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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

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

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In Memoriam

Ginger

Age: 8
Breed: Buff Orpington
Special Needs: Independent, accessible living due to arthritic legs
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.