Chickens

I'm curious to see if my broody hen from last spring goes broody again this year.

 

Roaches? Never heard of such a thing, but as others have said, the chickens would eat them if they saw them.

Get chickens IF you really like eggs. The eggs you will get will be 10X better than anything you buy at the store. 3 hens is a good number for 2 people... with that, you'll have all the eggs you want plus plenty to give away (but not too much). Don't get too attached to them... they can (and do) die of all kinds of random shit.

 

Id get 6 hens minimum just in case one died or low production. You can always sell eggs, they keep a long time if properly cared for...

 

If you're lucky. In addition to them just keeling over or slowly succumbing to some chicken ailment, they are hunted by every critter known to man. I've woken up to a massacre that would make Freddy Krueger upchuck.

 

friends? I go through sooo many eggs. round about 4 a day if only I could get the woman to bake, then id be really going through them!

 

also if you want a patch cleared down to dirt, make yourself a square or kennel and it will be down to dirt in a couple weeks...lol

 

6 may be a bit high for 3 people, but you're right about planning on 20% of your flock not producing for some reason. All depends how many eggs you want to deal with 365 days a year.

Speaking of properly caring for the eggs, do not wash them off until right before you are ready to use them. The "bloom" on them protects the inside of the egg from absorbing nasties, and once you've washed the egg, it can now absorb stuff. No pasteurization with home eggs, so a bit different mindset needs to be adopted.

 

I like 2 eggs for breakfast, recently my wife found out she's allergic so shes not supposed to eat eggs or anything with eggs in it anymore. Its easier to bake things with eggs than egg substitute..

 

Plus, if you don't wash the bloom off of them you can keep them unrefrigerated (within reasonable temperatures). I only refrigerate my eggs during the summer, because the house can hit the low 80's on a hot sunny day. During the spring, fall, and winter I just leave them on the counter.

 

hmm that's odd. ive never heard of an egg allergy! I would quite literally die. eggs in the am are just about as essential as coffee

 

Correct. No harm there unless you've washed the crap off them. We store ours in the fridge unwashed in cartons, and just deal with them as we use them. But, they CAN be left out at room temp no prob. Just a matter of where you want them taking up space.

 

Definitely makes it easier on the birds. If you can, put it in the shadow of a deciduous tree. Then you have shade in the summer and solar gain during the winter.

 

Id refrigerate them in the short term.

http://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/preserving-eggs-for-the-long-term/

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/chickens-for-beginners

https://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/beginners-guide-to-keeping-chickens/

 

Yeah, just like a setup for humans... they can take some extremes, but if they're always cold or always hot you'll get weird production from them.

I have a 10x10 dog kennel with 1/2" hardware cloth across the top and at the bottom 24" all around. All that is roofed with a heavy tarp / pipe / riser setup that can be had at any farm store. Inside, there is an actual coop. They are cheap enough to find, but usually they are built like crap and wouldn't hold up more than a year in weather. With it being under cover inside the kennel, it will last as long as I need it to.

 

also they eat pretty much all table scraps except for bones, just be wary on feeding them onions or onion tops, garlic etc. the flavor comes out in the eggs...its ok for breakfast stuff but if you make baked goods the item you are baking will have an onion flavor...

 

Wife has been saying she wants a few of them. We go through spurts where we go through a lot of eggs. Especially around the holidays. The fresh one at her aunt/uncles house are SOOOOOO much better tasting. One morning we went out and picked up a couple dozen, came if and her uncle made breakfast right away. Was some of the best scrambled eggs I've had.

 

My grams grew up on a farm and she said one year their chickens and cows got into the onion patches. She said it was NASTY. She wasn't a fan of milk EVER again lol unless it was in a shake, cereal or loaded with corn bread.

 

For me the biggest advantage is that I know when they were laid, what they were fed, and the flavor is infinitely better than anything store bought. The first time you eat an egg with a bright orange yolk, you'll never want to go back to the pale yellow store-bought ones.

 

You'll need cracked corn and crushed oyster shells otherwise they will eat their own eggs for the calcium but kitchen scraps are good disposal method...and it minimizes the waste you throw away. Then one the otherside is chicken compost is great for gardens. You just cant add it to a garden fresh otherwise it burns any plants, due to high nitrogen

 

we had goats and it was the same...the large Canadian thistles the goats ate produced the best tasting milk...