Arizona Chickens

[Gallo del Cielo]

Oh girl same here.. I love just looking at the beautiful eggs.. I have been passing
out 6 at a time to our neighbors & long time clients... It brings joy to give and hear
them say "these are from YOUR CHICKENS!" I am like "YEAH" with a huge smile
on my face...

Yeah, that is such a satisfying feeling.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Oh, I remember that pic! It's a perfect advertisement for backyard chicken eggs.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

So work has been really crazy the past couple of months and I have not been able to check out things on here. Way behind. Our three girls made it through the summer just fine and last night we got our first egg. Hard to believe just around 6 months ago we got them as day old chicks. We were starting to think it was never going to happen as each week passed. Here are some updated pictures.

Congratulations on the first egg! Good on you for getting them through the summer too.

 

[kpgoldstar]

Note to self. Do not use a gallon glass jar to ferment your feed, even if you take the lid off regularly. I woke this morning to an exploded jar with feed and water all over my entryway. What a mess and a waste! I had the lid off at 8:30 last night and found the disaster at 7 this morning. I don't even use any starter to ferment, simply chick feed and water. I rarely had much gas (CO2) each time I unscrewed the lid. I had to toss all the feed and start over in a food grade plastic tub. I will be letting this one vent more. The NCK blog states no ventilation and it should be tightly covered.

 

[Twinklin]

Oh, I remember that pic! It's a perfect advertisement for backyard chicken eggs.

There should definitely be a grade above AA. If the store egg was considered AA Ony's egg is off the charts It took a tiny bit of adjustment in cooking the fresh eggs. I've only scrambled and fried them but I had to adjust when frying because I wasn't used to the white being so much firmer and thicker, it took a bit for the white to get firm throughout. I've read different tips on hard boiling since fresh eggs don't peel as easily, I'll probably do some this week with some of the week old eggs. I was really shocked with how much harder the backyard eggs' shells are. The girls have not really touched the oyster shells and I don't see any calcium bumps on the shells they're just insanely hard.

 

[pastrymama]

Pastrymama, Would you like my two guineas? I sell them cheap. They are now outside and doing very well. My hubby and I have bought a small motor home and in a couple off months or less will be going traveling for 6 month- 1 year. This came about a bit sooner then we expected. We are quite excided!

I would, however I have been told that they are VERY NOISY. I asked around and the concensus is that my "little" farm makes enough noise, I am not to add any more noisemakers.

bummer. thanks for the offer.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
My fresh eggs are extremely easy to peel but I steam them instead of boiling. I have an egg steamer but I'm sure you could just use a steamer pot. Poke a very small hole in them and then make sure the egg is upright (hole up) when you steam. My egg steamer has a timer. I consider it one of my "best buys".

 

[Twinklin]

Note to self. Do not use a gallon glass jar to ferment your feed, even if you take the lid off regularly. I woke this morning to an exploded jar with feed and water all over my entryway. What a mess and a waste! I had the lid off at 8:30 last night and found the disaster at 7 this morning. I don't even use any starter to ferment, simply chick feed and water. I rarely had much gas (CO2) each time I unscrewed the lid. I had to toss all the feed and start over in a food grade plastic tub. I will be letting this one vent more. The NCK blog states no ventilation and it should be tightly covered.

ewwwww my condolences on your messy clean up. I've been using a 5 gallon bucket with a towel over it and I keep it in the garage. I've read some people cover with lids and other's don't. I've read the NCK page on fermenting and in a comment Bulldogma says it needs airflow so to keep a towel over it. The towel seems to be doing the trick for me, it has a nice sour smell to it. The girls are really loving the fermented pellets so thanks to everyone who gave me tips on fermenting. I still have to get a batch of the scratch going.

 

[Twinklin]

My fresh eggs are extremely easy to peel but I steam them instead of boiling. I have an egg steamer but I'm sure you could just use a steamer pot. Poke a very small hole in them and then make sure the egg is upright (hole up) when you steam. My egg steamer has a timer. I consider it one of my "best buys".

I've never even heard of an egg steamer. I'll have to look into that, thanks

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
They don't seem to make the Oster egg cooker that I have anymore but it's similar to this one:
http://www.amazon.com/KRUPS-F230705...F8&qid=1382574863&sr=8-1&keywords=egg+steamer