Foodies and/or Chefs, I need your advice.

[Turnipseed]

One of the main reasons I decided to get chickens is to have access to great quality, freshest food available. So, with my chickens on day 8 of incubation, I'm looking to get them off to the greatest start possible. This is where I need advice.

Mainly, are there any tips/tricks/witchcraft you have devised to get the best tasting eggs? Things like what is the best feed or supplement to give them, or like, if I need to let them drink beer and massage them daily...

Also, while I'm not sure that I will ever be able to bring myself to slaughter chickens for meat, the prospect of farm raised chicken sure is appealing, so if anyone has tips on how to get great tasting meat, including the tastiest breeds those would be welcome too.

Please note: While efficiency is always a good thing, I am not really in this to save money or replicate grocery store flavors. I want the eggiest eggs and (maybe?) the chickeniest chicken and I don't mind paying a little more in feed, time or effort to achieve this goal, so if you have any extravagant and unfeasible methods, by all means throw them my way.

Edited to add: I just found this heritage breed tasting chart here .Does anyone have experience with these breeds and if so, how accurate are the flavor profiles?

 

[Athena2344]

Free ranging, good quality feed and fresh water. You taste it, and you will never want to go back to the grocery store again, but when you do, you will always be dissapointed lol

 

[Athena2344]

I raised broilers last year for FFA and of the 25 i butchered 15 of them, kept three for myself. These birds were at least ten pounds a piece, had NO fat on them at all anywhere except where their crop was. they were super easy to process, and every time i go back by the meat section, i long for those birds again

 

[rosemarythyme]

No magic. Just feed them good quality food, fresh water, add some bugs and greens and sunshine, and you'll have better eggs than what you'll find at any grocery store. My husband is so spoiled that during winter molt he said he didn't want hardboiled eggs (his favorite lunch box bonus) until our hens started laying again.

 

[lazy gardener]

Mama heating pad brooder will get your babies off to a great start. Give them plenty of room in the brooder: They need 2 s.f./bird by the time they are 2 - 3 weeks old.

In the coop, give them at least 4 s.f./bird, lots of ventilation (= to at least 10% of floor footprint or 1 s.f./bird) In the run, give them at least 10 s.f./bird. Deep litter management in both coop and run will improve their feed conversion AND immunity.

Fermented feed IMO also goes a long way towards giving those eggs that fresh taste.

Give them as much opportunity to free range as you can manage. You will need to find your own balance between safety from predation and free range opportunities.

All of the above suggestions are great stress busters, and will go far towards enhancing the health of your flock.

The more you can do to decrease their stress the happier they will be, and the better they, and their eggs will taste!

 

[littlefarmgirl9]

Just like they all said up there. Open the coop door in the morning and let their instincts do the rest. My Buffy has eaten snakes, lizards, salamanders, frogs, toads, and tried to devour a vole once. I just don't mention that to my egg customers, and they remain convinced that I'm doing something special.
But yeah, lots of protein and insects and foraging will keep your chickens nice and plump. Very muscular too .

 

[pennyJo1960]

@Turnipseed welcome to the neighborhood of Backyard Chickens hey we have a cooking thread and baking thread stick around post photos heck pull up a lawn chair watch chicken tv from you yard

 

[lazy gardener]

OH, in winter: sprouts!!!

 

[K813ZRA]

Yep, I agree, free range. Bugs, grass, flowers, veggies etc. My chicken eggs were good the first season but when I started free ranging on the second season the eggs got even better. The yolk is super dark orange and yummy!

Aside from feed, mash from the local mill, my birds get loads of free range time so they eat bugs and grass a lot. Also, I grow extra plants every year to feed some veg to my birds. Cherry tomatoes seem to be their favorite. Though they have to compete with the turkey! I also scramble all of my duck eggs and feed those back to the ducks and chickens. I have no idea what if anything that does for the taste but it keeps them happy!

 

[Turnipseed]

Thank you all for the great advice! I have a question regarding feed. Many of you have said good feed is essential. My plan was to feed Scratch n Peck whole grain organic non GMO chick starter followed by their layer feed. Is this a good quality food?

Also, regarding deep litter - I researched the various litter options a while ago and settled on sand in the coop and run with pdz on the poop boards. I decided against deep litter because I have never composted anything and I was worried about unmanageable stench as well as damage to the coop infrastructure (It's not a walk in, just that 12 chicken half coop with run from tractor supply). Is this a bad plan?