Gallagher Close Farm Store Eggs
Our history of raising heritage-breed animals, produce, and fruit started with a small flock of twelve chickens in 2004. After living and working in cities for twenty years, we had an opportunity to settle onto a country property with several acres. We had wanted to raise chickens for our own eggs, and finally had the chance and loved it! Over the last seventeen years we have raised about fifty different breeds of chickens. We were looking for the right balance of dual-purpose birds, egg-laying birds and meat birds, that would be successful in New England’s cold winters. Now in the Green Mountains of Vermont, we have expanded our flock and have a goal of raising three- to four-hundred chickens in open pasture to offer the best eggs we can to our community.

Although we found that our Speckled Sussex chickens fit the bill for a dual-purpose bird, we could not keep up with our customers’ demand for eggs. We realized that we need to find birds with a higher egg production rate and raise a different breed that we could use for mainly meat.

Most farms raise standard-breed Leghorn chickens for their excellent production of white eggs. We realized that primarily heritage-breed chickens, with their varied egg sizes and colors, would fit our vision for the farm because we wanted to provide our patrons with a different poultry experience than what they what could purchase in a grocery store. Our chicken eggs from breeds like Marans, Australorps, and Ameraucanas have become popular among our patrons because of the delicious taste that is a result of free-ranging the chickens, good care and food that includes bugs, greens and fruit, flax seed meal and even warm oatmeal in the winter. We believe that our happy heritage-breed chickens lay a yummier egg.