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Health & Fitness

Spring Chickens

Farm-fresh eggs, one of the easiest sources of homegrown protein.

One of the most adorable aspects of homesteading has arrived at our house…baby chicks. This is our first time raising them from hatchlings, previously we got them from our neighbor friend who kept them warm and happy until they were a couple months old and large enough to move outdoors to our coop. But this year it was a great pleasure to wander over to a nearby feedstore which has an outstanding selection of chicks, ducks, turkeys and other foul and make our picks. The past year was a little rough for our feathered family members…we lost 3 roosters in a bizarre attack (dog? Coyote? Alien? Hard to say). I mean, we didn’t actually want any of them anyway and generally cursed their existence every morning, but still, no one needs to die THAT way. Plus we had one more hen randomly die one day, so with our flock dwindling and our oldest hens on their last productive year of laying, we decided to supplement with 7 new pullets (pullet is a female chick; when shopping for chicks you will see either “pullets” or “straight-run” indicating the birds are not identified by sex…learning is fun!). In past years, we’ve dabbled with different breeds, sometimes based on the fact they looked interesting, but this year we’re all business. We want to get the best bang for our buck, so we opted for breeds that are among the most reliable layers. Rhode Island Red, Ameraucana (cousins to our existing Araucanas), and one I wasn’t planning on, Buff Orpingtons, which I got on the advice that they are one of the more “tameable” breeds.

Baby chicks need a couple months to grow, fill out their feathers and wait for temperatures to increase before releasing them into the great outdoors. Ours started indoors in an old horse watering trough we had, heat lamp affixed and on 24 hours a day. We handle the chicks a couple times a day, and while they’re not the most terrified animals I’ve ever seen, they aren’t exactly hopping up to perch on my arm when they see me. Although in the best moments some of the chicks will actually fall asleep in my hand, and seriously, you are not going to see anything cuter than watching a little baby fluff start to doze off, head tipping forward, wings drooping, until her little beak rests down by her feet. Short of pooing out a rainbow, this is not going to get any cuter.

With the resurgence of backyard chickens in recent years, you may be well aware of the why’s and how’s of backyard chicken keeping (or read up on how easy chicken-keeping is here). It’s amazing to me that what was very normal 70 years ago, then extraordinarily abnormal 30 years ago, is now normalizing once again. I remember growing up and my dad telling me stories of his urban neighbor slaughtering chickens, me thinking how odd to have chickens like that in the city, that it was such a different time. Yet of course, it’s one of the most economical sources of protein available, and as chickens are incredibly easy to manage, are once again gaining in popularity. Granted, if you’re using organic feed like we do, the price tag ratchets up a bit, but for anyone who has tasted backyard/farm-raised eggs compared with factory farmed (even “free range”) grocery store eggs, there really is no comparison. Color alone gives you great insight as to the quality of the chickens’ diet; as you can see in these photos, even the free-range organic eggs from the grocery store are a paler shade of yellow than the farm-fresh version (and conventional eggs appear as a light pastel yellow in comparison).

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Besides taste, there are several important factors which make home-grown eggs far superior to anything you buy in a store. First and foremost, you avoid the ethical issues that accompany factory-farmed animal products. Even “free-range” chickens are not without controversy. Second is the nutritional value of the end product. Some studies have found pasture raised eggs may contain up to 1/3 less cholesterol and 2 times more Omega-3 fatty acids, among other health benefits. These differences in nutritional value are primarily due to the chicken’s diet…not really surprising that those chickens eating what comes naturally to them (grass, bugs, other tasting garden treats) actually produce eggs  that are better for you.

Considering chickens? It’s not too late to start this year! You can still order chicks online or locally at the Monroe Farm and Feed. Cluck on!

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