Cooking Eggs For Chickens

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1 Cooking Eggs For Chickens I am cooking eggs for chickens. Why in the world would I cook eggs for chickens? Good question. Yes, we raise chickens for fresh eggs and yes we discourage them from eating those eggs! Unless I want to give them a treat. Eggs are a good source of protein not only for humans but for chickens, too. They will gobble them right up! The key to feeding your chickens eggs is to make sure you cook the eggs before feeding them back to the chickens. Cooking eggs for chickens is fun because you can add all sorts of good extra nutrition items into the mix.

2 One dish I enjoy cooking for the chickens is a large baked egg dish. I start with eggs from our hen house, but use the ones that are slightly irregular or have some sort of appearance that makes me hesitate putting them in the eggs cartons we sell. This is the time of year for egg abundance and I want to reward my chickens for their production with occasional treats.

3 Add in all sorts of healthy foods such as dark leafy greens, oats, chopped garlic, flax seed, sunflower seeds, and fresh herbs. Flax seeds will add additional Omega 3 fatty acids to the dish. We all need more of this! Sunflower seeds are high in fat but a great source of protein and B vitamins. Sunflower seeds are also high in manganese which if useful for strong healthy feather with a high gloss! Greens are healthy and fully of antioxidants and vitamins. People often wonder about using spinach with chickens. Spinach is probably ok in very small quantities but it does contain a substance, oxalic acid, that inhibits calcium absorption in chickens. Even though spinach is high in Calcium it may be counter productive to feed it to chickens. (adding a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar to their water can counteract the oxalic acid) Read more about feeding spinach to chickens on Fresh Eggs Daily. Greens such as dark leafy lettuce, kale, Swiss chard and beet

4 greens are a better choice. Most herbs are good for chickens, but some chickens prefer some over others. Its probably an individual taste and aroma thing. I tend to stick with the savory herbs for the egg dish and not the mints. Oregano has some natural worming properties and is a good herb to add to the chickens diet. I also added sorrel, parsley, and rosemary. Other herbs and botanicals you could add are dandelions and greens, comfrey, nasturtiums, and marigold blossoms. Garlic is always a good choice to add as it also has some natural healing properties and promotes good health. A word about dairy. You will see me adding shredded cheese into the egg dish in the video. I don t give our chickens a lot of dairy products because they can cause some stomach issues and potentially lead to diarrhea. However, as with most things in life, a small amount in moderation, is not a bad thing. It ups the calcium level of the recipe and adds flavor. Cooking Eggs For Chickens Now for the fun part! Watch my Cooking for Chickens Video! It s like a really bad episode of a cooking show on cable. Sort of.

5 Recipe Baked Eggs For Chickens about 8 fresh eggs, Whisked in a bowl to beat completely Greens, herbs, seeds, and other healthy additions Shredded cheese Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Pour the beaten eggs into the baking dish. Add the greens, torn into small pieces. Add the additional ingredients stir slightly to mix

6 Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until eggs are thoroughly cooked. For warm weather, I refrigerate the casserole to chill completely before feeding to the chickens. When ready to use, I cut the egg bake into small pieces and sprinkle the pieces into the chickens bowls on top of their layer ration. But, of course, you can just feed this to your chickens however you like. Cooking eggs for chickens is a great way to add in some extra nutrition while giving them a treat. I know my chickens are disappointed when I arrive empty handed! Of course sometimes they just get a handful of cut up grass but occasionally they get a nice fluffy egg casserole!

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8 Are you interested in more information on raising chickens? My new book Chickens From Scratch, Raising Chickens from Hatch to Egg Laying and Beyond is for you! on this site. Check out the sale page

9 Egg Cups Collectibles and Chicken Egg Cups and Collectibles

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11 Do you have any Egg Cups? What is an egg cup? The definition of an egg cup is a serving dish for boiled eggs in the shell. Egg cups date back to the prehistoric era and have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and lava from Mount Vesuvius. I am sure it is no secret to my friends that I have been searching for these collectible items during the last few years. My fascination with eggs cups naturally sprang from my love of all things chicken related. I am always on the search for antique egg scales, vintage deviled egg plates, egg crates and anything else tied to chicken farming and raising chickens for eggs. I am not a serious collector, I don t have any list or agenda of items I am looking for. I do it for fun. Visiting rural

12 flea markets, estate sales, vintage resellers, and antique shops are the ways I collect my egg items. And I am pretty frugal. Each item in my collection was purchased for a few dollars. I came upon my most recent egg cup at a flea market recently. It is a rooster shaped cup, which probably means it is from the 20th century, sometime between 1930 and I doubt it is very valuable to anyone but me. However, it fits perfectly in our rural vintage house theme. Egg cups have been around for centuries but experienced a resurgence during Elizabethan times. When the aristocratic class used egg cups made from silver, the common folks had egg cups made from wood. During the Victorian Age egg cups were often made in the popular china patterns of the time. During the 1920 s and 30 s designers often added sayings such as Morning Fresh on the cups.

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14 credit dollar photo club How to Use an Egg Cup Prepare the soft boiled eggs Place the eggs in a saucepan, add water to cover by an inch with water. Bring to a boil When the water is boiling, remove the pan from the heat and cover the pan. Begin timing one to four minutes, depending on how much you like the egg cooked. Place the cooked egg in the egg cup with the narrow end up.

15 Using a table knife cut off the top inch or so of the egg. Commonly, a soft boiled egg was eaten with an egg spoon, a smaller shaped spoon, that allowed you to dip into the egg through the top hole. I asked a couple of friends if they had any egg cups. Katie from LivinLovinFarmin shared this photo of her grandmothers egg crate and the cute egg cups front of it. Katie had some advice for anyone looking for egg related collectibles. As far as acquiring these much sought after pieces, I highly recommend barn sales. Unfortunately lots of family s are selling off their grandparents farm and they re some incredible treasures and keepsakes hidden amongst the dirt and cobwebs. Annie from Montana Homesteader shared a photo of the egg cups which came as part of a set of dishes she and her husband acquired when visiting family in Germany.

16 Although I have been looking for egg cups and collecting them for a couple of years, I only have a few. I didn t realize my hobby had a name, Pocillovy. The word comes from two parts, pocill, meaning small cup, and ovy meaning egg. Hello my name is Janet and I am a Pocillovist. Other Egg Related Collectibles In addition to the numerous chicken statues in our home, I also have quite a large collection of deviled egg plates. These take up a lot more storage space in my house, than the tiny egg cups! But, I do love them. My favorite one is the hardest one to store because it has the chicken standing in the middle of the plate.

17 Another collectible item is the antique egg scale. few of these, picked up from rural area flea markets. I have a

18 What are you collecting? comments! Please share with me in the This post appeared first on Backyard Poultry Mag.com

19 No Broody Hens Please T is the season for hearing about all the broody hens. People watching and waiting to find fluffy little peeps in the nest with momma hen one morning. There is no denying that nature is best. Broody hens raise strong, healthy chicks. You won t need a heat lamp, or a brooder set up in your dining room or office for three to six weeks. We have had a broody hen and I have had many broody hens that I discouraged from sitting. Why? If nature is best, why would I discourage a hen from hatching eggs? Here are a few reasons to ponder.

20 Five Reasons I Don t Want a Broody Hen 1. If you don t have a rooster the eggs are not fertile. The hen will sit and sit, losing condition and not eating very much all for naught. In our flock, the ratio for our rooster is a bit high. 17 hens and TJ Rooster is a bit of a stretch. All of the eggs are not fertile. In addition, TJ Rooster is a barnyard mix of breeds. The last time I hatched eggs in an incubator, I had 50% roosters and he is one of them. While there is nothing wrong with a barnyard mix breed hen for laying eggs, I sure don t need any more roosters right now. 2. Breeds. I would prefer to have hens that are specific breeds. If I was going to breed, I would want to separate the breeds into different pens and coops and breed true.

21 Controlling the Decision 3. Ordering sexed pullets from a hatchery gives me better chance of getting more hens, and therefore more eggs for my customers and family. When we hatched out our own eggs we ended up with a lot of roosters. 4. I am a bit of a control freak about when I want to start with chicks. I feel like the decision about increasing my flock is not mine if left to a broody hen.

22 Demand for Eggs 5. The eggs we sell are in demand. Letting the hen sit on a clutch of eggs means she is taking up a popular nest spot and sitting on eggs that I could be selling. In addition, when a hen goes broody and won t leave the popular nest, it upsets the laying behavior of the other hens, further reducing my egg supply.

23 How Do You Discourage a Hen from Brooding? I am bold about this. I just reach under the hen, (wearing gloves!) and pick up the eggs. Next I toss the hen out into the run while making sure that there is a tasty treat to entice her with. Sometimes this must be repeated a few times a day for a couple of weeks. Some broody hens are more persistent than others. I am very matter of fact in my approach using firmness and gentleness. How do you feel about having a broody hen? What tactics have you used to discourage broodiness in your hens?

24 This post appeared first on Backyard Poultry Mag.com You might also like by Gail Damerow 8 Reasons to Hatch Eggs in an Incubator,

25 Why Keep the Rooster 4 Reasons to Keep the Rooster Did you get some chicks this spring? Those little fluffy balls of fun were so cute! And there, of course was one who was your favorite, right? Now that the chicks are reaching 10 to 12 weeks of age, you have begun to notice something a little different about your favorite chick. It may be slightly bigger, stand a little taller, have bigger feet and it may be growing a slightly more noticeable comb or wattles. You may have a rooster! But will you keep the rooster?

26 Before you get upset and jump to possibilities and options, lets explore some reasons why you might want to keep the rooster. If you can legally keep the rooster in your neighborhood or town, there are some good reasons to have one around. You may have heard that a rooster is mean, ornery, and dangerous. These reasons can be true but they are not always the case. ( Read more about Cranky Roosters in this post.) I find the roosters are a great addition to our flock. We currently have three roosters, and they work hard every day, keeping the hens safe. Let me explain a few reasons that I am glad we keep the rooster.

27 Peacekeeper The rooster in a flock is in charge. He will assume this role and do what he has to do to maintain his position. Other roosters may be able to be part of the flock, too, as long as they don t challenge him. In addition, the rooster will keep the hens from squabbling among themselves. In the absence of a rooster, a hen will often take the role of flock leader.

28 Protection Roosters are on alert most of the day, watching for predators, alerting the hens, and making sure they take cover. While the hens are dust bathing or eating, the rooster will stand guard and stay alert to possible danger.

29 Providing The rooster will search out tasty food bits and call the hens over to enjoy the snack. He makes sure that his hens get started eating first in the morning and then he begins to eat too. In addition, roosters provide the necessary actions for having fertile eggs, in case you want to hatch out eggs in an incubator or let a broody hen set on a clutch of eggs.

30 and last but not least Crowing Now I am sure you are wondering how I can put a positive light on this noisy ear splitting wake up call. First, roosters don t necessarily start crowing before dawn. Ours will often stay quiet until they hear me in the feed shed, dishing up breakfast. Roosters crow to warn other roosters to stay away. They also crow to celebrate, such as when breakfast arrives, after mating, or to show pecking order. In addition, they will crow to let the hens know the location of the flock, when it s time to head back to the coop at night and various other reasons. But the best reason for

31 flock security would be the crowing to warn of an approaching visitor. While you may decide to re -home your cockerel and just keep the pullets, I have already decided to keep the latest rooster. Even though I ordered all pullets, we do have a rooster in the bunch. He is a white rock cockerel which means I have three white rock hens and one rooster. If I keep him with the hens, I will know for sure that those eggs are fertilized White Rock eggs. Maybe I can offer these as hatching eggs. Its a possibility. The other hens we have started this year are Buff Brahmas. Mating them with the

32 White Rock rooster would give a nice size table bird if we decided to raise any meat birds. I see benefits and uses when you keep the rooster. know how your surprise roosters turn out. Looking for more information on raising poultry? Backyard Poultry Magazine.com Let me Check out I write about many homestead and livestock related topics on the blog Timber Creek Farm. Do you want to know more about raising chickens? My new book, Chickens From Scratch, is available now through the Timber Creek Farm website or from Amazon.com

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34 Chicken Health Understand Molt, Prolapse and Crop problems Chicken Health Much of what we hear about in the news concerns problems with a live contagion that can wipe out a chicken or any poultry flock in a matter of days. The financial loss to commercial operations can be devastating but the damage to our hearts when we lose a member of our backyard flock is also devastating. What about some of the chicken health issues that are more likely to affect our flock? These are common everyday ailments that can become very serious for the chicken, if not managed properly. These conditions are not contagious. Some can be hereditary and others can be a result of the environment or just chance.

35 Molting Molting is not a disease, but it can be a chicken health concern. Most chicken owners are aware of this yearly or bi yearly loss of feathers, and the accompanying lower amounts of eggs. But chickens that are in poor condition heading into a molt will be weakened and less healthy as they try to regrow their feathers It is important to give the chickens some extra nutrition and increased protein before, during and after the molt. Molting is a perfectly normal occurrence of feather loss during late summer or fall. The entire process can range from 6 weeks to three months in chickens kept in good condition. Different breeds may molt quicker than others. The feathers are lost in a specific sequence, starting at the head and working back

36 towards the tail. The better the health and condition of the chicken, going into molt, the quicker and more efficiently the molt will be. Feeding a bit more protein during molting, keeping the environment stress free, and keeping an eye on the chickens condition will help them return to egg laying as soon as possible. A lighter partial molt may be noticed during early spring and in pullets before they start to lay eggs. Taking good care of your molting chickens will keep them healthy and robust. Problems in the Crop Crop Impaction The crop is a sac that is part of the digestive tract in birds. Located at the base of the neck, the crop fills with

37 food as the chicken eats. Digestive fluids begin softening the food before it moves to the stomach. If chickens are allowed to eat too much too soon, or are fed on pasture with tall tough grasses, sometimes the crop can become impacted. The impaction will be hard and the chicken may suffocate if the crop is not cleared surgically. In a minor impaction it may be possible to give a few drops of vegetable oil or water and massage the crop until the mass softens and passes. A serious impaction is life threatening. Sour Crop Sour Crop, briefly, is a yeast infection or accumulation in the crop. This smells pretty bad. Fluid may be regurgitate by the chicken too, and you will notice the foul odor. Most protocols recommend isolating the bird, withhold water for 12 hours and withhold food for 24 hours. Massage the crop to try to get the food to pass through. You can give a few drops of coconut oil or olive oil but withhold food until the crop empties. More information on treating sour crop naturally, can be found here.

38 Prolapsed Vent When a hen strains to lay an egg without success, the vent muscles can pop out of the body. The egg can often be left inside when this happens. Try to gently remove the egg. It may break. Clean the exposed organs with an antiseptic and lubricate to push the vent back into place. Keep the hen isolated and observe for recurrence. Allow her to eat her normal grain feed with free choice water. If the vent stays in place for a week, the hen can be returned to the flock. These are just a few types of non contagious health issues that can affect your flock. As always, good management, and observation will give your chickens a better chance of recovering from any non-contagious illness. Observe your

39 birds daily, and frequently pick them up and check their condition. Catching potential issues before they become big problems may save the life of your chicken.

40 I write about many homestead and livestock related topics on the blog Timber Creek Farm. Do you want to know more about raising chickens? My new book, Chickens From Scratch, is available now through the Timber Creek Farm website or from Amazon.com