{"id":11,"date":"2008-07-06T17:42:33","date_gmt":"2008-07-06T16:42:33","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-03-13T10:42:10","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T09:42:10","slug":"home-produces-eggs-are-clucking-good-by-mike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/home-produces-eggs-are-clucking-good-by-mike\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Produces Eggs are clucking good – by Mike"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Harriet-and-Chicks-w\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Having recently created an 80 foot by 80 foot organic vegetable patch I suppose I am on the slippery slide into self-sufficientishism.\u00a0 The next obvious step was to produce my own eggs.\u00a0 I kept a dozen chickens about 20 years ago and still had the chicken hut minus its interior fittings as it was being used as a garden shed.\u00a0 It is 6 foot by 8 foot and in excellent condition and just needed the perches and nest boxes reinstating and moving into the orchard out of the garden.\u00a0 Timber was purchased, the new interior fittings made and father-in-law summoned to help with the move.<\/p>\n

The chicken hut now relocated was ready to receive its new occupants.\u00a0 We were offered as many chickens as we could catch from a local farm as they were over-run with them but decided to have a fresh start and buy from a reputable breeder.<\/p>\n

After much research on the internet we decided to buy 3 different pure breeds so they would lay different coloured eggs.\u00a0 We also decided heavy breeds would be most suitable as they were to be allowed to free range in the goat enclosure with a 5 foot high fence.\u00a0 Light breeds would be able to fly over the fence.\u00a0 We went to purchase our 3 newcomers but only 2 pure breeds were available.\u00a0 1 Maran and 1 Welsumer, we also bought a Light Sussex cross all point of lay (about 20 weeks old).\u00a0 A few days later we located another breeder who supplied us with a Light Sussex pure breed.<\/p>\n

We received conflicting advice regarding suitable
\n\"littletrish\"<\/a>chicken food and bought a bag of organic layers pellets, wheat and cracked maize.\u00a0 Locally an agricultural merchant was closing down and I managed to purchase suitable feeding and water receptacles.\u00a0 They were also selling special chicken grit for \u00a31 per bag, normally \u00a36.\u00a0 I bought 5 bags and now realise I have enough for the next 500 years!<\/p>\n

Chickens must be kept shut in to their new accommodation for a few days so they realise it is home and after they are let out to free range they know where to return.\u00a0 When we finally opened their hatch expecting them to rush out excitedly into the field nothing happened.\u00a0 It was quite a few days before the first one emerged.\u00a0 After a couple of weeks a routine was established.\u00a0 Open their hatch on a morning and they would venture a little further each day and return as and when they liked and at dusk.<\/p>\n

We bought our first 3 on 11th February 2004 and on the 12th February we found 1 egg in the newly constructed nest box.\u00a0 By mid-March they were laying 3 eggs regularly and on the 30th March we collected 4.<\/p>\n

We mixed the 3 bags of feed but chickens have preferences and sort the different grains consequently scattering a lot on the floor of the shed.\u00a0 Now we only feed organic layers pellets.\u00a0 In June our 4 became 6.\u00a0 We bought one Maran cross and one Black Rock.\u00a0 Again no pure breeds available.\u00a0 To introduce the 2 newcomers we wired a section of the hut off so the existing 4 could carry on as usual and the 2 additions could become accustomed to their new home.<\/p>\n

During the summer the Maran and the Welsumer became broody.\u00a0 Not wishing to hatch any new chicks the best thing was to stop the chickens from being broody.\u00a0 This is done by removing them from their cosy surroundings and keeping them in a cage for 2-3 days, sounds cruel but it works.\u00a0 Just provide water and a small amount of food.\u00a0 Another problem is we have had to treat the chickens for lice on a fairly regular basis.\u00a0 We use Barrier a white organic powder.<\/p>\n

Although not common where we live, the threat from foxes must be taken seriously and we ensure the birds are locked up safely at dusk.\u00a0 Stoats are more common and we see them regularly.\u00a0 Occasionally the chickens have become very vocal and we have looked across to see a stoat disappearing.\u00a0 I just hope they stick to their regular diet of rabbits.<\/p>\n

We have now had the chickens for 8 months and unbelievably they have laid 737 eggs.\u00a0 We used to pay \u00a31.39 for half a dozen organic free-range eggs, which would work out at about \u00a3170 worth.\u00a0 All have been enjoyed by ourselves, friends and family.\u00a0 We previously tried to buy the best eggs available but it has to be said there is no comparison.\u00a0 Yorkshire Puddings, Pancakes, Sponge Cakes etc. take on a very yellow appearance when made with our own eggs.\u00a0 Fried, scrambled, boiled, whatever you do with them they are delicious.<\/p>\n

The chickens are full of confidence and it is a joy to watch them exploring every inch of their acre of land.\u00a0 It is said pure breeds will not lay as well as crosses which are specially bred to lay eggs.\u00a0 It is also said that Marans do not lay as many eggs but take more care over the ones they do lay.\u00a0 It is also said pure breeds will remain productive for much longer than crosses.\u00a0 We will see as we will allow our birds to live to a ripe old age.\u00a0 It is likely we will have to open a retirement home.\u00a0 If pushed I would have to say the eggs laid by our pure breeds are superior to the ones laid by the crosses.\u00a0 Currently, mid-October the egg laying record for the last 7 days is 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 4, 3 although it is expected this will fall soon with the diminishing daylight.<\/p>\n

One very useful by-product for the organic gardener is the huge amount of chicken poo collected from the droppings board each morning.<\/p>\n

Thanks to mike for telling us about his chickens, Harriet from Bath also keeps chickens and the two in the picture at the top belong to her. Also Ajit from India is in the process of building a coup, I thought it looked quite different than any other coup I have seen before and thought that others would like to see it too. So have a look opposite. We love hearing from you so why not visit our forum.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having recently created an 80 foot by 80 foot organic vegetable patch I suppose I am on the slippery slide into self-sufficientishism.\u00a0 The next obvious step was to produce my own eggs.\u00a0 I kept a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[731],"tags":[150,246,696,697,698,149],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-chickens","tag-eggs","tag-home-egg-production","tag-home-produced-eggs","tag-keeping-chickens","tag-mike"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2434,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/2434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}