Although it makes for a fair bit of
work, we love raising chickens for their gorgeous eggs. We often get asked what we mean when we say
we have free range eggs and it usually causes us a little bit of a chuckle. There seem to be many terms and definitions
circulating now but we don’t play word games. Our birds are truly free
ranging. We have over three hundred
chickens that meander over about fourteen acres here. I am sure that makes us a fairly inefficient
egg producing facility but it is nice to see them busy all around the farm.
When we first moved to the Upstate
nearly fourteen years ago we wanted chickens.
They were just a fixture at my childhood home in Ohio and we’d even had
a few in the suburbs where we lived in Florida.
We went to a flea market where someone suggested we could find a
pair. I carefully picked out two pretty
hens and waited for the fellow to crate them up in an old box from a liquor
store. When we got home and opened the
box we realized that he had swapped out one of the chickens so that it was not
the gal I had chosen. We named her Oops
and loved her anyways. From then on we
only ordered our chickens from Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa. We always order their day old chicks and
raise them up here on the farm. The
children were delighted the first time we handed them the pretty catalog and
told them how many chickens they could pick.
I don’t recall how many different breeds the children chose but we
started with lots of colors, sized and personalities and have kept it that way
since. Although we’ve always leaned
toward ordering chickens classed as heavies who are good layers, we’ve also
slipped in everything from a few Phoenix roosters with long flowing tails and a
tiny Golden Seabright hen who was barely bigger than a pigeon. Mrs. Seabright lived to be about nine years
old and was a precious gal who, as a little old lady, went to sleep on her
roost a good two hours earlier than any of the other birds.
We currently have about two dozen
different breeds of chickens. They range
in age from several months to six or seven years of age. We do not cull our birds when they stop
laying but allow them just to live their lives out here. Again, not an economically good plan but
after all that they have given us it is hard to do otherwise. We are accommodating a fair number of old
ladies who eat, nap, take dust baths and perhaps lay an egg a week.
The hens have four different buildings
that have nesting boxes in them. The two
main buildings that they use have fencing around them but the fencing has huge
chicken-sized holes in many places at the bottom so that the birds can come and
go without the goats and sheep entering the yard to eat the layer feed we
always make available or allowing the dogs to raid the nesting boxes. A good number of the hens come and go
throughout the day but there are some that never leave the huge bird yard. They are content to scratch around the yard,
nap under the oak tree or in the doorway of the house where a nice breeze
always seems to be blowing and take turns arguing over who gets which nesting
box. The main building has over 50
individual nesting boxes but there seem to be some preferred spots. The gals who want to set for a while prefer a
nest box with a view out the door. In
the cool weather they want to be in the nest boxes against the south wall where
the sun warms them and in the heat of summer they prefer the boxes closest to
the fans. There are often two gals
pushing at each other for the same box.
Others will sit quietly on the roost waiting for their favorite spot to
become available. There are a few hens
who don’t care much one way or the other, even just hesitating long enough to
lay their egg on the ground and keep scratching for something interesting.
Gathering eggs can be interesting as
well as slightly treacherous. If you
notice my right hand and arm you may see small bruises and scratches. Some of the hens peck as I gently reach under
them to pull out the still-warm eggs.
Others not only peck but will pinch, twist and hang on for a second or
two just to make a point. I currently
have a Buff Brahma hen who marches up and down the perch in front of one set of
nesting boxes. She threatens me as I
begin down the row, ruffling out her feathers to look big, squawking and
sometimes grabbing at my arm. Most hens simply let me reach under and then
readjust themselves in the box after I pull my hand out. And then I have at least four hens who are my
favorites as they will stand up when I begin to reach into the box. One will even glance down to be sure I am
finished before puffing out her feathers and settling back down.
We feed a simple layer feed with no
weird additives or antibiotics. We have
found that we just don’t get sick chickens and attribute that to the fact that
no one is crowded unless they choose to huddle up with their buddies. They range around so always have plenty of
fresh air, exercise and green grass. We
have a great arrangement with the Hyatt who saves their daily kitchen prep
scraps in the cooler for us. These cans
of peelings, stalks, leaves, rinds and other goodies add even more to the daily
diet of grasses, bugs and interesting windfall fruits that they glean here.
Jeff and Kim of Iszy’s Heirlooms are
precious friends who also contribute lots of goodies for the birds. We get the bulk of their cull lettuces,
tomatoes and anything else from their farm that the birds will eat. We have laughed about getting our eggs tested
for their lycopene levels in the thick of heirloom tomato season when we feed
several bushels of tomatoes a week.
Years ago when we first started feeding tomatoes I would find myself
checking birds often to try to figure out who was bleeding. As soon as I picked up a sticky bird I would
realize that the funny red on it was simply tomato flung around in the frenzy
of discovering a new basket poured out on the yard. But the mother in me always needed to check
just in case!
I visit the birds many times each day
and process many eggs. Our middle child,
Eric, started a small egg business when he was a boy and we took it over when
he began to work a full time job. I
enjoy our daily chicken routine and it is always a treat when those eggs are
appreciated by our wonderful egg customers.
Find us on
Face Book – just search Merciful Hearts Farm.
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