Sometimes when I scroll through my Facebook provender or peruse the bookstore aisle , I ’m struck by just howpopularchickens have become . No urban agrarian worth their salinity would be caught dead without a plucky flock of hen these days . And there are morehow - to books about backyard chicken - keeping on bookshelves than a person could hope to scan in a lifespan .
I ’m not grumbling . I cogitate it ’s great , down to the cock - themed ware fill big - box department store shelves .
The estimate of our family farm bulge out out as a vegetable bed and four hens in a tight backyard . I ’m all for whatever dampen people to the idea of growing food for themselves and their residential district .
With doom - and - gloom prediction of a food - scarce futurity creeping into the news , increasing our sustenance independence is a moderately good idea . More gardens and farmers markets , fewer corporal grocery storehouse sounds squeamish to my ears .
It’s a Labor of Love
But there are some realities of chicken - guardianship that are n’t whole acknowledge by that chicken chicken coop photo shoot in actress / model Jennifer Garner ’s Neutrogena commercial .
There ’s a luck of poop , for appetizer , and cleaning out even a small chicken coop is a moth-eaten and dirty affair . By the tenth or so clip , it can start to feel like a chore rather than an risky venture .
Free - range chicken can destroy the Gunter Wilhelm Grass in your yard and labour treacherous gob for their soil baths . And it ’s difficult to relish a dark on the townspeople when you hump your chickens have gone to layer in an unsecured coop .
Also , chickens are under never-ending terror of danger , whether from ailments such asbumblefootand infective bronchitis or the myriadpredatorsthat want to make a meal of your birds . Keeping a hatful safe from harm require unrelenting , diligent attention .
So Hard To Say Goodbye
Even with that , though , there ’s still a comely chance you ’ll say bye to a beloved hen before you ’ve readied your nerve . ( As of this authorship , Garner had , herself , just suffer a Gallus gallus in anevent documented on social media . )
Oh and that Sophie’s - choice moment when your hens overtake prime laying years and you have to make an impossible decision between the volaille and the eggs ? It ’s rough stuff .
What I ’m saying is crybaby - retention may be nerveless , butit ’s also work .
So why do chickens feel as popular now as when the U.S. Department of Agriculture print flyers saying,“Uncle Sam expects you to keep hens and raise chickens”during World War I ?
As alluded to to begin with with the food scarcity comment , there are plenty ofheady conjectures one could make . But I believe all commentary can be firmly - boiled down to one discussion : eggs .
The Incredible, Edible …
Eggs !
I love egg . My favorite repast is a childlike salad of garden - grown element with a pair of fried bollock on top .
Many a hobby farmer has find his or her direction into quasi - homesteading ground on the allure of a deeply golden - yolked , farm - sassy orchis , and the appeal does n’t discontinue with aesthetics .
Hens with memory access to bugs and grass lie creamy and intensely flavored orchis that bear fiddling resemblance to the dollar - a - dozen cartons at the local supermarket . ( I know some taste tests have called the departure into question , but they ’ll never convince me . )
And , while I interpret you could pick up pastured ballock from a smattering of providers at the supermarket , there ’s no retail choice to a sweet orchis , collected in the morning , then contribute inside to electrocute or make into a frittata .
On the health side , they ’re much better for you , too , with studies showing that orchis from range hens are lowly in high-risk material such as cholesterol and saturated avoirdupois . They ’re also higher in good poppycock such as vitamins A and E , omega-3 fatty acids and beta carotene . And freshness matter , too , as nut misplace protein over time .
Is Enough Ever Enough?
You do n’t necessitate me to sell you on ballock - set chickens , though .
What I really want to plow is what to do when you ’ve got the small - flock matter down and start thinking , “ Should I get more chickens ? ”
And the answer , of course of instruction , is yes . There is incomputable note value in grow your own sustenance . And once you dial thing in for the safe testicle ever , it ’s good and smart to start producing more than you could use .
First , it ’s good because by providing eggs to members of your community , you ’re participate in a local food apparent movement aimed at preserving the role of little farmers in an age of incarnate nutrient systems .
Maybe you just set out an “ EGGS 4 SALE ” star sign in your front cubic yard and move a few dozen a hebdomad . You ’re still giving citizenry the option to corrode well and support local agriculture , all while putting a side and place to the food they eat on . That ’s significant .
And trade eggs is smart because you’re able to deal orbarter your eggs to lighten the fiscal load of maintain your feathered friends alive and put down . Between water , provender , gritrock , scratch , bedding and other necessary provision , crybaby retention can get expensive . It ’s not a crazy approximation to have your sideline give some self - sustaining income .
Before you contact for the hatchery catalogue , though , here are some tips for selling those eggs once your unexampled madam start laying .
1. To Market, To Market
Sure , you could just strike down a sign in the front thou severalise people you have eggs for sales agreement . They even have premade single useable at farm - supply store .
But if your chicken addiction has lead you with more eggs than you may safely leave up to chance drive - bys ( take it from me , it happens ) , you may require to seek out a local farmers market place andinquire about becoming a seller .
Yes , you ’re almost guaranteed to be one of a fistful of egg tables on - site . But you ’ll apace learn that the appetite for farm - new egg is insatiable .
Our farm usually has a ice chest ’s Charles Frederick Worth of eggs presold to fast customers before we even rip up to the pavilion . And reckon about other thing you might be able to sell , such ashome - baked breads , pickles or even handmade product . ( Do some research into your state - legal option , though , as they diverge . )
2. Stay Legal My Friends
When you keep hens to produce egg for you and your family , you’re able to do whatever you want with them . I keep a bucket of unwashed egg in the pantry for hebdomad on end because I know the blooming will protect them against spoiling . ( It ’s common practice in Europe . )
But when you start producing for other people , and specially when selling eggs to them , you have to follow a set of laws , usually established at the state of matter horizontal surface .
A footling scrap of online research should tell you what you postulate to do to rest legal in terms of lavation , shuddery , labeling and transporting your eggs for sale .
3. Beyond the Grade
Just because you ’re trade testis from the back of a pickup hand truck ( or whatever ) or else of moving units from a beige - fence in cubicle does n’t mean you’re able to dismiss thebasic principle of sales .
Quality is key to develop customer loyalty and generating good word of mouth . You may not have to grade them , but make trusted your eggs are faithfully undecomposed and coax people to come back for more .
At a lower limit , ensure they ’re clean , uncracked and fresh . Fresh eggs have distinctively truehearted yolk , so do n’t try out to pass off a clutch of undetermined years to your customers .
you’re able to order customized cartonful to stand out from the pack of Styrofoam slews at market . And candling — glisten a visible radiation from beneath each egg — can divulge fertilized testicle , which are okay to feed but put some people off .
4. The Friend Zone
bed one affair about selling eggs before going in . In clock time , you ’ll lose some of your preferent customers to their own cage .
A making love of chicken and constant stream of farm - bracing orchis is infectious and bound to create some young chicken - keeper . It ’s a little semisweet , but new customers will brush in to take their place . And you ’re certain to receive regular updates from those former customer who , by now , you ’ve learned to call friend .
This tale earlier appeared in the November / December 2019 government issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
