Coop Project: Maken the Plunge & Getting Chickens

[Rock Home Isle]

Exciting!
So are you going to save the egg till you get more, or are you going to cook the lone egg?
How old are your girls now?

My wife has an empty Dozen Egg Carton that she has been saving for this occasion. So we'll start to collect eggs before we start cooking. I may even just take the 1st egg and blow it out and save it. The photo doesn't really show it but it is definately a pullet egg....very small.

We purchased the pullets on April 6th as day old chicks....so I just count their age from that date. So they are ~ 4 months and 7 days (+/-). The pullet that I believe laid the egg had developed a bright red comb and wattles almost exactly 2 weeks ago. I have 3 others that are about 7 to 12 days behind her....so we may be seeing eggs with some regularity pretty soon here.

 

[Pozees]

Upon My Soapbox:

I was sitting with a friend after graduation today and we got to talking about different topics; our interests that we share; family that we wish to visit in the coming weeks and of course what we will be doing this summer. He will be traveling and enjoying his leasure time this summer and I will be working with some wonderful students and conducting research at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC).

As we talked, my collegue indicated to me that he had heard that I was starting a small backyard poultry flock, so he explored the subject with me. He was under the impression that raising my own birds for eggs for my family was more economical than going to the store and buying commercial eggs. He was curious to know the facts and the details of my project. (I must talk to much...I'll try to fix that charactor flaw) I think I might have injured a plan of his when I responded and explained that it couldn't be further from the truth...Raising poultry on a small scale for your own consumption is not a finacially motivated descision. My project is a statement of philosophy and personal beliefs. These eggs that I hope someday to get from my pullets will not be cheap commercially mass produced eggs. The eggs won't possess a sickly yellow colored yolk with a bland pasty flavor that we all have become acustomed too. They are not the product of some venture capitalists that own controlling shares of stock in an Industrial Ag-Corporation that manages a cage based egg production business. With my project, I am making a statement against our modern manufacture of the food chain that we consume as a population and have come to think of as normal. I never thought that I would ever say or write those words...but after several years of research, reading, fact finding, and education, it is what I have come to believe.

A couple of years ago I had a discussion with a group of my upper level students about modern genetics and commercial food production...Franken Food is the anti-term that has been used to describe these types of advancements in biotechnology that has integrated into our food chain. Personally I think that our technological advancements are simply amazing and our lives are going to be forever changed once there are just a few more breakthroughs in Nano-Technology. During the course of our discussion, I asked the class an open ended question, "Where does our food come from?" I was expecting reasoned and thoughtful responces about our modern agricultural system and manufacturing infrastructure...But what I recieved as a reply, "The Store..." Frustration can be almost a physical force and not just an emotion.

I teach my students, but they also teach me. I like that arrangement very much. I have come to believe that there is a disconnect in our society. There are segments in our society that no longer understand that there is a point where a living animal becomes a carcass and then becomes food that we comsume. There is nothing bad about the cycle of life, but we are now raising several generations that do not understand this process. The eggs that my pullets will produce for me; for my family; will be the product of a healthy happy flock of poultry. My family, my children and at the moment several children in the neighborhood, will have a little closer connection to the process of food production and simple agriculture. These animals in my backyard are not machines that produce a consumable product and then discarded once they've reached their production limits. They are enjoyable living entities and it is fun to interact with them and observe them as they grow and live out a healthy life; while at the same time they produce eggs for my family; they controll bugs and pests on my property; and help to maintain and incorporate organic materials into my garden.

Free Ranging our small flocks is a healthy way to take care of and maintain our little charges. If your flock is foraging and thriving off the living land then we have succeeded. When Commmercial Feed has been demoted from the position of a primary food source for our flock to just a suppliment to the flock's varied and nutritious diet...that is the goal of free ranging poultry. The eggs that our free ranged flock produces are proven to be more nutritious and healthy than their commercial counter parts... and our animals are happier & healthier than the commercial layers. But more importantly we have made a powerful and growing statement about what is important to us about our food sources for our families.

Don't think less of me if you happen to disagree with my views. I'll now put my soapbox away for the moment....

I quite agree and appreciate the fact that you took the time to type this out.

 

[Pozees]

Now that I have finally reached the latest entry in your saga, I would like to thank you for taking the time to share it, and for explaining difficult decisions you have made and then followed through on. Not every part of keeping chickens is easy, fun, or rewarding ... much like life.

 

[kauffmann]

cool coops only if i can afford the matirials

 

[Rock Home Isle]

As many of you have noticed, "posts" in this thread have slowed down. The major construction of the coop and the run are now completed and the main content now deals with my small flock of pullets.

I would like to thank all of you that have been following the thread. Your comments, photos of your flocks and advice that you have shared has been greatly appreciated...."Thank You."

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Here it is approximately a week after our first egg. I am pretty sure that we have 2 birds that are laying eggs.



One bird seems to be laying a medium sized egg of a slightly lighter brown tint and the other bird is laying a small darker colored brown egg.....We have received 3 small eggs and 2 medium sized eggs in the past few days. Another detail is that all the larger sized eggs have been double-yolkers.

Another thing that is interesting....my girls are laying in the afternoon, during the heat of the day. I'm not sure about the timing of the first egg, but every egg since has been laid after 3:00pm in the afternoon. It's unusual, I'm used to chickens laying eggs in the morning; usually by 9:00am.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The girls have developed very nice combs and wattles and are bright eyed....all is looking well. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks we'll see more production from the flock.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Another thing that I have noticed is that the girls barely eat any of the processed feed. I have not had to add to the feeder for about 2 weeks. They forage almost all day...they spend a great deal of time grazing for grass clippings and rooting for bugs and grubs in the garden.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

We've come a long ways this summer from this.....



To this...




To finally this.



It has been a wonderful journey.

The two girls at the front are my layers....they both do the "chicken squat" when I come near them. The others are not quite there as yet.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I like this photo of two of the birds...it has eye appeal to me.