Eggs
Posted by Farmgirl Y on Saturday, August 7th, 2010
I always cringe when I see eggs at the grocery store labeled “Vegetarian Fed!”. Contrary to what these protein-pushers believe, chickens are not vegetarian. And no, they are not carnivores either (since some people seem to believe that things are only either herbivorous or carnivorous). There is a third option: omnivorous. That is what chickens are.
Chickens on pasture have access to many things as part of their daily forage. Eating bugs and other critters is a totally normal part of a chicken’s diet. I have even seen my flock of chickens, just moved onto fresh pasture, excitedly chase down and devour a nest of field mice. Chickens also eat a LOT of grass. Upon butchering our chickens, I have found their gizzards completely stuffed with green grass along with their daily corn and oats that we get from the organic farmer that rents part of our land.
Along with pasture, our chickens also get free-choice kelp meal and crushed oyster shell. This provides a wide range of micronutrients, as well as a lot of calcium to make strong shells. As a result of this diverse diet, we get amazing eggs with incredibly rich orange yolks. This used to be the norm, and why cakes were yellow. Now with factory farming, we get pastel yellow yolks that are a pale comparison to their pastured counterparts. And “yellow” cakes are now dyed to mimic the cakes of yore.
Eggs are a surprisingly good seller for us at market, so we are increasing our current flock of 20 hens and 2 roosters with an additional 24 layers. We also have both Blue Swedish and Muscovy ducks, though they are not laying right now. Our broody hens only managed to hatch out one extra chick and I’m hoping that it will turn out to be a hen, otherwise we’ll be making rooster stew.
Filed in Animal | 5 responses so far
5 Responses to “Eggs”
Guyon 07 Aug 2010 at 8:04 pm 1Youngiee, it’s amazing how much your rooster looks like my rooster.
In Oregon we can’t sell eggs commercially, like to a restaurant or the community store unless we have an egg processing house with its own refrigerator. All eggs must be candled and graded by weight. I sell all my eggs to regular customers. I even deliver.
You can order new chicks now through Murry McMurry and they will be laying by New Years.
Youngieeon 07 Aug 2010 at 10:02 pm 2Despite being heavily regulated in many areas, NY surprisingly has some good exemptions for small farms. Eggs are fine if labeled properly, and if you sell direct then you don’t have to grade or size label. You don’t need a license unless you have more than 3,000 birds.
I like Murray Mc Murray and have ordered from them before. Brooding is an issue for us since we don’t have electricity (we brooded last time with a kerosene heater which was not that great), so we are getting ready-to-lay pullets from a local farm this time.
Joanneon 09 Aug 2010 at 7:29 pm 3DANG! Those ARE some YELLOW yolks! I want some!
Kristinon 10 Aug 2010 at 11:08 am 4Amen! My chickens like snakes. They are definitely not vegetarians! And thank you for pointing out that chickens eat a lot of grass. We had no lawn area because the chickens would eat it down. We’ve since fenced an area that is now chicken (and chicken poop) free around the house.
I have found that game hens are great mothers and may brood more than once a year. I’m not sure if anyone near you would have them. I never saw any until we moved down here. McMurray and other hatcheries do carry game breeds. Not sure if they would have the good mothering instincts. It is much easier to let the mother hens raise them!
People laugh when I ask for $3.50/dozen for my GMO-free, pasture raised eggs. They think eggs should be $1/dozen. My mother got that for extra eggs when I was a kid in NYS in the late 70s! That’s fine. We just eat eggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The dogs & pigs like them too.
One of these days, the folks around me will catch on…..or they’ll be dead. One or the other!
Do your chickens just eat the kelp? Mine didn’t when I left it out free choice.
Your oreo cows are lovely, btw. I love the new header picture!
Youngieeon 30 Aug 2010 at 3:26 pm 5Kristen, they don’t eat the kelp as much as the oyster shell, but they do peck at it. Maybe if it moved they’d eat more of it, lol.