The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

We have a friend that has lost egg sales lately because a neighbor is selling her eggs claiming their "cholesterol free", I think this lady has Americana's or EE's. I know no chicken egg is cholesterol free but are there differences in breeds?

Honestly I think all eggs are the same no matter what breed....except for egg color of course.

A co worker brought in egg cartons for me. One was from Wegman's that are listed as organic eggs, vegetarian diet, no antibiotics, 25% less saturated fat than regular eggs, 100mg Omega 3 Acids.......cage free. They say they are organic because "they were produced in greater harmony with nature, without using synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

I want to know how they can claim this since I doubt that commercial egg companies feed nothing but commercial feed like layer pellets and don't take the time to mix healthier grains, herbs etc. And you know USDA regulations certainly say they have to clean their eggs with some kind of solution before they are sold?

I think its just a tactic of the neighbor to get more sales.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Honestly I think all eggs are the same no matter what breed....except for egg color of course.

A co worker brought in egg cartons for me. One was from Wegman's that are listed as organic eggs, vegetarian diet, no antibiotics, 25% less saturated fat than regular eggs, 100mg Omega 3 Acids.......cage free. They say they are organic because "they were produced in greater harmony with nature, without using synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

I want to know how they can claim this since I doubt that commercial egg companies feed nothing but commercial feed like layer pellets and don't take the time to mix healthier grains, herbs etc. And you know USDA regulations certainly say they have to clean their eggs with some kind of solution before they are sold?

I think its just a tactic of the neighbor to get more sales.

You might enjoy participating in the survey I posted about a few pages back in this thread ... a survey about people who purchase organic eggs and meat ... So to take the survey you have to answer "yes" to two questions ... Do you buy organic eggs? Do you buy organic chicken?

The use of chemicals is absolutely allowed in the "processing" of organic food. For example, different strengths of bleach can be used as both a sanitizing agent and a final rinse (rinse water must be "potable" and potable water is allowed to contain a small amount of bleach). I'm using the word "bleach" generically.

Michael Pollen has written some very funny words about the experience of shopping at Whole Foods, and the meaningless stories one can find on the packages of food-industry products aimed at the people who shop there.

 

[Paganrose]

I would only worry if it was the roo.... I wouldn't keep a roo that was going to attack a child. Even if they provoked him by trying to hug him. I can't be there every minute of every day.

But of course getting a clear report of the sequence of events from a four year old.... Yeah. She informed me that the "mama chicken stood on my arm and scratched me." Sigh.

We learned to take a hard stance with mean roosters- the first year we had chickens one of our hatchery mutts was nasty- but we tried to keep him and rehabilitate because he was beautiful, and the hens followed him everywhere. Luckily we kept other roos also. We spent several months trying to rehabilitate- when spring breeding season he became even nastier- so he became stew. What we did wrong was to incubate 2 dozen eggs he fertilized. That fall we had a slew of mean roosters- we made sure to butcher them all so not to carry on the trait. We haven't had any rooster issues since.

LOL I know how you feel about getting straight stories from kids- my nine year old still forgets important things- because he gets sidetracked into all the tiny details....

 

[Paganrose]

I think sometimes chickens are smarter than we give them credit for.

Normally my chickens are all over the property unless it is extremely hot and humid- then they find a shady place to wallow in the dirt. Today however they all hung out in the sheep pen right behind the barn. Made it easy for me to get some photos of them- but even the teenage chickens were hanging out- when they really prefer the woods. Head honcho isn't chasing secondary Roo away as much either.

Just turns out I wasn't watching the sky as much as they are. The hawks are more active than they have been for weeks.

 

[MargaretYakoda]

You can make homemade mineral blocks too..

I have an old recipe laying around somewhere and if someone wants it..let me know..I never tried to make it sense it uses pee..lol..my grandpa recipe..Not sure you have to use it or not.

I'll bite. What's your grandpa's recipe?
We're already using a compost toilet occasionally, separating the urine and using some of it as fertilizer, so I'm past the thought of urine being icky.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Leahs Mom I think it was you who was looking for solar lights?

Someone on the NY thread found these:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-LED-Motion-Solar-Wall-Post-Light/28101250

I think it would work great to illuminate the veggie/run/walk area to the coop. It would def make it easier for my Mom when she is feeding the hens for me especially with the shorter days

And I found these:
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Solar-G...8987085&sr=8-20&keywords=chicken+solar+lights
Not very practical but they sure would be furn to have sitting around the coop

That solar light from Walmart???? Their website says it has an output of just 35 lumens.... that would probably be the light output of a small candle! Either their website info is wrong or the thing isn't even worth a dollar. See below (from Wikipedia)...

Lamps used for lighting are commonly labeled with their light output in lumens; in many jurisdictions this is required by law.
A 23 watt compact fluorescent lamp emits about 1,500–1,600 lm.[3][4]
On September 1, 2010, European Union legislation came into force mandating that lighting equipment must be labelled primarily in terms of lumens, instead of watts of electricity consumed.[5] This change is a result of the EU's Eco-design Directive for Energy-using Products (EuP).[6] For example, according to the European Union standard, an energy-efficient bulb that claims to be the equivalent of a 60 W tungsten bulb must have a minimum light output of 700-750 lumens.[7]

 

[MargaretYakoda]

Leahs Mom I think it was you who was looking for solar lights?

Someone on the NY thread found these:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-LED-Motion-Solar-Wall-Post-Light/28101250

I think it would work great to illuminate the veggie/run/walk area to the coop. It would def make it easier for my Mom when she is feeding the hens for me especially with the shorter days

And I found these:
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Solar-G...8987085&sr=8-20&keywords=chicken+solar+lights
Not very practical but they sure would be furn to have sitting around the coop

Armorfirelady, you might want to get one of these for your mom: http://www.panthervision.com/Prod-113-2-51-16/POWERCAP_2510_Structured_Cotton_LED_Lighted_Hats.htm
I have balance issues, and walking in unlit areas is difficult for me. I put this hat on, grab my cane, and I can make it to the coop and back easily. It's on a baseball cap so wherever I turn my head is automatically illuminated perfectly. The girls don't seem to mind it. Our roo takes one look, sees it's me, and settles back down. My hands are free for doing anything I may need to do in the coop, too.

We got it to make installing insulation under our mobile home easier, and it instantly morphed into a favorite chicken keeper tool!

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:
oooooh didnt see that

 

[SallyinIndiana]

So I had an opportunity and caved in to my desire for a blue egg laying chicken. I ordered Cream legbar eggs off of ebay. But now there is talk in my state thread of difficulty hatching the cream legbar eggs. Anyone here have advice for hatching shipped cream legbar eggs? I also posted this on the cream legbar thread, but I know there are great egg incubating / egg hatching people here.

 

[nicole63021]

So I had an opportunity and caved in to my desire for a blue egg laying chicken. I ordered Cream legbar eggs off of ebay. But now there is talk in my state thread of difficulty hatching the cream legbar eggs. Anyone here have advice for hatching shipped cream legbar eggs? I also posted this on the cream legbar thread, but I know there are great egg incubating / egg hatching people here.

In my very first hatch, I set 34 eggs, 4 of which were Cream Legbars. They were the only eggs that made it (all shipped, some were malpositioned, some didn't pip internally and drown). The little cockerel that hatched had a hernia at hatch, and it never did seem to heal, died a couple of days later. The little pullet is alive and well, and spunky to boot! I did not find their eggs difficult at all, and hope to hatch more when I am able again, but my city is begining to discuss limiting chickens and they make it difficult to build a sizeable coop and run (we are being forced to start over because of this!). Sassafras is a great little pullet (hatched July 4), a little skittish at times, but is a great forager and will always come for food. Good luck with hatching your little CLs!


PS-I did a dry hatch, if that helps!