We have proudly inherited nine Rhode Island Red Hens, all yearlings beginning to lay eggs… so the chickens came first, then eggs (later that day).  Every farm needs chickens.  They are producers, recyclers, fertilizers and tillers of soil.  Chickens eat bugs and veggie scraps and produce eggs, meat and provide entertainment.

We did not get a rooster.  Hens lay eggs regardless if there is a rooster around. So, our eggs are unfertilized, which means they can’t be incubated and hatched into chicks, but they are normal eggs and taste great.  We can always get a rooster later and after about 30 days all the eggs will be fertilized.

Habitat

Chickens love to forage, but we don’t leave our chickens run loose 24/7 because of predators.  We built a secure coop and fenced chicken yard for them to be in at night.  In the coop are roosts for the chickens to perch on.  A roost looks like a horizontal tree limb and the chickens sleep while perched on the roost.  They also like to lay eggs in a nesting box which is approximately 1ft x 1ft x 1ft. They like it to have hay, be kind of dark and quiet with an egg already there – after all, it is a nest.  We don’t leave a real egg there, but use a plastic Easter egg that has been filled with beans and super glued shut.  This nest box has five compartments and the lid opens to the outside of the pen so it is easy to gather eggs. The lid is open for the photo, but when closed the nest is dark and cozy.

Feeding

Besides plenty of clean water, we feed the chickens every day in addition to letting them out to forage in the evening.  On days, when we can’t let them out, we pick some green plants and feed it to them.  Not surprisingly, a favorite is “chickweed”.

Something new that we are trying is sprouts, which is in addition to their regular feed and laying mash.  These are seeds such as oats or wheat that are soaked and sprouted for a few days before we feed them to the chickens.  A sprouted seed is easier to digest and has 5 times the nutrients, of a regular seed, and those nutrients are readily available once consumed.

For the chickens we have a bucket system and each day we start another batch, and each day we feed the ones that are finished sprouting to the chickens.  This photo only shows three of the five buckets but you can get the idea.  The blue buckets have slits in the bottom so that the rinsed seeds can drain.  There is also enough space in the bottom of each bucket for the seed when they are stacked.  The orange bucket is where day one seed is soaked.  The chickens like the wheat sprouts better than the corn sprouts. They like sprouted corn better than dry regular corn.

How to Sprout

You’ve probably heard of bean sprouts for people to eat, but humans can eat a variety of other sprouted seeds as well.  You can easily sprout them yourself.  The way you go about doing this, is to soak the seed (be careful not to use seed that is coated for planting) first in warm water for 8 to 24 hours in the dark.  Then you have to rinse and drain them at least every day.  (Some sources say three times a day.)

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Here is some wheat I’m sprouting in a glass jar to show you. The first photo is day one, warm water soak in dark place for 9 hours. This photo is taken on the counter top, but I put the jar in a cupboard to be dark. Second day rinse the seed well and drain. I put them back in the jar in the dark.  Third day rinse the seed well and drain.  I put the seed back in the jar but left it on the counter top this time.  Fourth day rinse the seed well and drain.  I put them back in the jar, but we also ate some.  They were terrific.

Eggs

Our Rhode Island Red chickens lay brown eggs.  As a general rule white chickens lay white eggs and brown chickens lay brown eggs.  Some breeds actually lay eggs with a bluish shell.  All breeds of chicken will produce quality eggs if you feed and care for them properly.

Did you know that an egg from a chicken that is able to forage and is fed and watered properly will have an orange yolk?  Not yellow like a store bought egg, but truly orange and will taste richer too.

Eggs got a bad rap in the late 1900’s, but like so many dietary recommendations, it’s since been totally reversed.  Eggs are, again, good for you.  They are very nutritious with vitamins and Omega 3-fatty acids. We eat a lot of eggs and I will share with you a hard-boiled egg method that is foolproof.  Hard boiled eggs should NEVER have a green edge around the yolk. No wonder so many people don’t like them.

Perfect Hard Boiled Egg Recipe

You will need: eggs, pot with lid, water, bowl, slotted spoon, stove

In a pot with a lid, bring about a half inch of water to a boil.  (Yes, the eggs will not be submerged)  Once the water is at a full rolling boil, carefully but quickly put the eggs in the pot in single layer.  Put the lid on the pot and set a timer for eight minutes.  (The stove should be at medium to medium-high) You may want to adjust the time to nine minutes later if you like the yolk a little dryer, but try eight minutes first.  So, while the eggs are in the pot for the eight minutes, get a bowl of cold water ready.

When the eight minutes is up, turn off the heat and immediately spoon out the eggs into the bowl of cold water.  Leave them in the cold water for a few minutes until they are cool enough to handle easily.  You can run more cold water in the bowl if needed.  Then crack the shell all over the egg. The entire egg should have cracks all through the shell.  Then pinch the larger rounded end to begin to peel.  Often, the rounded end will have a little air gap that gets the peeling process started easily.  Then peel, rinse and eat.

Hens begin to lay eggs once they are about a year old and will continue to lay eggs for several years.  Their most productive years are the first two or three. If you are considering raising chickens for meat, eggs or both, here is a good book for reference.  It is packed with specific information on how to get started and how to keep producing.

Summertime

How many colors in the crayon box would you need to depict a blueberry bush accurately throughout an entire year? Surprisingly, you would use the whole box in coloring blueberries.  When you think of this plant, you probably envision it in summertime with green leaves and blue berries. The berries, for which you would obviously use a blue crayon, actually start out a light green, then turn pink, then to reddish purple, and finally a rich bluish/black.

The juice when you squeeze blueberries is actually magenta.  Here is a photo of some blueberry juice, from which I made some mead.  The color is actually more of a brilliant fushia-red. Who would think blueberry juice was red?  When the juice is on your fingers or your face, its purple.  When you get blueberry juice on a white shirt it will be pink until you wash it with regular soap, then the stain will be a blue gray.  Its weird, but true.

Fall

Have you ever looked at a blueberry plant in the fall?  Their leaves turn from green to a beautiful gradation of yellow to orange and red.  This photo was taken December 2, so this was really late fall. Not all of the varieties kept their leaves on but the ones that did really put on a show.  Not every year is a great year for color either, but 2016 was terrific.  I think of December as being winter, but really, in Georgia, its more like late fall.
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Winter

A look at the blueberry plants in January doesn’t look like much, only brown. Its hard to distinguish them from the pine straw, which is kind of gray and brown at the same time. Last year, we mulched in February, but this year, we had to bump that up as a January task because it got so warm. We had several days that were near 80 degrees. Some nights the temperature stayed around 60 degrees!  That’s pretty warm for January. It is imperative that we get the mulch down before the plants bloom, and the buds were already starting to swell in the warm temperatures of January. So, I’m using the term “Winter” loosely.

Spring

So, here it is February 9th and earlier this month, Punxsutawney Phil, the Punxsutawney groundhog said we would have “six more weeks of Winter”. Well, maybe up north, but not so far in Georgia. The mulching is done now, and yesterday, February 8th, I took this photo of a blueberry plant just about ready to bloom.  The blossoms are a delicate white and pink. Shown here, the buds are ready to open. Thankfully, only two plants are this close to blooming so early.  Early blooms can easily be ruined by frost. Frost is also white, but the only white I want to see on my plants is the bloom.  Keep your fingers crossed, and hope Punxsutawney Phil is only predicting Pennsylvania weather.