When The Chicken Comes Home To Roost.
A few years ago we decided to add fresh chicken eggs to our list of products to sell. Isn’t it interesting how much we learn and experience when we begin a new endeavor. Selling real Pasture Raised Eggs is no exception to that experience. The first thing we needed was a coop that could be used out in the pasture. I purchased an old silage wagon and converted it into a four wheel pulled chicken coop. My four wheeler does a good job pulling my four wheeler. It is moved every day to give the chickens a fresh supply of bugs, grass, clover and manure through which to scratch and dine. A NON-GMO feed is also provided to help them get a balanced meal. The yolks are dark gold with all the carotene they get from the mixed pasture grasses.
We keep our layers three years. After that the egg production begins to decline and we find ourselves feeding birds that are not earning their keep. Unfortunately they can’t all be cherished pets. We have a converted corn crib in a shed that we use to raise these chickens from 3 day old chicks to about 4 month old layers. When they begin laying we take them off the starter feed and they begin to eat big bird food made especially for layers. We spend a little extra time with them when they are young because they are fragile and we usually get them during the winter so that they are about 4 months old in June or so.
We let them stay with the older chickens in the coop. To make the addition easier, we take the younger ones out at night time when the older birds are roosting. When they all wake up in the morning, nobody really knows who was in there the night before so they get along much better and don’t tend to pick on each other as much.
An interesting thing occurs with the new birds as they grow and are cared for. They become attached to me. There are probably 10 or so birds that will come and greet me. Some jump up on my 4 wheeler each night when I go out to close them in the coop. They want me to put them in. Others will follow me around and when I stop they will squat down on the ground for me to pick them up and place them in the coop. A few others will sit on a ledge under the wagon, waiting. After a few weeks they adapt to their new home and fly up into their new coop house. It takes a little extra time for a while but what decent person would put a stop to it? Not me.
They are all great layers, we all get along, they stay healthy and I believe that is a receipe for repeat customers.