Adrianna Hyde runs Poised Poultry in Florida—and the endeavor houses some of the most eye-catching ornamental chicken breeds that you’ll come across while scrolling through your social media feed.
“My mom learned about a 4-H poultry club starting up in our area and she asked me and my little brother if we would be interested in getting chickens,” recalls Hyde as she looks back on the moment she became smitten by poultry. “Of course we said yes, and one day she brought home a mixed breed hen and a rooster.”
After successfully showing at a youth fair, Hyde’s mom added a pair of Buff Cochin Bantams to the homestead—at which point she admits she became “hooked.”
Taking a minute out from tending to the residents at Poised Poultry, we spoke to Hyde about a concept called Farm TV and the therapeutic nature of chickens. We also got into the high maintenance status of Silkies.
The Benefits of Living with Chickens
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“I consider my chickens to be very therapeutic,” says Hyde when asked about the most rewarding nature of raising poultry. “During the week when I get home from work, I go out to see them and any stress that I have just melts away.”
Read more: Chickens can bring a therapeutic calm to their keepers.
Introducing Farm TV
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While hanging out with her chickens, Hyde delights in enjoying each bird’s individual personalities. “Watching them interact with each other is very entertaining,” she says. “I have a friend who calls it Farm TV.”
Maintaining the Coop
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Poised Poultry is home to a number of ornamental breeds of chicken. Hyde says that while they “aren’t praised for their egg laying abilities,” they definitely produce “enough eggs for me.”
Hyde adds that her ornamental chickens keep her living an active outdoors lifestyle. “In the mornings I’m out feeding, letting everyone out and looking for eggs,” she explains. “In the afternoons, I clean and refill their waterers, rake leaves out of the run, assess the health of everyone and check for eggs again.”
Read more: Considering ornamental chickens? These 4 breeds are good-looking birds!
Spotlight on Polish Chickens!
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Polish chickens are some of the standout birds as Poised Poultry. “I would sum up their personality as lively and curious,” says Hyde when talking about the breed. “They develop a very large crest, so once they mature they cannot see very well. If not handled often early on, they can be very flighty and will not want to be held—[but] most of my Polish see my feet and hands and know it’s just me.”
Hyde adds that one of her Polish hens has a unique way of greeting her: “She likes to peck my feet the entire time I’m outside with them!”
High Maintenance Silkies
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When asked to nominate the most demanding birds at Poised Poultry, Hyde quickly points to her Silkies.
“Some of them have such a big crest that I have to cut feathers around their eyes so they can see better,” she says. “It rains a lot here in Florida, and, if they walk in the mud, it sometimes dries up in the feathers on their feet. I have wash buckets just for them whenever they need to get cleaned up. They are very tame, so they don’t mind when I handle them.”
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