So “free-range” and “organic” eggs are up to $4 a dozen now. But there are a lot of other reasons why you might enjoy having your own flock of chickens.
Unlike the commercial chickens who never get to scratch in the dirt, eat a bug or otherwise act like chickens, your own happy, healthy flock will produce superior eggs in nutrition and flavor. Your homestead chicken eggs will have 25 percent more vitamin E, 33 percent more vitamin A , 75 percent more beta carotene (seen in the bright orange yolks) and more omega-3 fatty acids than your factory farmed grocery store eggs. So the happy homestead homemaker feeds her family real eggs from happy homestead chickens.
Chicken droppings with their high nitrogen content, improve your compost. Chickens also run a marvelous insect patrol happily grabbing up every slug, grub and earwig they find. They will speed up the natural decomposition process of an area by scratching around and breaking down pieces of vegetation and aerating the soil.
Chickens are interesting, homey little creatures indigenous to the American homestead. They will follow you around the yard, come when you call and give you tales to tell the grandchildren. Their personalities vary and they afford the opportunity for using all of your favorite names. (Unless they're meat birds!) When raised by hand they will often come and sit in your lap. Their chicken “talk” ranges from loud, enthusiastic cackles (often after laying) to sweet murmurs of contentment. And nothing establishes your location in the country like the sound of a rooster’s crow.
Children are naturally great chicken enthusiasts and egg collectors. Raising chickens teaches children some responsibility and about where our food comes from.
It’s certainly possible to thank the Lord for eggs no matter where you acquire them. If it's with a paycheck to purchase some from the grocery store you can be thankful to God for that; but when you go out and gather eggs from your own nest boxes — it’s just easier.
The Coop Scoop - Your COMMENTS below
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11/10/11 - Uncommon Facts About the Common Egg
We love gathering eggs and we love eating them even more. Fresh country eggs come in white, shades of brown, speckled and even green, like in green eggs and ham. I've been around eggs a long time but, I just learned some amazing things I never knew from an article* by Kirk Cameron, star of TV hit Growing Pains and movies like Fireproof. 
He compared the egg to a little space capsule where the little astronaut chick is tethered by two lifelines. One attaches to the food source - the yolk. The other is attached to the outside oxygen source.
There are 10,000 (scientists love to count stuff) tiny holes in the capsule's shell to allow oxygen to come in and carbon dioxide wastes to go out. There is a substance called bloom, which coats the egg. This is essential as it keeps dust out of the tiny holes and even fights bacteria.
Those two tethers have another function. They also act like bungee cords keeping the growing chick safely centered in the egg. A great idea. The chick also has the added protection of a thick shock-absorbing liquid surrounding it. That's the egg white. The white is composed of protein and a powerful, bacteria-killing enzyme which is also found in human tears and is called lysozyme. It protects our eyes, which are constantly exposed to bacteria from becoming infected. Brilliant design for eyes and eggs.
Just before the little astronaut emerges from the capsule (timing is everything), it grows a specialized tool called an egg tooth. He will use it to open an air sac which gives him about six hours of oxygen which he needs while breaking out of the shell. Then he uses the egg tooth to crack open the shell and emerge. What a great idea.
On the day before his birthday though, he eats his entire food pack which is the yolk. This gives him three days of food and water while he finds his land legs to get food on his own. What creative genius! Another great example of intelligent design.
Share these fascinating details with your children and let them marvel at the design and order with which the Creator has graced our world.
*Answers magazine, Vol. 3 No. 3 July-Sept., 2008
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09/12/11 - Eggs, Fresh or Rotten? - How To Tell The Difference
We just found one of our hens sitting on 13 eggs beneath an overturned wading pool. Now we have questions about those eggs. Just how old are they? Can we eat them? Which ones?
You can always crack an egg open and if it looks weird or smells weird toss it. However, if you've ever smelled a rotten egg, you may prefer to avoid the hydrogen sulfide aroma and test without cracking the egg. We used the float test method to determine which if any of those eggs were fresh. We put them in a pan of water, enough to cover the eggs well. Very fresh eggs will lie on their sides at the bottom. If they are a few days old they will tip upward a bit at one end. If stale they will stand on end. If an egg floats, it's rotten. This method works because egg shells are air permeable and the liquid contents begin to evaporate through the shell leaving an increasing air space within the egg at one end.
Unfortunately we discovered that all 13 of these eggs were floaters. Out they went.
One time we purchased some store bought eggs and decided to put them in a pan of water to see how they did. NONE of them met our standards for edible eggs.
06/06/11 - Hilda is a black astrolorp. She's a sw
eet girl and doesn't mind being picked up. Normally she hangs out with the other hens but lately she's been hard to find. When I call, all the hens come - except Hilda. Right now she feels she has more important things to do than run around the yard pecking and scratching contentedly like she used to. But, Hilda is mistaken. Her problem is that she is broody. She sneaks off and cloisters herself away under the top half of an old dog house. She wants to pass all the hours of the day and night sitting silently on a clutch of eggs. I know her hopes are high but, she just doesn't realize the futility of this venture. What Hilda doesn't understand is that we need a rooster to make her efforts profitable. No rooster, no chicks, Hilda.
Several times a day I lift up the dog house roof and push Hilda off the eggs (which pushing she greatly resists) and remove them. Each night I find her there and have to carry her to the coop. When I reach down to pick her up, though she never pecks, she fluffs up to twice her size and fans her tail feathers in order to appear very scary. But, I know it's just Hilda. I kept her in the coop all day Sunday but today she's back at it. I know she'll get over it but in the meantime she has plucked out all her breast feathers for better contact with the eggs. She's not eating well though she does eat at night when I put her in the coop. I gotta watch this girl.
05/17/11 - Here are some chicken coops for you to peruse. Something for everyone!
03/25/11 - Tribute
Elsie Dinsmore was our oldest chicken. She was a buff Orpington with one good eye, the other being grayed over due to an old debate about pecking order. She had survived several coyote attacks and she seemed invincible. But, last night she fell off her roost and died. We cried a little and feel sad today. Here’s a picture of her in her youth. It’s a flattering picture, I think, as it shows her best side - the one with the good eye. Goodbye Elsie. You were a real good chicken.
01/18/11 - Here is a picture of Flora today. As you can see she's filling in her feathers nicely. She still rules the roost but now with even greater pride.
Flora - on her merry way!
Flora's feather loss - why?
12/30/10 - I don't like mean chickens. Yet, pecking and the resultant dominance order seem to be a necessary part of life in the flock. Despite my threats to beat beaks into plowshares, they occasionally squabble with the hen that rules the roost pecking everybody and the one at the bottom pecking none and the ones in the middle getting to peck and be pecked. They rarely draw blood but a partial scalping can happen leaving a chicken with patches of missing feathers. It may look like Flora, above, is a victim of such a dominance struggle. However, Flora is my top chicken. She's the nicest and friendliest to humans (hops in the car if I leave the door open). However, she's not so nice to her sorority. In this picture she looks pecked or plucked or something. But, I think this is the result of a molt. Why? Because of a couple of things. I've learned that chickens are individual in their molting patterns. They generally molt late fall but not all together and not in the exact same way. The best indication that Flora's feather loss is from a molt, is the tiny tubes of new feather starts that may be seen on her back. All the girls have been looking kinda frumpy but they are starting to recover. By the end of winter I think they'll be beautiful again.
in your back yard or on the farm!
Keeping Chickens Healthy
by John Burson
As with all animal husbandry the best philosophy to adopt is “prevention is better than cure”...
Chicken Talk - terms every chicken owner should know
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