Growing up, Bekky Dunnam always wanted to own a chicken farm. Now, she’s come to own a baby emu.
After previously operating a dairy farm in Sheboygan, Bekky and her family moved to Osseo, where her dream of owning a chicken farm incidentally came true: “Soon as I knew we were buying this place,” Bekky explained. “Chickens started to accumulate in our garage.”
Not only did chickens begin to show up on their property, but other birds did as well, such as ducks and geese, in a process Bekky likes to call “chicken math” which then moves onto avian algebra, she says. With this, Pasture View Farms was born.
Seeing a listing for emus on Facebook, she knew right away that they’d make a great addition to the farm. Beginning with buying two emus, she later moved on to buying an egg for the family to raise on their own.
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He’s in a kids pack-and-play in our kitchen. And I walked past and I was like, ‘He looks like a Nigel!’
BEKKY DUNHAM
PASTURE VIEW FARMS, ON HOW SHE NAMED HER NEWLY HATCHED EMU
Upon the egg hatching, Bekky still had to acquire DNA results to determine the baby emu’s gender. And what better way was there to go about the results than a gender reveal party? She commissioned Michelle Monson for a beautiful photoshoot, who adorned her studio in blue balloons. Our baby emu was revealed to be a boy!
Originally, her children wanted him to be named Shaun the Emu, after a character from the children’s television show, Bluey, but they settled on the name Nigel. “He’s in a kids pack-and-play in our kitchen,” Bekky recalled. “And I walked past and I was like, ‘He looks like a Nigel!’ ”
If the cute-factor wasn’t enough already, Pasture View Farms has a unique Rent-A-Chick program where children, adults, and families alike may rent their own chickling to take care of.
After the rental period is over, the renter may even choose to buy them if they can adequately be nurtured in their care.
Rent your own chick or buy farm-fresh eggs today at facebook.com/pastureviewfarms. Schedule your own photoshoot with Michelle Monson and find more of her work at photozbymonson.mypixieset.com or by searching for Michelle Monson Photography on Facebook.
