The Wheaton Way

01/07/2026

What is your favorite food? 

01/07/2026

Why does he try to bite me? Is this just a Chihuahua thing?

01/07/2026

Looking to freshen up your coop this spring? Reach out to WhyNot Farms! We are not currently keeping poultry. They are home to our Marans!

WhyNotFarms 2026 Hatching & Breeding Plan

We are pleased to announce our plans for the 2026 season.

🌟**NEW FEATURES FOR 2026**🌟
*No reservations, no pre-ordered waiting list… everything will be posted upon hatch and be a first come first serve ! Hatches will occur every 7-10 days.

*🚹🚺*We will be partnering with Pink Lily Poultry for chick sexing options. This local business is right in Wiscasset, Maine and will help you with all of your chick sexing needs. Use Code WHYNOTFARM26 and get 15% off your orders. Sexing is done separate from WhyNot Farms after the purchase.

*Prices remain at the 2025 levels, no increase.

The 2025 hatching process will start the beginning of March
Pure Breed - Breeder Stock
NPIP Certified. Augusta
🐥Lavender Orpingtons - Cream Tan Egg large
🐥Cream Legbars - Blue egg Med/large
🐥Salmon Favorelle - White/cream/pink egg med/large
🐥Black Marans - Chocolate egg Large/Xlarge- Max 4 chicks
🐥Blue Marans - Chocolate egg Large/Xlarge
🐥Splash Marans-Brown/chocolate eggs large/xlarge
🐥Seramas - White/cream Xsmall egg
🐥Silkies - not bred for color. Bearded. Cream/white egg medium
🐥Olive Eggers - Green egg large
🐥White Favorelles - White/Cream/Pink egg Med Max 4 chicks
🐥Mottled Lavender Orpington - 2 chick max. Tan eggs large
🦆Muscovy Ducks- large Creamish egg

*All chicks will be sold as a SR (straight run) This means unsexed with the exception of Crested Cream Legbars that are auto sexed at hatch. Chicks will be held for 1-3 days to ensure health and vitality.
If you do need chick sexing options, we have partnered with Pink Lily Poultry to help you with all your chick sexing needs and at a discount by using the WhyNotFarms code listed above! All sexing will be done after the purchase and not be something that WhyNotFarms does on site.

We will not respond to postings on our page claiming chicks.. All claims must be done through WhyNot Farms Private Message. FCFS

All hatches will be posted on our WhyNotFarms FB page. Individuals need to like and follow the page to order. The number of chicks and the breeds will be posted at that time. We will accept orders on a FCFS basis. After we confirm your order, a good faith non refundable deposit will be required through Venmo before we move on to the next available person. All chicks will be delivered on a regular basis typically on Saturday or Sunday mornings in Augusta, but special arrangements can be made if necessary.

Hatching eggs will be offered and posted on a regular basis. Hatching egg orders requires a deposit to hold your order. After we confirm your order you will have 15 mins to respond and pay a deposit through Venmo before we move on to the next available person.

Minimum order of 2 chicks.
We reserve the right to limit any order to fulfill the most orders possible for our valuable followers.

We meet locally in Augusta. As a result of biosecurity we do not meet at our home. We accept Cash / Venmo.

*We are continuing to partner with Slo Mainer and will have multiple rooster drop off dates for those folks who get unwanted roosters. Dates and times will be announced but there will be one late spring, summer and early fall. Locations for drop offs will be in Yarmouth for our Southern folks, Augusta for our Central folks and Newport for folks in the North and a few places in between.

*Sexed and Off Heat Grow Outs:
Sexed Grow out for all breeds will be available later in the season and at an increased cost. (no sexing for silkies)
There will be no reservations for Grow outs. As genders reveal themselves they will be offered on this page on a first come first serve basis. Any growout will be required to have a 50% non refundable deposit to hold your spot.
Please make sure you are following our page and checking often so you don’t miss out!

*Hatching Eggs:
Hatching eggs available for select breeds based on availability.
Shipping of hatching eggs is available. No chicks. We shipped all over the country last year with great success. $30 flat rate shipping fee at buyers expense.
Hatching eggs are always a risk, regardless if picked up or shipped. We cannot guarantee hatch rates, but we can assure you we are hatching the very same eggs in our incubators at the very same time, so we know hatch and fertility rates on a week to week basis. All hatching eggs will be delivered within the 7-10 day hatching egg window. Eggs that are malformed or discolored will not be used for hatching eggs. Eggs are normally shipped on Mon-Wed. Tracking slips will be sent to the purchaser. Once they leave our hands we cannot guarantee anything.

All deliveries this year will be attempted to be bundled to save on travel and time. Most likely on weekend mornings. Special arrangements can be made if necessary.
Feel free to message our page to get in on our breeding list, price information and to answer any questions you may have.

ABOUT:
A little bit about ourselves if you are not familiar with us.
We are located in central Maine, Augusta, which makes for easy pick up from multiple locations across our great state.
We are a small-time breeder who works hard to provide quality healthy eggs, chicks and birds while continuing to strive for Standard of Perfection in our birds. (SOP)
We are not a mass production outfit. We do small hatches and believe in quality and service after the sale. We stand by our reputation and commitment to service. We hatch approx every 7-10 days from March to July and beyond.
If you are looking for big box store/hatchery prices and quality, we are not the breeder for you.
We believe in helping and educating the greater chicken community whenever possible. This includes live Chicken Chats, Podcasts, School hatching, and Rooster/Poultry roundups just to name a few!
We pride ourselves for being there not only for the initial sale, but throughout your journey and the journey of others. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask...

01/06/2026

Have any of you used a miniature version of one of these for seedlings indoors?

01/05/2026

Don’t be jumping to conclusions. These are not ours. BUT this is good advice that I highly recommend following. 

✨ Let’s talk about coccidia ✨

Coccidia is a HUGE concern for baby goats and sadly I get multiple messages a year from people who have lost their goat kids to it.

So what is coccidia?
Coccidia is a parasite that damages the intestinal tract and is most common in younger animals around 6 months of age or younger, although it can affect older animals. Coccidia can cause permanent damage to an animal once they have had it, the most common thing we see is stunted growth. And it is VERY important to treat quickly when you get a case of coccidia!

How do you prevent coccidia?
Coccidia thrives in wet/dirty environments so it is very important you keep pens clean, waters clean, food troughs clean and PLEASE keep your goat kids out of wet areas! Coccidia can also be brought on by stress so think weaning or traveling to a new home. This is where using a preventative treatment can be life saving! There are different options, some not legal in the U.S. *cough* baycox/toltrazuril *cough* so make sure to do your research before deciding what you want to use. Medicated feed is popular like poulin meat grower or kalmbach start right kid feed although harder to make sure each kid is getting a proper amount of medication. We recently started using calfpro for our goat kids!

Why calfpro?
We used to use baycox as a coccidia preventative when we first started, not realizing that you cannot legally use it in the U.S. on any animals intended for meat or milk consumption (I believe this is due to lack of testing in the U.S. but correct me if I’m wrong!). We decided to make the switch to calfpro for a few reasons!

1. it’s legal
2. I can measure out how much each kid gets unlike a medicated feed
3. It is filled with vitamins that support early growth

Of course there are downsides to using preventative care, like resistance, so switching up the active ingredient you use to prevent/treat coccidia might be something to look into. We treat coccidia with a different active ingredient then we prevent it with.

Do you have to use a preventative and if so how long do you use it for?
Outside of keeping kids out of wet areas and keeping things clean (yes please do this!), no, you do not have to use coccidia preventative and not everyone does! I will say that from experience I will personally always use one, I prefer to purchase kids on preventative care but if they are not already on it I put them on it when they get here. We start calfpro around 1-2 weeks of age (when they leave our house and enter general kid population) and then we will continue to use until around 6 months of age. Last year we used until weaning age and ended up with one doe getting coccidia once she was put into the barn with our adult goats, most likely from stress. She was treated and is doing great now but is small so we will do extended treatment this year.

Please keep in mind that this is NOT a must, I’m not telling you what to do, just sharing my personal management style 😊
What do you use if anything? And if you don’t use anything will you now?

01/04/2026

OBSESSED with our new 3D Printer! Who else has one? What are the most useful things you have printed with yours? Yesterday I printed iPhone and AirPod mounts that attach to the side of our floating nightstands.

01/03/2026

That was a hell of a trip! Can you believe we drove here from Maine? Kevin Wheaton

01/03/2026

That time we came back from Thanksgiving dinner and we couldn’t find where we lived.

01/03/2026

Every night is a Three Dog Night around here. I’m not sure it makes us much warmer. Often I wake up with my ass stuck out of the blanket because the dogs have taken over the middle. Downsizing to a queen bed from a king has been hard on us humans.  

10/04/2025

Yet another renovation gem. This wallpaper is in the same room.