SPONSOR -A- SENIOR

  • Parsnip

    Parsnip

    Age: 9

    Breed: Wheaten Marans

    Special Needs: Occasional treatment for respiratory issues

    Personality: A regal matriarch, Parsnip is also a dedicated broody bird - meaning she loves to keep eggs warm in the nest box, even though she hasn’t laid an egg of her own in many years. She does NOT like the cold weather and often keeps her head tucked under a wing during winter.

  • Pumpkin

    Pumpkin

    Age: Unknown (rescue)

    Breed: Red Star

    Special Needs: Regular beak filing due to a botched clipping job by her first owner

    Personality: Pumpkin is rather skittish. She and four sisters were rescued by Prince George’s County Animal Control in 2020 from a homeowner who kept them in a windowless shed 24/7. Pumpkin is very cooperative for her beak care.

  • Hendini

    Age: Unknown (rescue)

    Breed: Olive Egger

    Personality: Hendini earned her name due to her particular talent as an escape artist. It is seriously impossible to contain her, so we gave up long ago. On any given day she can be found in garden beds, up in a tree, knocking over a trash can, or getting into some other kind of mischief. We love her so.

  • Waffles

    Age: 5

    Breed: Easter Egger

    Personality: Waffles is steadfast. She’s a simple chicken who doesn’t bully or squawk in your face over nothing (unlike several others who shall remain nameless). But she also won’t be messed with - good luck trying to catch her for a health check or even a photo!

  • Gilly

    Age: Unknown (rescue)

    Breed: Crested Cream Leg Bar

    Special Needs: Wound care following a fox attack at her previous home

    Personality: Gilly is short for Emily Gilmore, after whom she was named for her sassy grandmotherly attitude and flawless hair style.

  • Hennifer Lopez & Goldie Hen

    Age: 4

    Breed: Golden Laced Wyandotte

    Personalities: These two are a riot. They are all sass and squawk all the time. We named them because of their golden feathers and our love of terrible puns, but it turns out they live up to their performance artist namesakes.

  • Lorraine

    Age: 6

    Breed: Delaware

    Special Needs: Chronic bumblefoot

    Personality: Lorraine simply does not give a $#!%.

  • Dweezil

    Age: 4

    Breed: Silkie

    Personality: Dweezil is kinda derpy, and we love her for it. She misses her sister Moon Unit and has been a loner since she passed away. But she bobs around all day like the fluffy white puffball that she is, probably daydreaming.

  • Sesame

    Age: Unknown (rescue)

    Breed: Easter Egger

    Personality: Sesame wants nothing to do with humans, so we mostly let her be.

  • Onyx

    Age: 4

    Breed: Ameraucana

    Personality: Onyx seems to always be checking up on the others. She’s very quiet.

  • Alvin

    Age: 3

    Breed: Mille Fleur Bantam (rooster)

    Personality: Alvin (as in Alvin the Chipmunk) is a bantam - meaning miniature - rooster. While we consider him to be pint-sized, he thinks he is the biggest roo that’s ever lived. His personality is bold and he goes after the ladies relentlessly. The fact that they can literally shake him off hasn’t put a single dent in his pride.

  • Flurffy

    Age: 4

    Breed: Black Cochin

    Personality: The absolute puffiest, Flurffy is docile and sweet. She was adopted from Guy’s parents’ flock of chickens when they moved to Lemon House Farm.

  • Amelia

    Age: 3

    Breed: Buff Goose

    Personality: Amelia probably thinks she’s a chicken, but unlike her flock-mates she does enjoy a daily water bath.

  • Lacey

    Age: 4

    Breed: Silver Laced Wyandotte

    Personality: This prissy girl is always preening herself, making sure each feather is just so. With a beautiful coat like hers, wouldn’t you do the same?

  • Hamilton

    Age: Unknown (rescue)

    Breed: Buff Orpington (rooster)

    Special Needs: Lost an eye when young

    Personality: Hamilton (Hammy, for short) is LARGE and in charge. He runs the retirement & rescue flock and will not let anyone mess with it. He has even successfully fought off a fox that got inside the pen!

  • Babs

    Age: 5

    Breed: Barred Plymouth Rock

    Personality: Babs has been a little granny since day one - it’s just her attitude. She gets cranky about the younger birds and likes to go to bed early.

  • Matilda

    Age: Unknown (rescue)

    Breed: Red Star

    Personality: Matilda is super friendly and curious. She is always the first chicken to come up to you when you enter the pen. She’ll often give a little love peck on the end of your boot. Unlike most chickens, she enjoys pets on the head and back.

  • Tofu

    Age: 4

    Breed: Easter Egger

    Personality: T is for Tofu and for TROUBLE. This girl is an expert trick flyer and can flap in and out of the fence to her liking. She loves to tear up a freshly mulched garden bed, nibble at blooming flowers, and eat sunflower seeds right out of the wild bird feeder.

  • Arden

    Age: 7

    Breed: French Black Copper Marans

    Personality: Arden is a quiet one. She works very hard at not being noticed, and if you make eye contact with her she quickly makes off for a tuft of tall grass or a tree stump to hide behind. We promise she is pampered and loved!

  • Siji

    Age: 4

    Breed: Whiting True Green

    Personality: Siji is a silly spaz. She is the sole remaining sister from a group of four identical hens named Siji, Loro, Telu, and Papat, which is Fijian for One, Two, Three, and Four.

  • We care for a special flock of over 60 chickens who are “retired” from farm work and/or rescued from abusive or neglectful situations. We are a no-kill farm and a sanctuary, meaning that our birds remain part of the family for their entire natural lives (5-10 years on average) instead of being slaughtered for meat once they are no longer “commercially viable” (2-3 years on average). Hens regularly produce eggs for the first few years of their lives and then slow down dramatically before going through “henopause.” It quickly costs more to feed them, shelter them, and keep them healthy than can be earned from selling eggs.

    We also take in dozens of rescue birds from shelters and animal control services in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. Rescue birds often come to us with chronic or previously neglected health issues.

  • At Lemon House Farm, we commit to providing a loving home for our birds when other farms would long ago have done away with them. This includes retiring to the “Leisure Coop” and free range pasture, as well as receiving any needed veterinary care to ensure a happy and healthy life. Our costs include 100% Maryland-grown and non-GMO feed, fresh bedding, winter heating, dietary supplements, preventive medications (dewormers, mite and lice repellants), wound care supplies, medications for illness (pain medications, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics), veterinary visits, and occasional treats.

    We hope that if you enjoy our eggs (or simply love animals!), you’ll help support these retired chickens too!

  • “Sponsor a Senior” chicken by choosing a sponsorship option below and filling out this form. Please note that we are not yet a registered non-profit organization (working on it!), so sponsorships are not tax deductible. Sponsorships are used directly for supporting operating costs of the retirement flock.

    $20 provides fresh bedding for one chicken for a year

    $35 feeds one chicken 100% Maryland-grown and non-GMO feed for a year

    $75 provides heating for the whole retirement flock for one winter

    $100 covers the average veterinary costs for one chicken for a year

    $175 feeds one chicken 100% Maryland-grown and non-GMO feed for a lifetime

    $300 covers the average veterinary costs for one chicken’s lifetime

In Memoriam

  • Ginger

    Ginger

    Age: 8

    Breed: Buff Orpington

    Special Needs: Independent, accessible living due to arthritic legs

  • David Bowie

    David Bowie

    Age: 5

    Breed: French Black Copper Marans (rooster)

    Special Needs: Repeated treatments and hospitalizations for abscesses

  • Meg

    Age: 4

    Breed: Salmon Favorelle

  • Rutabaga

    Age: Unknown (rescue)

    Breed: Rhode Island Red

    Special Needs: Pain meds and epsom salt soaks for abdominal swelling (cancer)

  • Gene Simmons

    Age: 3

    Breed: Silver Laced Polish Crested (rooster)

  • Sue Sylvester

    Age: 8

    Breed: Light Brahma

    Special Needs: Ongoing treatment for scaly leg mite

  • Millie

    Age: 5

    Breed: French Black Copper Marans

  • Lefty

    Age: 4

    Breed: Silver Spangled Hamburg (rooster)

    Special Needs: Twisted spine

  • Clever Girl

    Age: Unknown (rescue)

    Breed: Rhode Island Red

  • Moon Unit

    Age: 3

    Breed: Silkie

    Special Needs: Prolapsed oviduct

  • Piper & Chewy

    Breed: Silkie

    Personality: These twins were the sweetest little muppets. They booped and waddled around quietly and curiously all day and loved a good lap sit.