LF Barred Hollands

Have you ever heard of a Barred Holland? Not to be confused with the more common Barred Plymouth Rock... Barred Hollands are currently listed as a Critically Endangered American breed. Once renowned for their reliability and friendly nature, these birds are prolific layers and adapt beautifully to any backyard or farm environment. This breed was created in the early 1930's with a dual-purpose white egg layer in mind, and thus, the Holland was hatched. Because of their barred feathering, these Hollands are feather sexable at hatch. Our line is originally from Sandhill Preservation, we hatched two dozen eggs in 2022 from a local breeder who surprised judges with this rare breed at local poultry shows. We have been working on increasing overall weight and correcting cock plumage. Our flock was producing cockerels with reddish/orange in their wing. We did not see any orange/yellow plumage present in our 2025 juveniles! We plan on working to establish consistent egg color in 2026-2027, some of our hens are laying slightly tinted egg (the standard calls for white eggshells) 

Barred Hollands were accepted into the US Standard in 1949. Hens can lay 240-300 large white eggs per year. Our Hollands are very productive layers. We have noted more Holland eggs during the winter than from other breeds we raise. They come into lay early and rarely go broody. Hollands have single combs and yellow skin. Cocks weigh  8½ lbs.....Hens weigh 6½ lbs. These friendly birds are so docile, they have become a favorite of ours. 

We are proud to introduce our Blue Wheaten/Wheaten Ameraucana's. One of few 'Bearded Chicken' varieties, Ameraucana's are recognized by the APA. We acquired our line from fellow Ameraucana club member & fancier Jessica Rodgers, who graciously handpicked our breeding flock for 2022 from her own stock. This line has surprised us with brilliant blue eggs and friendly birds. Our girls have been laying 3-4 medium-large eggs weekly. We are reminded daily how sweet and docile this breed is. 

Ameraucana's were developed in the 1970's and admitted to the Standard in 1984 as a general purpose fowl. Their distinct blue egg genetics are caused by their Araucana lineage (Araucana's were introduced to the states in the 1930's, but due to self-limiting factors within the breed, hobbyists aimed to establish a new breed; the Ameraucana!) 

Ameraucana's have cold-hardy pea combs, curved beaks, and their faces are nearly hidden behind unique feathery muffs. Cocks weigh  6½ lbs.....Hens weigh 5½ lbs. Despite their small size, they do well in mixed flocks with other larger birds, they are known as active foragers who enjoy exploring. This variety can be sexed early with 100% accuracy, usually around 2-3 weeks old. 

Wheaten's are a rare, visually stunning variety of Marans, prized for their beauty and large russet brown eggs, a defining characteristic of the breed. We are proud to offer our Wheaten Marans, a project we've been working on since 2022. Our line originated from Frank May in Tennessee, a respected Marans breeder in the poultry community. We are forever grateful that Frank helped us start our breeding program with his own stock and we are very excited to help promote the Marans breed!

Marans are listed under the Continental Class (Northern European) originating in France in the early 1900's. Marans were accepted into the US Standard in 2011 as a general purpose fowl, though they appeared almost 100 years earlier in French poultry shows back in 1914. Marans are a medium sized bird with single combs, lightly feathered legs, and has the character of a rustic farm hen. Cocks weigh 8 lbs.....Hens weigh 6½ lbs. The Wheaten variety is 1 of 3 accepted Marans varieties. Wheaten females are cream-colored, (The color of the grains of wheat) and their hackles are a rich wheaten color. Wheaten cocks are Black with a coppery-red coat, closely resembling Black Copper Cocks except for the distinct brown triangular wing mirror. This variety can be sexed early with 100% accuracy, usually around 2-3 weeks old. 

When I was working at Tractor Supply back in 2017, I heard about 'Marans' for the first time, I was told they are a rare 'chocolate egg layer'. After months of searching, we finally found the elusive Black Copper Marans! This has been an ongoing project on the farm since 2018. We noticed many flaws in our original breeding flock; Squirrel tails, fused toes due to excessive leg feathering, an overall lack of copper coloring on hens, sprigs on combs etc. There was quite a bit of work to do with the BCM we had.  Over the summer of 2021 we connected with a fellow Marans member & breeder in California who shipped us new Blue Copper genetics to work with. That new blood helped us eliminate some of the issues after just 1 breeding season! Since then we have continued to work within the same genetics, slowly improving our flock with each generation. We are very pleased with the results from our selective breeding and we're sure you will be too. Blue Copper & Splash Copper Marans are not yet recognized by the APA. This season we have 3 separate breeding pens dedicated to our Copper Marans. We are able to guarantee both our Splash Copper and Blue Copper hatching eggs because of parental color pairings.

• 1 Copper breeding pen is guaranteed to produce 100% Blue Copper Chicks (Splash Cock x Black Copper Hens)
• 1 Copper breeding pen is guaranteed to produce 100% Splash Copper chicks (Splash Cock x Splash Hens), 
• 1 Copper breeding pen is guaranteed to produce 50% Blue, 25% Black, 25% Splash (Blue Copper Cock x Blue Copper Hens)... We cannot guarantee chick coloring from this pairing.

Marans are listed under the Continental Class (Northern European) originating in France in the early 1900's. Marans were accepted into the US Standard in 2011 as a general purpose fowl, though they appeared almost 100 years earlier in French poultry shows back in 1914. Marans are a medium sized bird with single combs, lightly feathered legs, and has the character of a rustic farm hen. Cocks weigh 8 lbs.....Hens weigh 6½ lbs. The Black Copper variety is 1 of 3 accepted Marans varieties. The main difference between a Blue, Black or Splash Copper Marans is visual feather coloring. The color blue acts as an inhibitor to the color black in chicken genetics, meaning it dilutes black. 

We offer a few fun Olive Eggers here at High Desert Hatchery! Olive Eggers are NOT an official breed. They do NOT breed true. They are the result of crossing two different breeds, producing a first generation (F1) chick that is guaranteed to carry Olive Egg genetics. We currently offer two different types of Olive Eggers, they lay slightly different shades of Olive/Green. 

MarsBar are the result of crossing Marans x Legbar. We use our Wheaten Marans and Golden Crele Legbar (sourced locally from the Big R Ranch) to create our High Desert MarsBar! MarsBar are Sex-Linked, meaning cockerels and pullets can be visually identified at hatch. These are large beautiful birds full of personality. They are considered dual-purpose. Cocks weigh 8 lbs..... Hens weigh 6½ lbs. They have large single combs (hens tend to grow a large comb that may flop over), a cute head crest and lightly feathered legs. 

F1 Wheaten Olive Eggers are the result of crossing both of our Wheaten varieties, Wheaten Marans x Wheaten Ameraucana's. All offspring from this pairing will have Wheaten plumage, lightly feathered legs, beards & muffs, and they will carry Olive Egg genetics. They are considered dual-purpose. Cocks weigh 7½ lbs..... Hens weigh 6½ lbs