Out Around the Barn

Kennedy with Mr. Purdy                               

Kennedy is getting acquainted with one of the new kittens born this past fall.  The mother being a long-haired calico and his siblings being both white short-hairs, Mr. Purdy is a dark calico long-hair kitten.  From the first day we found him, he has had such a wonderful personality that has made it easy for Kennedy to be able to get

close.  She falls in love with every animal on the farm, especially the newborns.  She is quite the little farmer and with every visit, must go to the barn.  Her favorite chore is feeding the chickens and she does it well.  I give her a bucket of feed, Pen Pals Egg Maker Complete, and she will throw little handfuls on the coup ground and then fill the feeders.  With the kittens she does three scoops of feed, 1 per bowl for all 18 on the farm.  They get their fav cat food as well, Proud Paws Cat Food.

I own chickens, White Leghorns, Buff Orringtons and Bathams.  I enjoy my girls and 4 roosters and gather enough eggs daily to provide family and friends with farm fresh eggs.  With all the outbreaks of salmonella over the past year, I thought I would post this article I found the other day.  It does provide some important insight.

Nutrition News: Safe Eggs

Last summer, more than 1,600 cases of the Salmonella enteritidis infection from eggs were reported in at least 10 states — the largest outbreak of this type of food poisoning ever recorded in the United States. And more than a half billion eggs were recalled. The source of the outbreak was traced to two industrial farms in Iowa, where the barns were infested with rodents, flies and maggots as well as filled with tons of manure, all of which can harbor or spread salmonella. Salmonella was detected in the feed given to young hens, in the water used to wash the eggs and elsewhere.

Are eggs safe? Should they be avoided?

The risk of salmonella in eggs is small in the U.S. — by some estimates, only one or two out of 20,000 eggs harbor the bacteria — and should lessen even more as new Food and Drug Administration rules take hold for egg farms. (The FDA already had new safety rules in place for large egg producers in early July, but it was too late to prevent the summer outbreak.)

However, the best advice is to treat every egg as if it were infected. One bad egg can cause illness with symptoms of fever, cramps, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Pregnant women, infants, young children, the elderly and people with compromised immunity or a chronic debilitating condition are more likely to become sick and develop serious and even life-threatening complications.

Here are a few tips for egg safety:

– Don’t buy eggs that are cracked or dirty, past their “sell-by” or expiration dates, or unrefrigerated.

– Promptly refrigerate eggs at home in their carton; don’t put them in the door. The refrigerator should be 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) or below.

– Cook eggs thoroughly. Don’t eat eggs with runny or undercooked yolks. Cook casseroles and other dishes with eggs to 160 degrees Fahrenheit (72 degrees Celsius). Don’t eat — or let kids eat — raw cookie dough or cake batter if they contain eggs.

– Don’t keep cooked eggs or egg dishes at room temperature longer than two hours.

– Discard raw eggs after three to five weeks, hard-boiled eggs after one week and cooked egg dishes after three or four days.

– Wash your hands well after handling raw eggs. Also, clean all surfaces in the kitchen that come in contact with raw eggs.

– Be wary of foods that may contain raw eggs, such as Caesar salad dressing, hollandaise sauce, homemade mayonnaise and fresh eggnog. Some restaurants use pasteurized eggs, which makes them safe, but ask to be sure.

You can also buy pasteurized whole eggs or pasteurized egg products to use in recipes that call for raw or undercooked eggs. They cost more, but they are safe because the heating process kills salmonella and other microorganisms, both inside and outside the egg. — UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, January 2011

I have been raising chickens now for about three years now and I still learn something new everyday.  I have Bantys, Leghorns and Buff Orringtons and they are all now grown.  I have started allowing them to roam the farm and have to alternate letting them out of their coup in the daytime and the dogs out of their pens at night.  I have found that to let them all out at once is unhealthy for the chickens especially.

I have 4 roosters and 43 hens.  They are now laying over 2 dozen eggs a day and I sell them for a buck a dozen otherwise I have them running out of my fridge, literally.  They are a sight to watch as they peck and roam around scrounging for worms and bugs and can make a mound out of nothing pretty fast.  I was surprised to go out to the barn to feed and found my storage room where I put straw and hay for my goats all in mounds and hills.  They work fast.

The other thing I am trying to learn is how to get them back in the coup when I need them there.  If I wait until 8 pm  they might go in pretty easy because it is getting dark but, there are days when I need them to go in earlier if I need to be gone or I know I won’t be able to be out at the barn at the time when they need to go in.  Right now I am chasing chickens everyday to get them in.  I seem to always have a couple stray away from the group and then it is a chore to get them back to where they belong.  I am afraid to get one of the dogs out to help since Jessie has caught one or two before and they didn’t make it.  So I run myself ragged just trying to get them in.  I have had to leave a c0uple out once or twice just for the sake of not being able to get them where they belong.

I keep my hens healthy by feeding them Egg Maker Complete Chicken feed.  This particular type of feed is designed to help the hens with all the nutrients they need in order to lay their eggs.  Love my Chicks!

Yahoo!  Baby Chicks are soon to arrive.  The Ladies have been on their nests for 21 days and within the next week we should have little ones.  I have four hens sitting and boy, can they get cranky.  Even when you reach in the nest next to them to gather eggs, they will try to peck at you, cluck like they want to attack and can be extremely mean to the other hens.

We recently built a new chicken coup and put up new nests for all our hens.  I have recently learned that to have happy chickens it is good to have all your daily needs close by.  I keep their feed in a barrel right inside the coup, they have free range to water and have plenty of room to  peck, search and roost.  This keeps them happy and healthy.

My chickens have their own waterers, feeders and nests to complete their home.  They roost off the ground to keep away from country critters.  They are eager to see me when I come to gather the eggs, I know this by them all standing at the coup door.  They just get excited.  By the time we are done they have all calmed down and are ready for a quiet night.

Their daily farm supplies are easy to keep on hand, their food, water, straw for bedding and a bucket or basket to gather the eggs in. One tip I would like to pass on;  if you are like me and spoil your animals, I have found that chickens really like cat food and it is good for them, especially if you have layers.  I give them a treat about once a month by just scattering some on the ground and letting them at it.   I enjoy my chickens and in a few days will have approx. 70 little ones added to my flock.

Meet “Charlie” our newest Rooster

Here we are and it is March already.  Spring will be here before we know it and so will everything new.  New grass, flowers, leaves on the trees and the wonderful smell of Spring air.  With this comes new life.  I am talking of the birth of the new babies on the farm.  Right now we have new kids, goats, and one little calf so far, more to come.  We also have baby chicks.  These babies arrived as a surprise.

My hens are just now beginning to lay heavily again and when they start wanting to set in the next month or so, I’ll let them.  Then we’ll have an abundance of chicks.  But, for now, we have brought our 14 chicks into the house to keep them warm until they can survive out in the barn.  They are in our utility room in a large water tank with a 60 watt bulb for warmth and food and water.

There are a few things you need in your farm supplies to accomplish this and they are cheap and easy to obtain.  A cage or something that you can put them in to contain them with plenty of room, a small chicken feeder, a waterer, a heat source and bedding.  We use sawdust in the bottom and it has been quite effective.  It is  easy to change when it gets dirty and doesn’t take much to cover the bottom.

 Have fun on the farm and take the time to  watch your animals grow.