Green Eggs!

Raising chickens has always been an enjoyable experience for me. When I was just a child living in a subdivision in Mesa, Arizona, I had a chicken. Her name was Goldie and she was a Rhode Island Red. She came when I called her and hung out with me just like a dog. We had a fenced yard and she was content to stay there. She layed an egg everyday in our cactus garden.

Over the years I have raised chickens in different locations we have lived but I never had the ideal set up until now. After our barn burned down 10 years ago, we built a beautiful new barn with the exact features we wanted. It includes a completely enclosed chicken coop with a wall of boxes to lay eggs. The chickens have a large outdoor run which is made of chain link and is completely covered on top to keep out predators. Raccoons, possums and skunks can be a problem if there is no wire on top.

When I first started raising chickens here, I bought an incubator.  There are pros and cons to this. It is fun to watch the chick’s emerge from their shells. It is true that you can’t help them, if you try and help remove that shell, they die. You have to maintain a constant temperature, about 99 degrees. It has to have moisture and an egg turner also. You have to either buy fertilized eggs or find a farmer who will give you a few. I did the incubator thing a few times but what I didn’t like was the number of roosters I always ended up with!

Now I order chicks in the mail. You pick them up at the post office and they’re ready to go! They are usually 1-2 days old. You provide food and water and they grow super fast. You can specify hens or roosters when you order them so you don’t end up with excess roosters.

I have tried many breeds over the years but my favorite chickens are the Araucanas. They are very hardy chickens and very good egg layers. The best part is the eggs are colored! The eggs are pink, blue or green.

In Michigan if you want your chickens to lay in the winter months you have to provide extra light. I keep a 60 watt bulb on in my chicken coop and have eggs all year around. Chickens love all the extra kitchen scraps, especially in the summer months when the garden is in full swing! My chickens also get all the weeds I pull from the garden. The fertilizer from my chickens is also a huge plus!

I have also learned that farm fresh eggs can be hard to hard boil and peel. I have discovered the secret to getting them to easily peel. I boil the water first. Then add the eggs. Boil for 15 minutes and then run in cold water.  If you start the eggs in cold water you wont have much success peeling them. I have also found the green eggs peel best. Dr Seuss really knew his stuff when he wrote Green eggs and Ham.