Down and Dirty Chick Starting

I was at my local Tractor Supply Company the other day picking up some duck food and I was so surprised by the overwhelming number of poultry products.

Tip Tuesday: A Handy Egg Substitute

Well, apparently, Spring has sprung in our chickens' brains because they've started laying again.  It's funny, just about the time we were up to our eyeballs in eggs last Fall, they quit laying almost completely.  We didn't really mind.  In fact, I only bought a few dozen eggs all winter long... and now they're back up in production!

One of the reasons why we didn't really buy many eggs this Winter (besides the fact that they're gross and expensive) is because I use this handy substitute in most of my baking.

Chicken Fest: Homesteading At Its Best

Here's sweet Graci.  "Say Hello to my little friend."

Half Way There... Raising "Meaters"

Just in case you were curious...here's an update on our very high-speed chicken raising operation.

We call these chickens "meaters" to help us distinguish them from the "layers" when we're assigning chores.  I guess they could be called "fryers" or "roasters" or "crock-potters"... but that gets a little confusing.  What they should be called is "eaters," since that's all they really ever do!

Be advised, you may never eat chicken again after seeing this.  But these guys are actually pretty happy chickens, believe it or not.

So, here's our epic temporary pen... Noah and I built it out of an old dog kennel.  We've got 48 birds in there.  Heat lamps and an old dog house keeps them nice and cozy at night.  Thankfully, we don't have any neighbors, because this thing is a real eye sore.  This is the third year that we've raised our own meat chickens... and having them outside is definitely much cleaner and more humane.

They're always freaking out over the feeder.  You'd think we were starving them!

Raising Meat Chickens

Hey ya'll!
Our new batch of 50 peeps arrived in the mail last week.  I thought you might like to take a peek and check them out while they're still adorable...

Happy Chickens Make Better Eggs

Thought this was so cute... exactly what I always say!

Hey, speaking of eggs...

if you happen to live around here,

would you like some eggs???

We're currently overrun.

I can save them, but they're so much better fresh.

Fresh from the happy chicken.

Dr. Noah's First Patients

Well, today has definitely been a learning experience.  On several fronts.

It started first thing this morning.  Elijah went dashing out the door to run the trash to the road, since he forgot last night.  He noticed a chicken laying by the coop door, panting.  That's not good, especially since everybody else was tucked safely inside.  Something was wrong since she missed coming into the coop the night before.  Something chickens don't do.

Frankenbirds

 
Hey, I think I finally got this figured out!

We've been wondering where these kind of freakish chickens come from.  They're certainly not selected by nature, and if they were, they wouldn't survive long enough to make more.  They're the kind of chickens that most Americans are used to eating.  They're the standard rotisserie chicken.  They're what restaurants use.  They are what we buy in the grocery store.

 But what exactly are they?

Getting Into Chickens

Well, it looks like it's time to start chickening.  According to the displays in our local Tractor Supply Company (one of my favorite stores, by the way) it's time for peeps.  Since I'm already up to my eyeballs in eggs, I'm not going to order any right now.  We'll probably let our hens hatch a few just for fun, though.  But just in case you're thinking about getting ready to raise your own laying hens, I thought you might like to see my collection of ideas that inspired us to get our own chicken operation going.

Lovin' My Girls... and the Rooster, Too

Have I told you lately how much I absolutely love my chickens?

I need to tell you so that if you are even remotely trying to decide if you want to try to raise your own, I might be able to tip the scale in favor of wonderful chickens.  So far, there is not one thing that I do not like about these birds.

Here's a few things that we've learned from our experience:

They are easier to care for than the dog. 

They make eggs.

They eat every bit of kitchen scraps and grody stuff out of my fridge and turn it into eggs.

Peeps to Teenage Chicks

After only two short weeks of living in our garage, these girls were just about ready to move out.  They like it to be about 90 degrees the first week and then just a little cooler each week.  Since it was July, we barely even needed the heat lamps, except for at night, so they could move into the coop and still be warm enough.

Life in here is getting a little crowded!

Raising Peeps

In honor of the momentous occasion that our chickens actually started laying eggs, I'd like to share the story with you.  We are new to this whole chicken-raising thing, so it's been a real learning experience and a fun adventure.

Our First Egg!

Today our hens laid their first eggs!  Can you tell I'm eggcited???  Sorry, couldn't resist...