Chickens in the yard
Buff Orphington
October 27, 2010
October 19, 2010
Indian Wisdom
When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
October 18, 2010
The Omnivore's Dilemma
Wanna Bea Farm The more I read this book the more I feel like a hypocrite. For every 1200 pounds of beef manufactured in the United State 35 gallons of oil is consumed. Talk about a carbon foot print! For every bushel of corn grown in the Mid-West 1/3 to 1/4 gallon of oil is used or 50 gallons per acre!
I am going to clean my house out of every bit of corn or long distance food. No small task cause most every product in the American home is made from corn. From the construction glue holding the house together to the high fructose corn syrup in just about all processed foods.
I can't do much about the house, but I can and will do something about the food. I will bake my own treats and desserts, I will pack my own homemade lunches. I will spend 1 day a week making dishes I can reheat for convenience.
I will make a change. And most likely I will save money.
What will you do, change in your life, to save this planet we call home.
October 13, 2010
Happy hens equal healthy eggs
Every day I check on the hens. I mean I spend time with them. I know, kinda strange to watch chickens but hey it makes me feel good. I like to watch them socialize, scratching and "talking", they are very chatty. I give them treats almost every day such as popcorn(they love that), seed bells, suet cakes, stale bread and crackers, or stale cereal. They also like tomatoes, radish greens, sweet corn, strawberries.......all kinds of stuff. Nope they are not spoiled at all........LOL some times spoiled chicken is a good thing.
October 07, 2010
October 7th
We now have 5 hens producing for us. I think it will be awhile before we see anymore start. The last batch of hens was purchased about a month after this group, so it will likely be about that long before get more hens to start laying. That is a good thing, haven't been able to sell many eggs yet anyhow, only sold a couple of dozen to my Mother-in-Law. Huh, and she thinks 2.25 is to much to pay for eggs, try telling her that is a fair price for free range eggs, since they are not from the store she thinks they should be cheaper. She doesn't understand why they cost more than the factory eggs in the grocery store. She grew up on a farm with hundreds of free range eggs so this is not new to her just going back to the good old days and eggs didn't cost that much then. Shirley is of the generation that grew up during WWII and very much remembers rationing. When she was a little girl every home, or at least most, even the ones in town had at least one hen for egg production. A good many even had a milking cow. Back then foods were eaten in season and appreciated for that. No salmonella then, on any foods not even the salad.
The way we new age farm producers grow our product now is really not new at all. Just going back to the days when science was not as smart as the generations of knowledge that taught the farmers and home growers how to compost, reuse, and stretch the dollar.
The way we new age farm producers grow our product now is really not new at all. Just going back to the days when science was not as smart as the generations of knowledge that taught the farmers and home growers how to compost, reuse, and stretch the dollar.
October 04, 2010
Eggstra eggstra
We now have four hens producing daily for us. I have started to design the road signs. I decided on two, one for down at the road and one for in a corner of our yard. You see we live on a dirt right of way that we share with three neighbors. So to help our customers find the correct house to buy our eggs I thought a sign in the yard would be helpful.
We will soon be moving the coup to the garden. The hens will be doing double duty composting in the garden all winter while producing eggs for us. The garden is 40x42' so they will have alot to compost.
We will soon be moving the coup to the garden. The hens will be doing double duty composting in the garden all winter while producing eggs for us. The garden is 40x42' so they will have alot to compost.
October 03, 2010
Salmonella and the cage free egg
Salmonella and the cage free egg
Cage free hens live in healthier conditions as a rule, no over crowding, less litter and so on. They are free to balance their diet with bugs, grass, and other tidbits that they eat by instinct. Also being outside the waste does not accumulate, salmonella likes alot of waste to breed in. Cage free hens are able to enjoy a dust bath, a simple thing in which they will role around in saw dust or clean soil , fluffing their feathers. A dust bath helps keep the hens clean of insects that can carry salmonella.
Read the attached link for the whole story then decide. Free range are for the most part safer than factory eggs.
Cage free hens live in healthier conditions as a rule, no over crowding, less litter and so on. They are free to balance their diet with bugs, grass, and other tidbits that they eat by instinct. Also being outside the waste does not accumulate, salmonella likes alot of waste to breed in. Cage free hens are able to enjoy a dust bath, a simple thing in which they will role around in saw dust or clean soil , fluffing their feathers. A dust bath helps keep the hens clean of insects that can carry salmonella.
Read the attached link for the whole story then decide. Free range are for the most part safer than factory eggs.
October 01, 2010
Lost eggs
I lost my eggs!
Let me explain. I bought some straw for the hen house and put the extra under the nest box I thought it would be safe there from the torrential rains. But then for a few day my egg count was off. Each day I check for eggs and currently with only 3 hens laying I usually find 3 eggs each day. But for the past few day that hasn't happened. I thought maybe the rain had some thing to do with it. You see normally hens will lay eggs in the same nest, they like to share. They will lay their eggs in one nest in an attempt to reach a certain number then they will brood on the nest trying to hatch the eggs. Well low and behold I found 6 eggs today all cosy in the nest they had made out of the extra straw. No worries about baby chicks hatching from our eggs, they are all sterile.
Let me explain. I bought some straw for the hen house and put the extra under the nest box I thought it would be safe there from the torrential rains. But then for a few day my egg count was off. Each day I check for eggs and currently with only 3 hens laying I usually find 3 eggs each day. But for the past few day that hasn't happened. I thought maybe the rain had some thing to do with it. You see normally hens will lay eggs in the same nest, they like to share. They will lay their eggs in one nest in an attempt to reach a certain number then they will brood on the nest trying to hatch the eggs. Well low and behold I found 6 eggs today all cosy in the nest they had made out of the extra straw. No worries about baby chicks hatching from our eggs, they are all sterile.
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