Marshmallow, the Matriarch of the Log Cabin Chickens

The Chickens That Lay the Organic Eggs

When Dr. Dan calls, Marshmallow comes trotting. She lives in a little log cabin, similar to the one Dr. Dan built for himself. She has numerous roommates—21 of them, in fact, and that doesn’t even count the 27 three-month-olds.

“Marshmallow is one of the first chickens I got,” said Dr. Dan, who is the vet who takes care of Mantorville Farms’ dog, Thomas. “Chickens remind me of miniature dinosaurs. When Marshmallow comes running to me, it’s like a little Tyrannosaurus Rex coming at me.”

Marshmallow is an Americauna chicken, sometimes called Easter egg chicken, because she produces multi-colored eggs. Mantorville Farms sells the organic eggs produced by Dr. Dan’s hens all over the country.

A vet for 29 years, Dr. Dan has a clinic and house near Mantorville Farms. Admitting to a “Mother Earth News mentality,” Dr. Dan built his log home about 18 years ago on 18 acres near a river. He planted 700 pine trees and bought 25 one-day-old chicks (of which Marshmallow was one). Soon he had more eggs than he could use so he began bringing them into the clinic and giving them away to clients. That’s where Hank (Thomas’s owner) saw them, became intrigued by the colors, and decided they would be a perfect item to include on the Mantorville Farms Web site.

Dr. Dan’s peep of chickens (yes, that’s what a collection of chickens is called) is free range. They roam in the outyard and nearby woods during the day, and, when it begins to get dark, they automatically make their way home to their little log cabin to roost at night. They spend four to five hours a day grazing on grass, weeds, bugs, and a feed Dr. Dan provides called Egg Crumbles, which is produced by the local grain elevator and has oyster shells for added calcium and grit to help their gizzards grind food. Marshmallow and the gang also eat food recycled from Dr. Dan’s dinner table; they love banana peels, lettuce, and apples. They turn their beaks up at orange peels.

The chickens share six nesting boxes, each lined with shredded paper recycled from the local telephone company. “When these girls are on their nests, they’re just clucking and singing away,” Dr. Dan says. They lay about a dozen eggs a day, and each one is organic. Dr. Dan does not medicate his chickens.

The eggs are beauties: multicolored, light blue, dark green. (The color pigment is produced by the oviduct of the chicken; color is a genetic trait.) “Since an egg gets its taste from a chicken’s diet,” Dr. Dan says, “it stands to reason that a happy chicken, getting to free range, getting a diversified diet, will produce a better-tasting egg.”

Dr. Dan’s clients at the clinic, who have been eating Marshmallow’s eggs for years, certainly think so. Colored eggs are lower in cholesterol and higher in folic acid; they are considered the premium eggs in Europe. Because they have a harder shell, they travel well so Mantorville Farms can ship them anywhere. Plus organic eggs have a shelf life of a couple of weeks—if they are kept at room temperature. Once refrigerated, they must be kept in the refrigerator.

Dr. Dan’s chickens have names: Betsy, Alice, White Pearl, Black Pearl, Lacy. Dr. Dan would never dream of eating one of them. “Maybe it’s the Dr. Doolittle in me, but I could never kill one of my chickens,” he said. “They have names and personalities, and they live in a log house like my house.” 

Try some of Mantorville Farms colorful and tasty fresh eggs and imagine Marshmallow and friends singing and clucking in their little log cabin producing them just for you and your family.