Welcome to Sanford Cochins
Check out the updated Poultry for Sale
Click the photo to view our catalog
Come see us at the Osteen Farm Swap Meet on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays every month.
Click The Picture To Go To Sanford Cochins Clothing and Other Cool Stuff!
National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
Real Food
Real Farmers
Real Communities
In Memory of
"Gallahad"
Narragansett turkey juveniles now available. They are $15 and up each. Pre-paid reservations accepted or sold first come, first served. For general info on Narragansett Turkeys, click HERE.
Cochins are a passion with us and we want the world to know how great they are! We have recently made some changes and have eliminated some of the colors from our breeding program that we previously offered and now will only offer; blue, buff, splash, and black from blue breeding.
For general information on Cochins, click HERE.
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Self-sustainability is an old concept, and a founding principle that sustained settlers when the Pilgrims landed here. They say "all things old are new again" and we believe that the economy has had the effect of forcing people to look inward into their communities and to themselves to find ways to provide for their basic needs such as food, energy, and other alternative resources.
Poultry is one of the oldest sources of good nutrition and an important part of the natural world which has provided for man for millenia. Besides all the practical benefits of keeping poultry and producing your own eggs, chickens are COOL! Our favorite pass-time is "chicken TV" and we spend a lot of time just hanging out with our chickens. They are entertaining, have unique personalities, form friendships and alliances, and some are actually very intelligent. Raised from babies, chickens actually enjoy your company and like to hang out with you while you work in your garden or spend time outside.
We welcome your questions and no inquiry is "stupid" .... so please just ask.
Thanks for visiting and let us know how we can help you further your knowledge and involvement with wonderful chickens.
In the spirit of self-sustainability and because I can't seem to stop being involved in 15 things all at once, I am now currently raising Mosquito Fish and have my first group of Blue Tilapia fry growing.
Having begun this to improve not only the environment around my home by drastically reducing the mosquito population that plagues us each year, but to also find a natural solution to the duck weed that chokes the pond next to my house. It seems that Tilapia are nature's perfect solution to that duck weed as it's a favorite food for these wonderful and versatile fish, and Mosquito Fish are the most perfect and efficient predators of mosquito larvae to be found anywhere! Many cities, counties, and municipalities around Florida use these tiny guppy-like fish to control mosquitos in still water ponds and canals all over the state. A single adult mosquito fish can consume 50,000 mosquito larvae and they reproduce by bearing live young which are on the hunt for mosquito larvae the moment they are born!
In combination with a good swarm of dragon flys, the mosquito population can be easily controlled and reduced to fractional levels, when combined with good practices of eliminating unnecessary standing water locations around your home like buckets, pots, cups, or other water-retaining areas.
Not only are tilapia great weed eaters, they are reknowned to be good eating themselves! We shall find out in a few months when these fast growing, prolific fish are ready for the first harvest! 1½ pound fish can be expected in as little as 5 months! I will have a breeding group established as well to raise large numbers for both food and pond cleaners. I'll keep a photo log of the pond cleanup process as we progress.
Having secured a couple hundred of these fish, I began to investigate Aquaponics further. Aquaponics is the combination of Aquatic and Hydroponic practices to create a fully self contained plant and fish generating system. I will expand on that further as I begin building my system, but basically the plants are fed and watered by the eco system that the fish create in their pond/container and the plants thrive on the nutrients and then filter the water which returns to the fish containment reservoir, fully renewed to continue the cycle once again. Other than fish food and a bit of water to replace that which is lost to evaporation, this system can support an intense amount of growing plants for food using no soil or other supplements other than what the fish waste provides.
