Preserve an Endangered Species with Heritage Chickens

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When our children were little and loved and named every hen whether she was laying or not, I didn't dare even suggest culling old Clucky or Henny-Penny but accounted for chicken feed along with the dog food.

Now, with the kids more or less grown, before my birds come indoors full-time for the winter, I send to the stew pot or freezer every hen that begins to show the lethargy, dull eyes and plumage, bleached legs, and dry, puckered vent of a nonlayer. With layer pellets costing on average 17 ¢ /lb., I figure an average yearly cash cost of about 25 ¢ /dozen eggs: from a few pennies in the peak of harvest season when laying is at its height and birds are on free range during the day to 50 ¢ /dozen in the depth of winter when laying rate is about 50 percent and when I buy the most feed. Still ahead of supermarket prices that range from 99 ¢ to $2.50/dozen.

One secret to keeping feed costs low in winter is to arrange with a local supermarket to collect lettuce, cabbage, and other trimmings from the produce department. Chop it up and feed it to the hens early in the day, before you give them access to bought ration. In our cold climate, I feed in small quantities so it won't freeze before they can eat it.

In winter, you'll have to provide grit and ground oyster shell or garden lime-stone (not processed lime of any kind, dolomite, or diatomaceous earth) to supply calcium for the birds if they are not on full-time bought ration. I keep it in a shallow tuna can, the bottom hole-punched and firmly tacked low on a wall and kept brimming with dean, sharp sand and small gravel. I collect shells and grit from the ocean beach, but stream or river sand/gravel mix is just as good, or you can buy grit and calcium supplements from a feed store if you must. The birds will peck at it as needed. Particulars regarding proper space and housing facilities are covered in the companion amide beginning on page 37.

Never let eggs stay in the nest for more than a few hours. I try to collect morning, noon, and evening so they're clean, unfrozen in winter, and still moist with the protective bacteria-inhibiting film the hen gives them. (Never wash eggs or you'll invite bacteria to migrate through the shells, which are semiporous to let growing chicks respire.) Refrigerate table eggs immediately. They last in refrigeration for 6 months—though they'll resemble store eggs by the end of that time.

Neighbors

Most municipalities in "Metro" areas surrounding big cities forbid livestock inside town limits. Cityfied neighbors may have dogs that come over and leave their waste all over your lawn, but they'll complain about the slightest smell or noise from chickens, and will sic the cops on you if a hen escapes and takes a nip from their prize tuberous begonias or scratches up a few nasturtium seeds.

A single marauding hen of a good foraging strain can trash a flower garden in a few minutes, whereas modern chicken breeds that have forgotten how to scratch up their own dinner will often refuse to leave the henhouse; the hybrids I ran when I first took on chickens would come out into their fenced run in nice weather but were afraid of rain and flat refused to step out into snow.

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