To chicken, or not to chicken?
Homesteading on Whidbey
Published in Whidbey Weekly 28 July, 2018
Chickens have infiltrated backyards everywhere. Is yours next? Many families are choosing to raise backyard chickens for a multitude of reasons. The most obvious being fresh eggs. The experience of raising animals is also captivating. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of roaming my grandfather’s farm, so sharing a bit of that nostalgia with my children brings me great joy.
My four year-old helps feed the chickens and collects eggs every day. My one year-old loves to sprinkle meal worms like he’s the Salt Bae. Both kids are involved and in love with our chickens. I also get to enjoy eggs again. I stopped eating eggs for years because I would feel sick from them. My uncle, who is a farmer, mentioned that the medicated feed used by commercial farmers could be triggering my drug allergy. I started consuming organic eggs afterwards with no issues. Naturally, the next step was to start raising my own free range chickens so I could control what they were fed. There has been no looking back!
Another Oak Harborian sharing this functional family pet with her four year-old is Daysi Mayer. You can find Fajita, Quesadilla, Shadow, Buffalo, Penguin, and Nuggets hanging out in their custom coop or popping into the living room to meander about. Daysi has attached a chain link dog kennel to her coop to function as a run and protect her flock. Her Jersey Giants, a dual purpose breed, were recently attacked by raccoons with Nuggets being the lone survivor. Daysi masterfully introduced a clutch of chicks into her fortified setup to keep Nuggets company. In the fall these spring chickens should be ready to start laying, just in time to turn off again when winter hits.
This is typical of spring chicks. Most chickens will start laying eggs at around six to eight months. There are commercial egg layers like the leghorns that start earlier, around twelve weeks. My leghorns hatched last April and laid eggs all winter, while my cucu marans stopped for three months. Many hens will stop producing when the days get shorter as they sleep and eat less, which is not conducive to producing eggs. They can be tricked into laying throughout the winter by putting a light in their coop to extend their days, but they will ultimately burn out sooner without this natural break. Chickens also molt with the seasons, which can be affected by adding a light that mimics the warmer season. Some homesteaders let nature take its course, giving the girls time off. However, if keeping up production is the main focus, be mindful that the flock will need to be replaced sooner with younger hens and should be given more calcium.
Hens will lay their best during the first two years and gradually slow down as they age. You may choose to keep them around, producing a couple of eggs a week, or cull them and replace. If you are ready to make the jump to raising your own meat, I recommend a dual purpose bird or meat birds. These chicks can be found locally or through a hatchery. Meat birds such as the Cornish Cross are specifically bred to be meatier and grow extremely fast, so be warned and ready. They will go from fuzz balls to the dinner table in six to twelve weeks. If you wait any longer they will grow too large and begin encountering health problems, eventually dying on their own.
My flock is mixed so that I always get eggs, with some hens partial to going broody. One of my banty hens ran away in June, resurfacing last week with seven chicks behind her. Ideally, one would use a broody hen to hatch eggs specifically chosen but it is always a fun surprise when Mother Nature does her thing. I also raise Cornish cross meat birds every year to fill up my freezer. I highly recommend you look into different breeds to decide which birds best fit your purposes.
Another mixed flock owner who also hatches her own chicks is Elizabeth of Māyā’s Farm. She is a local homesteading cynosure with a flock of over twenty chickens. She gave me a tour of her one-stop-shop in Oak Harbor, where she does everything from raising bees, chickens, and rabbits, to making her own animal feed, teaching Goatya (yoga with baby goats) and knitting with the yarn she spun herself from her Angora bunny. Aside from her chickens, she also has geese, ducks, vegetables, a husband, a baby, and a stand at the Oak Harbor farmer’s market to keep her busy. She is turning her 2.5 acres into a homesteading dream while providing ethically raised, healthy food for her family. When I asked her how and why she enjoys this lifestyle, her eyes lit up as she said, “I like the challenge, and I love knowing where my food comes from.” There is nothing quite like enjoying a meal that your prepared yourself, from beginning to end. Wait for my next article to discover how kitchen scraps, chickens, rabbits, and gardening all work together to make an amazing harvest!
Photo Credits to Helina Bailey
