Wednesday, 08 August 2012
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Eggs From Jude’s Back Yard
This is a guest post from Christie's Corner.
A dozen reasons why raising your own eggs is worthwhile.
Do not adjust your screen. These eggs really are light blue. And ivory. And beige. And speckle-y brown. And yes, that big one in the middle is pointy at both ends.
My cousin Jude and her husband brought eggs from their backyard coop when they came to celebrate my mom’s 80th birthday this past weekend. Mom got a party with cake and presents. I got fresh, home-raised, free-range eggs. I think I came out the winner.
For the first time in my adult life I saw, touched and ate eggs raised by someone I know, delivered by chickens with names. The blue ones are courtesy of Banana, Big Bird and Roadie, arucana hens. Jasmine and Ginger, the Buff Opringtons, supplied the dark brown eggs and this one, with its inky brown spots…
… came from Dot, the “chatty chicken.” Apparently she’s a Brahman with a big personality and a rather large vocabulary — for a hen.
Of course, now I want to raise my own chickens, but I foresee an issue.
My immediate thoughts were, “Where can I put a hen house? How do I keep the cats out? And more importantly, how do I convince Andrew this is a good idea.” While seduced by the thought of an endless supply of photogenic eggs, I’m also a softie for animals. My cousin and her husband sold me on the personalities of these birds. It’s just like Chicken Run, only without the celebrity voices and elaborate chases. Well, no celebrity voices, at least.
If you take a look at the eggs, they aren’t store-bought uniform. The sizes vary from medium to that’s-gotta-hurt. Ripples, bumps and ridges cover the shells. Would they pass industry inspection? I’ve no idea.
And I don’t care. They taste like an egg should. The blue egg I gently scrambled for breakfast (I think it was one of Big Bird’s) was so rich and creamy I could eat one every morning. And I am not a big fan of plain old eggs.
When I cracked open the egg, its yolk was deep gold. The resulting scrambled egg was so colorful it looked like someone had added a drop or two of orange food coloring when I wasn’t looking. But then again, I am filtering this through eyes that have only known the wan-yolked, supermarket versions. Maybe eggs are supposed to look like someone melted a Crayola® Sunglow crayon into the whites.
And did I mention the taste? They actually had a taste. Like a double-yolked egg only without the double yolk.
Will I raise my own chickens? Given the wild state of my vegetable garden, I would do the world (and the hens) a favor if I saved this fantasy for retirement. Until then, I’ll dream of blue eggs. Or travel the 906 kms and visit Dot, Banana and the rest of the flock in person.
Oh, and my cousins, too, of course.
Do you raise chickens? If so, please, please share your experiences. Chicken names, personalities, feeding issues — all aspects are welcomed.
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- From: christiecorner
- Name: christiecorner
- About Me: I'm a professional writer who loves food, travel and the occasional rant. Visit me: http://christie-corner.blogspot.com/
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Comments (13)
No, I don't raise my own chickens. This makes me want to raise my own chickens though.
How hard can it be? Right?
Ha...haha..heh......
I loved having chickens. They're very easy to raise, and I never had a problem with cats but I did have a problem with the road. I usually had them one at a time and let them roam free, no coop. The problem with Araucanas is that they can actually fly, not long distances but enough to roost in trees, so if you do have a coop, make sure it has some sort of roof.
I would say start with a couple hens. Roosters are cool if you want to breed but they can be mean; I've been kicked a couple times in my encounters with roosters. They do poop quite a bit, maybe I'd use sawdust but you don't really have this problem with free range. You could always let them out during the day and put them in at night. Feed is easy, they have corn and everything at your local Tractor Supply (and, if you go at the right season, they sell chicks as well), and you can either throw it on the ground or in a shallow bowl, they're not picky. They'll eat almost all day but they pick at the ground as well so don't think you're starving them if you see them eating dirt and can't understand why. They test by pecking so if you wave your hand in their face or something and they look at it in interest, they will likely peck it. It doesn't really hurt, unless they're pissed. Lol. Most everything you learn is trial and error. But they're easy to care for and if you socialize them well from chicks, they make fun pets as well.
Another cat thing.. mostly they can take care of themselves. One time my cat wanted to play so she jumped on my hen & she knocked the cat over, jumped on top of her and started pecking her head. Needless to say, she never bothered with my chickens again. =P Oh, and about the eggs.. I think she was 3 months when she started laying? I'm not 100% sure. But they are so much better than regular eggs. The only thing is, if you get a rooster, make sure you don't wait more than a day before taking them out. I used to know these people that would collect eggs after like a week and then their scrambled eggs had little babies in them.. That was gross. It's honestly better to just have hens.
Good luck! Google will answer most of your questions pretty quickly but feel free to ask anything!
Roosters are noisy too. Very, very noisy. And not just in the morning, they crow all day long. So don't get a rooster if you have neighbors, or anyone living close to you, they will not be happy.
I have raised chickens for about 10 years. My kids wanted them but they really became my babies (the chicks). I would handle all the chicks daily for about a month when we first got them and they recognized me from then on. Chickens have their own unique personalities which is allot of fun. I have raised barred rocks, araucana and buff orpingtons, mostly araucanas since my youngest prefers their eggs. But my buffs have always been the sweetest birds and by far my favorites. And yes, araucanas do fly. They are always first to get out of their pen, even before I let them out. But all the birds I have had over the years know to return to the coop to lay their eggs each day.
Two years ago I lost my entire flock to a fox and had to purchase eggs from the store. First time in many years and I guess I had forgotten how pale and runny store eggs were. Couldn't wait to get new birds the following spring.
So, if you are thinking about it - just do it! You will be so glad you did. They are fun to watch and they provide you with eggs (and entertainment). Just don't get a rooster.
I live in Portland, OR and it feels like everyone is raising chickens these days! Not only for the eggs, but for the chicken itself once it gets old enough. If you have a house with a back yard, this is a great environment for them. The craziest thing is my Dad recently built a coop and bought 5 chicks of his own!
Now, my Dad is a very conservative man who works in construction, so any domestic inclination he gets is a surprise to me. But he adores his little chicken babies! He even had them live in his closet with a heat lamp while he was building the coop! I don't remember all their names (he named them himself!) but I am super excited to try their eggs once they're old enough to lay.
It just goes to show that this is a practice that anyone can get into, not just the hippies of Multnomah and Lane County Oregon :P You should go for it!!
Growing up we kept chickens as pets (because when you live in the sticks...haha). We had a road island red, a bani hen, and a couple plain jane white hens. It was a lot of fun! Our red (Giuseppe) had the most personality and would sit by mom's lawnchair whenever she read on the porch/on your lap if you had a fly swatter. It helped that we raised ours from chicks though, so they were pretty well hand tamed. Never had a problem with the cats either, occasionally they'd chase them a little but there were never any injuries that I remember. Fresh eggs were a bonus too, bani eggs are just so cute haha
I had 2 chickens growing up(which is plenty of eggs) I think I had a bantam and a road island red. I got them for $1.50 from the local feed store around Easter time. I live in the middle of down town in my city and I kept mine as pets. One was named "red" and the other "chiicken" red would sit down for you to pick her up chicken you had to chase down if you wanted her.
They some times would go out side the fence and down the ally and all you had to do was tell them to go back and they would. They would also fallow me while I took out the trash and wouln't try to run way. They also liked the swing set we had.@SexyKhoiFish@xanga - quite easy actually.
Chickens that are just grain-fed have the tasteless yellow yolks. A mix of grains and grass give an orange yolk with a good flavor, and chickens that solely forage (grass and insects only) lay eggs with a deep orange color and amazing flavor.
I've raised chickens for years. http://grandfortuna.xanga.com/766512469/save-ferris/
There's a big thing about organic free range all vegetable fed chickens. I'm all for letting chickens run around, but no wild bird can survive on cattle pasture. They need LOTS of protein, especially if they're laying eggs. My chickens eat all kinds of frogs, lizards, and even snakes, plus mountains of grasshoppers and other insects. I feel really really sorry for 'modern dinosaurs' that aren't allowed to follow their natural instinct and hunt out the most nutritious food.
Side note for peanut allergies- some chicken feeds are made with 'ground whole plant protein', basically, what's left of old farmed plants after human grade harvest is done. I became so skin reactive to chicken feeds that I had to hunt down the really good kind that list every single ingredient, and voila, no more skin rashes. If you want healthy chickens, insist on not JUST an all 'vegetable' diet, at least investigate where that 'vegetable' is coming from.
@GrandFortuna@xanga - You know, it's funny you say that because my chickens hardly ate their grain. Instead they ate bugs and small toads and they did seem much healthier than my neighbor's flock, who were in a coop and fed grain at all times. I think I refilled their grain like.. maybe once a week. They usually picked at it when I put them in for the night.
@Awake_My_Soul420@xanga - Yes, and another thing about too much grain is mycotoxins, very tiny celled molds and fungus that naturally grow on grains. Govt standards allow only so much 'dust' on grains, but even those are graded, and by the time you get bulk grain from a local feed store, the grainy is so 'dusty' that chickens won't touch it. I think they can taste that it's not good food. My chickens love fresh milo from high standard high dollar bird seed, but they won't touch bulk milo from a hardware store. And if you do treat with bird seed, keep in mind that the govt allows a certain amount of pesticide, although limited, as in other farm grains, but since it's not considered anything for eventual human consumption, they are more exempt from direct cause of illness if you feed it to chickens, although they are more likely to initiate recalls for the smallest reasons than any other kind of feed out there. I hate to say it, but grain can sometimes be one of the saddest things people can feed chickens, if they don't know about mycotoxins and poultry health. This is an awesome magazine for really good up to the minute information, and it's free, I've been getting it for several years. http://www.worldpoultry.net/magazine/
@GrandFortuna@xanga - Awesome, thanks for the tips! I wish there were animal culinary classes or something to educate yourself and learn how to design your own feed for all different kinds of animals. Especially farm animals.
no, but reading this makes me wish i did :(