Incredible Homestead Chickens
(Page 2 of 6)
December 2007/January 2008
By Harvey Ussery
Chickens will eat eggs in certain situations; once they start, it’s a difficult habit to break. You can prevent egg eating in the flock by mounting the nests above floor level to keep the cocks from pecking at eggs curiously, providing enough nests (one for every eight hens or so) and collecting eggs regularly.
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We never wash eggs if they come from the nest absolutely clean. For cleaning up those with a smear or stain, we use a paper towel dipped in a half-and-half mix of water and white vinegar. Immersing eggs can actually drive bacteria through the shells.
Pasturing the Flock
I strongly urge you to avoid the conventional homestead flock, with the birds confined to their coop and a small, static chicken run. The birds quickly consume or trample all vegetation, and droppings accumulate. It’s better to get the birds out onto healthy, green pasture where they can enjoy the sunshine, fresh air and exercise, and forage a significant part of their diet.
Some flock owners have good results allowing their birds to range free during the day, then penning them up at night for protection, since most predators are nocturnal. For others, different levels and types of predation (your neighbor’s dog, or even your own) or proximity of neighbors’ gardens or flower beds prohibit this approach. Does that dictate a return of the flock to their wretched static run? Not at all. Electric net fencing is a solution that has been a fundamental management tool for me for years. I cannot recommend it highly enough for providing the benefits of pasturing the flock, confining them where you want and protecting them from predators.
Electric net fencing is a plastic mesh with interwoven fence posts. The horizontal strands of the mesh are intertwined with almost hair-fine stainless steel wires. Attached to a fence energizer that’s properly grounded, the fence carries an unpleasant (but not harmful) surprise for unwelcome curiosity seekers. (Search for “Electronet” at Premier 1 Supplies.)
Options for Feeding
It is convenient to buy bagged feed for a flock, and we’d like to think that such “scientifically formulated” feeds are the best diet we can offer our birds. Ask yourself, however: What would the chicken eat if completely on her own in a natural setting? Though we do not think of chickens as grazers, they actually eat a fair amount of grasses, clovers and broadleaf weeds. They relish wild seeds of all sorts and live animal foods such as earthworms, insects, slugs and snails. All of these foods (plants, seeds, small animals) are alive and unprocessed. Commercial feeds are anything but alive or unprocessed; they are made from highly processed ingredients.
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