The Bird Garden at Red Barn Ranch · Farm Stay with Peacocks & Fresh Eggs · Ramona, CA

A field guide to the birds of Red Barn Ranch

The Bird Garden

Peacocks, ducks and hens, all of them used to visitors. The animals are the part most guests remember, and we would love for your family to come and meet them.

Meet the birds Stay at Red Barn Ranch

At Red Barn Ranch · Ramona, California

Plate I

An ink drawing of a white peacock with its tail fanned out in full display.
The Peacock In full display, drawn from the birds in our garden
3,000square feet of bird garden
Enclosedand solar-powered
Feb–Maythe seasonal pond fills
Fresh eggsat the farm stand by the back gate

At Red Barn Ranch

A garden built for the birds, with room for the whole family to visit.

Our bird garden is about three thousand square feet, fully enclosed and solar-powered, and it is home to exotic chickens, ducks, turkeys and peacocks.

The birds are our pets, and they earn their keep with the eggs we sell at Mini Barn Market. We tend them most days, so there is usually someone close by who is glad to show you around.

Peafowl and a hen walking past a red and white coop in the shade of a big tree, with a small blue coop beside it.
The red coop, with peafowl passing by

The field guide

Who you will meet

A short guide to the residents of the garden. The peacocks, ducks and hens are all used to visitors.

  1. Fig. 1

    The Peacock

    The grandest residents of the garden, and quite used to visitors.

    Three peafowl pecking along the base of a red coop under a Fresh Eggs sign: one grey and silver, one pure white, and one dark.
    Peafowl by the egg coop
  2. Fig. 2

    The Duck

    The ducks have a pond of their own inside the garden, and it drains and refills on its own.

    Ducks paddling and preening in a small pond set into a wooden deck, with a little red duck house behind them.
    The duck pond
  3. Fig. 3

    The Hen

    The hens lay the eggs. Meet us at the Chicken Garden and gather a few together.

    Close up of hens eating from a metal dish on a bed of straw, one with black and white laced feathers and a bright red comb.
    Breakfast in the coop
  4. Fig. 4

    The Turkey

    Yes, there are turkeys too. They share the garden with the rest of the flock.

    A dark turkey resting on the ground in the garden, its speckled head turned to one side.
    One of the turkeys

A morning in the garden

Mornings here tend to start with eggs.

Six moments from an easy morning at the ranch, one for every egg in the carton.

  1. First light

    Whoever wakes first walks to the farm stand by the back gate and comes back with eggs.

  2. Meet us at the Chicken Garden

    If you would like to gather your own, tell us, and we will meet you out at the Chicken Garden.

  3. Gather eggs together

    A grown-up and a small helper, side by side at the nesting boxes, with us there to show you where to look.

  4. Guess which hen

    The children can guess which hen laid which egg.

  5. Good morning, ducks

    Say hello to the ducks at their pond, and to the peacocks on your way out.

  6. Back to the kitchen

    Somebody cooks.

How the garden works

The garden takes care of itself, so we can take care of the birds.

The whole garden is enclosed and runs on solar power. The duck pond drains and refills on its own, and the coop windows and doors open and close with the weather.

The ranch’s Internet reaches the bird garden too, in case someone would like to send a photo home from the coop.

  • SizeAbout 3,000 square feet
  • EnclosedFully
  • PowerSolar
  • Duck pondDrains and refills on its own
  • Coop doors and windowsOpen and close with the weather
  • InternetReaches the bird garden
A long white coop with screened sides and a red door, under shady trees.
The long coop
The duck yard under shade netting: a patch of lawn, a white duck, and two small red duck houses on a wooden deck.
The duck yard
Hens and turkeys lined up on a rope-wrapped roost inside a white coop, under a crystal chandelier.
Bedtime on the roost

One more pond

Out at the bottom of the property, for part of the year.

In February through May a seasonal pond fills at the bottom of the property.

A calendar of the twelve months, with February, March, April and May marked as the months the seasonal pond fills. jfmamjjasond
Two young hens resting on a host's forearm, one speckled grey and buff, the other with fluffy dark feathers.
In good hands

Your hosts

We tend the birds most days, and we are always glad of company.

We are close by, and you will probably spot us coming and going from the bird garden. The animals need tending whether there are guests here or not, which means the birds come with someone glad to show you around.

How much you see of us is up to you. Some groups would rather have the place to themselves for the week, and we stay out of the way. Others would love a bird tour, or to meet us at the Chicken Garden and gather eggs together. Just tell us when you arrive.

From the garden

A few more pages from the field guide

A white peacock walking past red garden chairs, its long white train trailing behind it.
A white peacock, train down
A girl holding a black and white hen in front of the red coop door and its Fresh Eggs sign.
The hens are friendly
Dark brown ducks and a white duck on straw beside a wooden fence.
The ducks
A hen with golden feathers edged in black, looking straight at the camera.
Gold, edged in black
A brown hen settled in a nesting box with a pale chick peeking out from under her feathers.
A mother hen
A grown-up feeding the birds from an outstretched hand while children watch close by.
Feeding time

Mini Barn Market

More eggs, just by the back gate.

Mini Barn Market sits at the back entrance of the ranch and is open 24 hours. You will find eggs from our own birds, sourdough, sweet treats, produce in season and honey.

Guests wander over in pajamas for eggs and sourdough before anyone else is up.

Visit Mini Barn Market
Inside a white coop: a row of nesting boxes under a large rusted-metal EGGS sign, with a ramp and a perch.
The nesting boxes
A nest of fresh eggs in a bed of straw.
Fresh from the nest

Good to know

Stay

The bird garden comes with Red Barn Ranch.

Seven bedrooms and four acres of working farm, a fenced pool overlooking the vineyard, a 2,200 square foot game barn, and a farm stand at the back gate. Twenty people can be together here and still find room to spread out.

  • 20sleeps
  • 7bedrooms
  • 4acres
  • 1bird garden
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