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The temptation of real, fresh, healthy eggs is strong, folks. I don’t know about you, but I need some fresh eggs on our farm. While I’m far from an expert, we’ve only had chickens for a little over a year, I think I’ve learned one thing….
No one said this would be easy.
Nothing worthwhile comes easy. Raising your own food is certainly worthwhile, but it doesn’t come without sacrifices. If getting up before the sun, come rain, sleet or snow, isn’t your cup of tea, well then… no fresh eggs for you.
Sacrifices.
Give and take.
You’ve gotta work for what you want.
I keep telling myself that. Sometimes, I get in a funk and I think there’s no way I can do this. Then, I kick that girl outta my mind, because… I can do this. I want this. This is the life we’ve wanted for the past 8 years. Even though it’s not perfect, we’re doing this.
What You Need to Know About Raising Chickens for Eggs
1. They’re social.
You can’t have just one chicken. Really, I don’t know why one would only want one chicken. You should be planning on a minimum of 4 birds. If you’re buying from a feed store or a hatchery, realize most places have a minimum purchase of 6 birds.
2. They need a coop.
Of course, everyone who’s anyone already knows this. However, a lot of people don’t realize that it takes either time, money or both to produce a coop.
Each bird needs a minimum of 4 square feet of floor space in the coop. The more space, the happier they’ll be.
3. They need a place to stretch.
Unless you plan on free ranging your birds, they’re going to need a run. You can build one with some chicken fencing and t-posts fairly easily. If you do choose to free range your birds, realize they’re going to make themselves right at home in your garden and may very well eat your food. Or… peck it to the point of unrecognizable death….
4. They’re defenseless.
Really, unless you live in an area where nothing exists, they can’t protect themselves. Everything from your own dog, to the barn cat, to the chicken hawks, to the coyotes… all of them and more are predators of your new chicken friends. Protect them, they’re not going to be able to protect themselves and no one likes waking up to a blood bath of dead birds.
5. Nothing in life is free.
Chickens aren’t free after you purchase them. They have to be fed, and depending on how many you have, this can be quite costly. It amazes me that people are shocked when they see the price tag of real, pastured, organic fed, local chicken eggs. Feed is not a cheap item, my friends. Especially organic feed. You want to know why they’re so expensive, look at how much it costs to raise them. It put things in perspective.
Also, the coop supplies may or may not cost. There are some awesome pallet projects out there you can totally use to DIY a coop, or, you can buy one. If you make a run, that will cost you the fencing and the t-posts at least.
6. The best things in life take hard work and dedication.
Your hens should be laying all spring, summer and fall. They’ll even lay in the winter if you supplement them with light. If they’re getting 12 hours of light a day, they should lay. You’re going to have to go out and collect those eggs every day.
While you’re there… you’re going to be shoveling manure (which you can turn into amazing compost) every day, all year. Even when it’s cold, even when the hens aren’t laying. You’ve got to keep their coop clean.
In the winter, you’ll get to battle with frozen water and trying to find a solution for that. Because, we all love melting water in -20….
You’re not going on vacation, unless you know someone to sit your chickens. Make sure that person is reliable. Sacrifices, folks, sacrifices.
7. They’ll be worth it.
If you’re anything like me, all of the cost, headaches, lack of vacations and manure shoveling will totally be worth it. You take care of them, they keep you in fresh eggs 6-9 months out of the year. I can think of nothing better than farm fresh eggs right from my own back yard. This is the stuff dreams are made of.
Well, my dreams. If you don’t share my fresh egg dreams that’s fine. Just don’t judge my crazy dreams.
After all is said and done, I hope we have 20 laying hens. We just finished up our new coop and I have a few favorite breeds, set up a brooder, get some chicks… and have a baby.
This is going to be fun.
Other Chicken Posts You’ll Love:
- Best Chicken Breeds for your Family Homestead
- Pros Versus Cons of Free Ranging Chickens
- Everything You Need to Know About Caring for Chickens in the Winter
Do you have laying hens on your homestead? Do you enjoy them? Share in the comments below or join the conversation on facebook or instagram!
Connie Zhude
Truth…all of the above! In this very cold weather you MUST go out several times a day and check for eggs, or they will be frozen. My husband used to take care of the hens, but we discovered they trigger his asthma. So I have the job a nd LOVE it!!! I have been through various ways to dispense feed. Found the best way for me has been a hanging feeder with a 3 gallon pan underneath that catches the majority of the feed they throw around. I can then put that back into the feeder. I have electricity to the coop, as it is in one corner of the goat barn. I use a heated large, dog watering bowl and have a heat lamp. It has helped A LOT! As you said, thawing out water at -20 is NOT fun!! 2 tablespoons of organic vinegar with ‘the mother’ in a gallon of water. My hens were not laying at all and had finished molting After talking with another person, I added a feather fixer, scratch grains and oyster shells to my feed, making it an equal amount of the laying mash, scratch grains and feather fixer…a hand full of the oyster shells. It has helped immensely and I am getting an average of 6-8 eggs a day. I have 14 hens, at the moment. I also ‘treat’ them daily and they now expect me to bring them something, meeting me at the door every AM…clucking loudly!! LOL!! Canned corn, homemade treats, scrambled eggs (if I miss some eggs and they freeze, scramble them and feed them back to them), plain popcorn, fruit and green veggies in the warmer months.. I keep them busy by giving them something to do during the winter. I saved some plastic bottles and put 2 holes in them, about 1-1/2 inch from the bottom. I fill them with shelled sunflower seeds and hang them in the coop during the winter. They quickly learned to peck at them, knocking the seeds onto the ground. Working for their treats! Gotta keep the girls happy!
Danielle McCoy
Hi, Connie. Those are all great tips! We also feed our hens any frozen eggs, scrambled, back to them. Give them cabbages hanging in the coop to peck at in this frozen weather is fun, too. Chickens really are a treat, but like all other things, they require work! I might have to try the shelled sunflower seeds. Right now we have a huge block of seeds and corn that I made that they’re enjoying pecking at. 😉
April
Great Artical. Thank you. Enjoying networking with you a fellow farmer and blogger
Danielle McCoy
Thank you, April!
Lisa
Hi all. I live in Kaikoura New Zealand and have 6 Chickens, 4 lambs, 2 calves,3 sheep,2 dogs and a cat. We have 5 acres and have been living in our caravan for 7 months while our house gets built. I have had chickens for about 6 years now and on my second lot. They are wonderful and keep us in eggs most of the year….we dont have the cold weather like you…cold to us yes, but only to around -2 or 3 so lucky. One thing lately is I had a clucky hen that sat in the nest on and off foe a while so in the spring I got 2 fertile eggs from a friend and put them under her. She hatched them and they are now almost a year old. However one is white while the others are brown shavers. She is quite bullied and it makes me a bit sad. Even to the point of having to feed put feed else where so she gets some. Anyone else have this problem? Theres something to be said in the saying ‘pecking order’……maybe its the colour of her feathers?
Danielle McCoy
It’s not generally the color of the feathers, it’s just chickens. I highly recommend a segregation pen within your run. You need to find your bullies and segregate them from the flock. This will change the pecking order while they’re not able to run with the rest of the ladies. Reintroduce each bird from the segregation pen on separate days waiting about 3 days before you add them back in. It should help, but you’ll have to find the offenders first.