This post is about lessons I learned about chickens and lessons I learned about myself this past week…
1. You can buy a lot of eggs for the cost of what it takes to raise chickens!
This is really what sparked this entire epiphany. When my girls molted and stopped laying I started to contemplate exactly how much they were actually costing me. I came to the realization that they aren’t really cost effective (I think I already knew this deep down) but just love having chickens anyway!
I figured the best use of my money was to butcher them now while they were still good for eatin’…
2. I am a practical, old-school kind of farmer.
I love having a farm in our backyard! I love having animals! But I also love raising my own food! And I raise chickens for food… Whether it is eggs or meat, that is their purpose. It’s not cold or heartless, it is what I raised them for.
3. I get a real sense of pride and satisfaction from raising my own food!
It is really cool to fill my freezer full of meat that I raised from babies, collected eggs from, butchered and cooked all by myself (with some help from my fantastic family and friends)!
4. I will not be buying chickens with black feathers anymore!
While black-feathered birds look gorgeous in the coop, they don’t look so nice in the roaster! Ugh! All those black feather ends don’t look very appetizing…
5. Flock rotation sounds like a good idea!
The city only allows me to have 8 chickens in my backyard. I think that this year I am going to buy only 4 hens. Then the following spring I will buy 4 more. This way in the future I will always have 4 prime laying hens and 4 for the freezer. I think this will be a much better plan! We’ll see how it goes…
6. I am going to miss having chickens!
: o( But I will be glad to have babies again this spring!
2 comments:
I have a different breed each year, that way I know which ones I am eating:-) Bard Rock are my favorite (good eggs and good eating and good personality). Leg Horns lay well and eat the least grain for the most eggs. Any two different looking breeds will do. Love your posts, Kay Tohline
Great advice, Kay! Thanks for the recommendations! I know my Barred Rock was our largest hen this time... I'll have to think about Leg Horns, they sound very appealing! ;o)
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