Welcome to Gabey's Smart Chicks! My name is Gabriella Carson and I live in Modesto, Ca. When I was in sixth grade I asked my mom if I could earn money to save up for my future Washington D.C. trip and now we just can't stop. We came up with a plan to start our own organic egg business that has grown into an area egg co-op and now breeding our own chicks, incubating egg and chick sales co-op, school presentations, and seasonal online group science projects.
I joined my local 4-H group to learn what I needed to become a good "Chicken Tender" and to choose the best birds to start my business. I am also learning to show my birds and have slowly become involved in our area poultry shows and public speaking as I get to share my Urban farm with other city kids!
I now have some beautiful Black Copper Marans which lay yummy, rich, chocolate brown eggs. They come from Peter Orvalle of Vacaville, CA and Karen Thomas of Turlock, CA. Our first generations of chicks look really good and I can't wait to see what our second generation will look like!
I also have Blue Wheaten Ameraucana hens that lay a beautiful blue egg through Jean Ribbeck. We added a Wheaten Ameraucana rooster raised by Sky High Poultry and purchased from Paul Smith's flock last year & now have their beautiful Wheaten son & Wheaten daughters added to the flock.
I am going to be hatching & growing out Barnevelders for the spring because they are another of the dark egg layers. Barnevelders are a beautiful bird that are fairly new to the U.S. and I haven't seen them at any of the poultry shows around. I am really looking forward to adding this new breed to my flock. They should be a lot of fun. I will get to show & sale the adults this Fall 2014.
Since this website is a combination of my Smart Chicks business and our life as a science project, my mom and I have branched out to explore poultry science, building with geometry, school presentations & online science projects, organic gardening, and just about any other scientific experiment we decide to run with. We get to be pretty creative. This spring we are designing an energy (my time & work) efficient chicken tractor coop based on all the lessons I have learned to make chicken tending faster & easier. If I do a really good job with the design, I will post them for sale!
My mom's Candy Cot seeds have died :0( but we started growing in our greenhouse along with 20 other new vegetables she is adding to the garden this spring. All our new plants will give us the chance to learn to can & try foods that we could never buy in the store. My mom's Home Growin' Co-Op gives all of our friends a chance to order these super rare & tasty treats. And since she grew up in the Mojave Dessert, we are going to be studying & building our own cistern raised beds that water themselves with gravity fed rain barrels.
Boy, is it going to be a busy spring 2014! I hope you enjoy my site as I explore the world of science and business.