" is that first little chip in the eggshell as a chick gets ready to get to work breaking out!

Chicks have an "egg tooth" - a hard, sharp, angled growth on the tip of their beak - that they use to pip the egg. They'll then work to break a larger line around the egg until it's weakened enough to push away.

It's very important that chicks do this themselves! Breaking out of an egg is hard work, and it proves that they're strong enough to survive. Hatching can take up to 24 hours so patience is key!

Banties in the cold!Left to right, top to bottom:Bibi, Londo, GhostChungus, Lucky, Dove, AgusWillow, Rust, Magnolia, Sno...
12/21/2022

Banties in the cold!

Left to right, top to bottom:
Bibi, Londo, Ghost
Chungus, Lucky, Dove, Agus
Willow, Rust, Magnolia, Snowflake
Maple

Not pictured: Tina, Toast, Snowball, and Sunrise

Some breeds of chicken are more tolerant of cold than others, and we try to have hardy types for our Wisconsin winters. Chickens are tiny feathery furnaces, especially with some extra protein and carbs to burn. We supplement during the winter with cracked corn and try to make sure all drafts are stopped up (Great Stuff spray foam!).

Naturally, egg production drops in the cold (even with supplemental lighting) as the birds use more energy to keep themselves warm. Fluctuations in egg production throughout the year can be hard to predict and almost always complicate the lives of those of us who sell eggs, but it's important to remember that chickens are living creatures, not machines!

Stay warm out there!

12/15/2022

We FINALLY got enough snow to make it look like winter!

While our chickens may hate the deep snow, our ducks absolutely love it! They will happily waddle through it, playing and flapping and "mak-mak"-ing all day. They'll even take naps in it, leaving little duck-shaped divots in the snow.

09/27/2022

I'd like to apologize for the lack of chicken-y goodness and beekeeping bonuses for the past month.

I've been working (from home) as well as trying to manage the farm and be ~present~ in my life and I'm afraid that producing content for Comb and Claw has had to take a back burner.

I'm going to try and balance things a bit better going forward, and hopefully keep cute chicken and bee pics coming for everyone's enjoyment :)

08/22/2022

Our poor hummingbird feeder!
The bees are taking advantage of the easy meal in the midsummer heat. Don't worry about the hummingbirds, though. There's still lots of blooms for them plus the bees always stop feeding around twilight and don't start again until mid-morning.

I swear, we didn't raise this year's spring hatch with the intent of keeping another rooster, but my junior farm hand (J...
08/12/2022

I swear, we didn't raise this year's spring hatch with the intent of keeping another rooster, but my junior farm hand (JFH) made a good point: we have 40 hens now and only 2 roosters.
The general rule is 10-15 hens per rooster for adequate fertilization, protection, etc and to avoid harem conflicts. We would've been short-staffed, as it were.
JFH was allowed to pick which of the young roosters would be joining the flock with some criteria:
1) No bad attitude. Roosters must be well-behaved or they're fired (straight into a soup pot)
2) No known defects. No crooked toes, weird conformation, or poor feathering.
3) No colors/patterns we already have. There's no need for confusion and duplicate boys.

JFH chose very carefully and was charged with naming the newbie. And so, for today's Flock Friday, I present: Maximus, aka Max.

Farm hands come in all shapes, sizes, and ages!And there's nothing like a pile of fresh straw to take a break in when yo...
08/06/2022

Farm hands come in all shapes, sizes, and ages!

And there's nothing like a pile of fresh straw to take a break in when you're cleaning out coops!

Always remember to stop and appreciate the little things, even when you're up to your elbows in chicken muck and shed feathers 😉

08/05/2022

We had visitors this morning! The high-pitched "EeeEeEEee" noise is from the chickens; the make it when they're on high alert.

Wild turkeys with a batch of half-grown poults! They're heading for that delicious-looking soybean field on the right side of the frame (after thoroughly harassing the ducks, of course)


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Wausau, WI
54403

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