Raising Our Own Chickens

The Egg-ecutive Producers

We have 19 pullets who are at or are nearing the laying stage.  Pullets are what you call female chickens that are under 1 year of age.  Once they're a year old, they are called hens.  So far, that I can tell, and as of this posting, we have 6 pullets that are laying eggs.  Three New Hampshire Reds and three White Leg Horns.  The New Hampshire Reds lay lovely brown eggs and the White Leg Horns lay very nice white eggs.

Here is, Floppy, one of our White Leg Horns sitting in a nesting box.

And this is what Floppy left for us.  No, not the golf ball.....

Usually, when a pullet starts laying, her first few eggs will be smaller than what is normal for that breed.  For example;  Floppy laid this small/medium sized white egg.  Normally she will lay a large/x-large size egg.  In about a week or two she should hit the max. size for her eggs.  And as an FYI, White Leg Horns are prolific layers! They lay 4- 6 eggs a week!  And we have four White Leg Horns!  

An Incr-edible Egg

Have you ever compared an egg purchased at a supermarket and an egg straight from you very own chicken, or at least from someone else's very own chicken - straight from their backyard farm?  If you have, then you know there really is no comparison to a farm fresh egg!  When chickens are raised on a farm or a small backyard farm where they are allowed to forage, are fed fruit/veggie/grains table scraps, and a good layer feed, you are going to notice the difference in taste and the difference in the way the yolk looks.  A farm fresh egg will have a richer taste and the yolk will be a yellow-orange color, not the bright yellow you get from an egg obtained from the supermarket. Farm fresh eggs are even more healthy for you. Check out this article about eggs from Mother Earth News! 

Here is an egg I broke open this morning from one of our NHR pullets as a part of our breakfast.  We even got a double-yolker!

See the nice rich color of that yolk?  You won't get that from a supermarket egg!  

If you can't or just don't want to raise your own chickens, look around in your local area to see who does raise backyard/small farm laying chickens - I bet you could purchase a dozen from the farmer there. You could get different colored eggs; white, brown, dark brown (chocolate color), brown speckled, blue or green.  But no matter what the color of the shell is, all chicken eggs taste the same.  Some people prefer getting the different colored eggs! It's always fun to see what color egg your pullet will lay (if you don't already know). 

Depending on where you live, you could pay anywhere between $3 - $8 per dozen.  And most of what you pay is to help the farmer off-set the cost of feed and supplies to help keep the hens happy so they lay those nice farm fresh eggs that will keep you wanting more!  You'll soon forget the eggs at the supermarket!

We will soon have surpluses of our eggs available for purchase!  We will post updates!

Easy and Fantastic Recipes with Eggs and a Great Boiled Egg How To

The following are recipes that include eggs as a main or prominent ingredient.  Have fun making these delicious dishes and the very cute egg how to ~ you're gonna love it!  These links will open in a new window.

Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup (by Paula Deen via Food Network Website) 

Spinach Mushroom Quiche (cooks.com)  I love this recipe! Although, I tend to add a little extra nutmeg ;)

Omelet Biscuit Cups (allrecipes.com)


Pickled Eggs (simplyrecipes.com)


Bento Bunny Shaped Eggs for Easter (by Amber Raffile on Xanga) Also includes a How To for making the perfect boiled egg and how to peel the shell easily!!

Here is one of my favorite omelet's to make:

Broccoli & Feta Cheese Omelet
2 Large Farm Fresh Eggs (whisked with about 1 TBS cool water)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 TBS EVOO (heat in your pan over medium heat)

Add eggs to the pan, let cook for about 45 seconds, then add to one side (half):
3 TBS Crumbled Feta Cheese (Fat Free, optional)
1/4 Cup of steamed fresh broccoli florets

Allow the eggs to cook for about 30 to 45 more seconds before flipping the other half over the broccoli and feta, to make an omelet.  Then flip the entire omelet, carefully, over to the other side and cook for about another 30 sec to 1 minute.

Very Yummy!!

I hope you try some of these recipes. They're really good!

Happy Homesteading!

First Egg

We have received our very first egg today from one of our pullets!  The pullet who decided to lay this beautiful Grade A egg (graded by my 4-H'er daughter), did so while I was gone to the grocery store.  And no, I did not buy any supermarket eggs ;)  After I got back home and put away the groceries I did buy, I went out to the coop for after noon rounds to check food and water.  I opened the door to the coop and there it was.....on the floor!   Ok, so this was the first egg, hopefully the pullets will get the hang of where to lay their eggs.  I do have a golf ball in each nesting box.  Not to entice them to lay, but to show them where to lay.

So who laid the egg?  I really, really, really want to believe it was one of the New Hampshire Reds.  Although it could be one of the Easter Eggers.  Easter Eggers can lay white, brown, green, blue or pink (very light brown) eggs.  I'm hoping for green and blue from my EE's!! *fingers crossed!*

Hopefully by mid April we'll be in full production of white, brown and tinted eggs!  Just in time for Spring!

Here is a photo of our First Egg (on right) placed next to a large white supermarket egg for comparison.

What's Happening?

Hi All.  Been a little while since I've last posted.  We have been a little busy.  With spring here (at least it feels like it), we have been planting seeds indoors and are getting ready to transplant the seedlings and plant more wonderful veggies and root plants!  So far in the ground we have garlic and roma beans.  We will be adding more seedlings in the ground very soon, which will include, romaine lettuce, carrots, onion, tomatoes (better boy) and marigolds, broccoli, and a couple herbs: chives and oregano.  Mmmmm.....we are looking forward to the tasty goodness Mother Nature will have to offer after our efforts of putting it all in motion.  Rain has been good so far this year...fingers crossed that we will continue to reap the sky water crystal drops!

Not only are we looking to reap a good harvest from the earth, we are getting so very close to getting our first egg(s) from our hens!  Looking like we have a couple Leghorns that are very close to laying and a two or three New Hampshire Reds that are very close.  Didn't know we have chickens?  We do! Our white egg layers: White Leghorns (4) and Production Blacks (3).  My daughter has a Crevecoeur named Sweetheart.  We are not yet sure if Sweetheart is a pullet or a cockerel. If a pullet, she will lay white eggs.

Our brown egg layers:  New Hampshire Reds (9) and Our tinted egg layers: Ameraucana/Easter Eggers (2).  We also have 3 Roosters:  Big Red, the New Hampshire Red - he rules the roost, and takes good care of our girls!  Dudley, the Rhode Island Red, we're still waiting for him to start crowing!  And then there is the "nameless rooster" he is a Barred Plymouth Rock.

We are raising more chicks!  At present time they will be 3 weeks old on Wednesday.  More on them once they are older ;)


Meet some of our girls!

Easter Egger (L) and 2 White Leghorns.

My daughter's Crevecoeur, Sweetheart.

This is Big Red, King of the Cluckers!