Flocking around

Del has been released back into the general population after a stint in the brig for ungentlemanly conduct toward the ladies. It must have been an adolescent burst of hormones, because he seems to be settling down nicely. Look at the size difference between Del & Toshi!

Here's Toshi showing how a real rooster does his job. He's found some kind of yummy bug and is feeding it to Neil after calling her over with a special 'come & get it' sound. Hopefully Del is taking notes, since he hasn't quite progressed to Toshi's level of excellence yet.

Can you spot the fluffy Red Star hineys as they disappear into the depths of the berry patch? The flock has a regular route through the yard and they really look forward to their afternoons as groundskeepers. Egg production is starting to taper off with the length of daylight, but we plan ahead for that by stockpiling eggs in the fridge.

The American Egg Board says : "The oil coating which seals the shell's pores helps to prevent bacteria from entering the egg and reduces moisture loss from the egg. RAW SHELL EGGS REFRIGERATED IN THEIR CARTONS WILL KEEP FOR ABOUT 4 TO 5 WEEKS BEYOND THE PACK DATE WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT QUALITY LOSS. (The pack date is usually a number from 1 to 365 representing the day of the year starting with January 1 as 1 and ending with December 31 as 365.)"
Imagine how much fresher our gals' eggs are, coming right out from under the hen each day! One reason it's so important to keep the nest boxes clean is that washing the eggs really shortens the keeping time. So the cleaner they come from the coop, the better, since we don't wash them until it's time to use them (if at all). Another thing about extemely fresh eggs is that they don't peel well once they're boiled. There is no air gap between egg white and membrane, so it sticks and peels very messily. So we have to remember to save some back to age a bit if we want decent hard-boiled eggs. And each hen lays different kinds of eggs. Some have thicker shells, some have thicker membranes, smooth shells, spotted shells, and so on. We can pretty much tell which hen laid what egg, with such a small flock.

You are what you eat - Eggs

The eggs these hens produce are legally labeled 'cage free'. Is this the image that pops into your head when you look at egg cartons in the store?

Or is something like this what you think you're paying premium prices for? Happy chickens scratching around a run or barnyard with room to engage in natural chicken activities....

What do all those marketing slogans mean anyway? Turns out, not much in terms of happy chickens. Animal welfare claims on egg cartons are currently unregulated in the United States, enabling producers to use phrases such as “animal-friendly” or “naturally-raised” even if those eggs come from birds confined inside tiny wire cages. Here are some definitions to clear things up a bit:

Cage Free: The label "cage free" does not mean there are any standards or auditing mechanisms behind it. As the term implies, hens laying eggs labeled as "cage free" are uncaged inside barns or warehouses, but generally do not have access to the outdoors. They have the ability to engage in some of their natural behaviors such as walking and nesting. There is no information regarding what the birds can be fed. Debeaking and forced molting through starvation are permitted. There is no third-party auditing.

Certified Humane: The birds are uncaged inside barns or warehouses, but may be kept indoors at all times. They must be able to perform natural behaviors such as nesting, perching, and dust bathing. There are requirements for stocking density and number of perches and nesting boxes. Debeaking is allowed, but forced molting through starvation is prohibited. Compliance is verified through third-party auditing. Certified Humane is a program of Humane Farm Animal Care.

Certified Organic: The birds are uncaged inside barns or warehouses, and are required to have outdoor access (although there have been concerns about lax enforcement, with some large-scale producers not providing birds meaningful access to the outdoors). They are fed an organic, all-vegetarian diet free of antibiotics and pesticides, as required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Naitional Organic Program. Debeaking and forced molting through starvation are permitted. Compliance is verified through third-party auditing.

Fertile: These eggs were laid by hens who lived with roosters, meaning they most likely were not caged.

Free Range: While the USDA has defined the meaning of "free range" for some poultry products, there are no standards in "free range" egg production. Typically, free range egg-laying hens are uncaged inside barns or warehouses and have outdoor access. They can engage in many natural behaviors such as nesting and foraging. However, there is no information on stocking density, the frequency or duration of outdoor access, or the quality of the land accessible to the birds. There is no information regarding what the birds can be fed. Debeaking and forced molting through starvation are permitted. There is no third-party auditing.

Free Roaming: Also known as "free range," the USDA has defined this claim for some poultry products, but there are no standards in "free roaming" egg production. This essentially means the hens are cage free. There is no third-party auditing.

Natural: This label has no relevance to animal welfare.

Omega-3 Enriched: This label claim has no relevance to animal welfare.

United Egg Producers Certified [note: this was formerly called "Animal Care Certified"]: The overwhelming majority of the U.S. egg industry complies with this voluntary program, which permits routine cruel and inhumane factory farm practices. By 2008, hens laying these eggs will be afforded 67 square inches of cage space per bird, less area than a sheet of paper. The hens are confined in restrictive, barren cages and cannot perform many of their natural behaviors, including perching, nesting, foraging or even fully stretching their wings. Compliance is verified through third-party auditing. This is a program of the United Egg Producers.

Vegetarian-Fed: These birds are provided a more natural feed than that received by most laying hens, but this label does not have significant relevance to the animals' living conditions.

You can see that all these labels still allow producers to treat chickens rather cruelly. Even the "Certified Humane" designation permits debeaking. The next time you head to the grocery store for a dozen eggs, why not reconsider buying into a system that charges you extra for a 'happy' label while continuing to mistreat animals? Take some time to look for local egg producers and tour their farms. Our county puts out an annual Farm Map which has 11 farms selling eggs direct to the public. Maybe your county has something similar. Or try asking around at your local Farmer's Market for egg producers. We can find farm fresh eggs, laid by hens kept the old-fashioned way, for $2.50-$3 a dozen. Not only are the hens kept in better conditions, but we're helping keep food production local and in the hands of real farmers instead of agribusiness. Not to mention eggs from barnyard hens taste so much better than any you can buy from the store!

Want more info? Check out these sites for an in-depth look at egg production - Egg Industry and Circle of Responsibility, and an editorial about one man's search for humanely-produced eggs.

In a pickle

Here are the latest batch of pickles - beets and refrigerator pickles. Both are really easy to make, and only take a little patience to wait til they are pickled enough to eat. The recipe we use for the fridge pickles works great for cukes, carrots, green beans, onion, garlic, peppers & green tomatoes. We use the gallon jars our honey comes in for these, but you can use smaller mason jars too. The beets are more of a sweet pickle, but we add 3/4 tsp of salt and grind the spices with a mortar & pestle to get the best flavor.

Another day's harvest - green & yellow wax beans, maybe a couple pounds, cukes, and two giant carrots. We only did 6 cuke plants this year (we had 18 last year and got swamped with cukes). We will probably plant more cukes and green beans next year though, as we just might have gotten the whole pickle thing figured out finally. Most 'official' canning guides call for water bath processing them for long enough to sterilize. They may be sterile, but they aren't as good. We're experimenting with traditional food preservation methods and planning to try very little processing to keep the flavor and texture. If it worked for our foremothers, it will work for us. This book, Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation is a great source of ideas for old-fashioned techniques. We already started lacto-fermented kraut and chard stems using recipes from this book. When the tomatoes ripen, we'll try sun-drying and packing in oil, along with other recipes in the book.

Here's our first blackberry pick of the year. Last summer, the berries were plentiful, but not very sweet. The sun and rainfall need to balance out just right for a sweet juicy harvest. So far we're looking at a ton of fat luscious berries this year. Can't wait to make pies & cobbler! And finally, all the hens are starting to lay. Some in the nest boxes, some on the coop floor, some under a bush in the henyard, and some in the hay mow. Rather than pen them up to force them to lay where we want, we'll just keep checking all their favorite spots each day. It's fun to have an easter egg hunt all year long, especially with such a colorful variety of eggs. The two smaller ones (front and right) are from Peeps and Poops, the Black Stars. So now we have 7 hens, 3 different breeds, providing good food for us. The eggs are sitting in about 10 pounds of barley that our neighbor grew and harvested. We pondered brewing with it, and baking with it, but I htink we'll seed most of it in the pasture for Stella to enjoy. Barley matures fast and makes an excellent grazing crop. And anything she misses will reseed for next spring. We'll save some back for spring seeding in our hoped-for grain patch.

Plans for the Seven Trees gather are moving right along. The first invitations went out (more to come), and we'll be picking up the Highland beef for the burgers this weekend. Hopefully we'll get RSVP's soon, so we can make sure to have enough food, drink & fun for everyone.

Something to crow about & cat, napping.

Looks like we'll be getting a young rooster of this breed, a Delaware. Our UPS guy's daughter has some spare roosters, so in the next week or so, Toshi will get some much-needed assistance in proper hen service. They are a nice big friendly breed, and we're hoping to cross him with a Red Star hen to carry on those great egg-laying skills. Also, looks like some of the "babies" are laying in the haymow. We're not sure just who it is yet, but the eggs are lovely. Broody Giuliani has graciously volunteered to sit on them until we manage to gather them each morning.

Here's short clip of Crichton, the sleeping-wonder-cat. He sleeps in the greenhouse, on the bed, in the garden, under the porch, on the cat tree....He must seriously sleep 23.5 hours a day, with short breaks to refuel and hassle Newt.

Happy hens make tasty eggs!

Taking a break from turning sod - humans and critters. The hens follow right along and scarf up bugs and worms as each sod chunk is flipped. Sometimes you have to stop and wait while they jump right in and work. It's kind of meditative and productive at the same time. The hens are friendly and mellow and seem to enjoy working with us to make the new garden space. It will be a bit sad when the project is over and the hens go back to chicken-only work.

We're lunching on eggs laid about an hour ago, after a long morning of garden work. It's really cool to know we feed the chickies, they feed us, and we all work together to help grow more food for us all.

One of these things is not like the other...

Looks like a Speckled Sussex has figured out that spring is around the corner. Check out the size of this "practice" egg compared to a full-sized Red Star egg!

The Sussexes are just over 5 months old, which is the usual start of laying time. The Red Stars are about 10 months old, and professional layers now.

Tomorrow we're going to roast our first home-raised chicken. We'll post a review...