Given that we are swimming in fresh eggs, I wasn’t about to buy white eggs just to have something for my kids to dye for Easter! I bought a few different products that I thought might work to dye brown and blue eggs.
After Foxmaggedon 2018, it was clear we’d want to replenish our flock with some new chickens, and we chose breeds that would add some color to our egg basket.
We’re expecting new baby chicks to ship any day now, so once again I’ve put together a DIY brooder. A brooder is basically where they’ll stay while they’re teeny tiny until it’s warm enough and they’re big enough to move them to the coop.
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After Foxmaggeddon 2018 (when a fox took out five of our chickens over two separate days last year), we realized we can’t free range our chickens anymore. It was one thing when we were losing two or three over months to hawks, but now that the big time predators have discovered us, it’s time to build a safe pen for our chickens.
Our ladies are laying three eggs a day now. This leaves us with 21 eggs a week, which means I can justify being on team Swanson/Knope up there regarding having breakfast for every meal.
The timing of our chickens producing more eggs and deciding to reduce our meat intake (sorry, Ron Swanson) could not have been better. Eggs have provided a nice, backyard-sourced meat alternative. Yes, sure, chickens produce environmental waste. But given that we free range them, feed them organic food when they can’t range and use their waste materials (pine shavings and poop) to supplement our compost, it’s pretty much the circle of life around here.
If you’re looking to eat less meat but still have some animal protein, or if you just like DELICIOUS FOOD, here are three super-easy-yet-kind-of-gourmet egg meals for you!
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After Foxpocolypse 2018, when a fox with mange killed five of our chickens, we decided we’d need to add some new chickens to the flock come spring …
Sad news – our rooster died on Friday, killed by a fox. The plus side is that he likely saved some hens, because judging by the feathers everywhere he put up a pretty good fight.
Last April, we purchased twelve egg layer chicks from our local feed store. One of our Welsummers turned out to be a rooster. This was a stroke of luck for us, because we’d wanted to try out having a rooster, due to a lot of problems with predators. Now that we’ve had the rooster for about six months, I have a good idea of the pros and cons to rooster ownership to help you decide if you, too, want to get a rooster!
A chicken update – our chicks that we bought as one-day-old hatchlings back in May have finally started laying!
We’ve had chickens for over a year now. Last year we bought six-week-old chickens from an online site, and this year we raised from day old chicks that arrived back in March. They’re a farm animal you can easily keep even in a suburban backyard, and, in my opinion, are one of the lowest maintenance animals you can have, period. Okay, maybe a Betta fish beats them, but does a Betta make eggs? I mean, probably, but I can tell you they don’t make eggs you’d want to eat.
Here’s what we’ve learned about this pros and cons of taking the plunge to have chickens.