Well the title says it all. These days on the farm it just seems to be a whole lot of food, poop and eggs (the latter being the best of all). As fall ends and winter sets in we have migrated the ladies to their wintering spot on the farm. The coop and fence have been moved to a spot just in front of a couple of cedar trees that they loved to dig under. This spot is just close enough to the house that we can still put an extension cord our in order to connect the in-coop timered lighting which is needed in order to ensure egg production throughout the winter months. Did you realize that chickens need 16-18 hours of light in order to lay?
The chickens have been in this area for about two weeks and so they have gone through pretty much everything on the ground which is why the feed consumption has increased. (No more worms and bugs for them to dig up). They did however enjoy the left over hot oatmeal for breakfast earlier this week as well as the left over tuna fish from lunch but most of all right now they are into their feed mixture. So what's the downside of the feed mixture, besides the cost?
POOP.. That's right they poop like crazy.. I need to get in the coop tomorrow and clean it out but my goodness who woulda thunk (yeah that’s farm spelling) that 26 chickens could poop that much? I'll scrape out most of the poop tomorrow and provide them with some fresh pine shavings and it'll be back to normal, at least for a few more weeks. So is it all worth it? You know feeding and cleaning poop.....? It is when you get eggs.
Speaking of eggs we're now averaging 18-20 eggs a day which means that our fridge is filling up fast but do you know what the best part is???
WE'RE OFF THE GRID (for eggs that is). We no longer rely upon grocery stores or local farmers for eggs, we've actually, through God of course, raised our own food source, that is an awesome feeling... Oh and it opened up $45.00/month in our budget that we were spending on eggs...
God and His creation is so very good!
Keith-
I found your website through the Lilly classifieds. I was reading your commentaries on farm life...especially the one about chicken poop (lol) and it reminded me that I have a girlfriend who is an avid gardener. We were talking about composting/fertilizing the other day, and she said that you can use cow manure, but she uses chicken poop (at least that's to the best of my recollection). She said that it's higher in Nitrogen (I think). You might want to investigate into this, and sell your chicken poop for compost/fertilizer...she mentioned that it was the most expensive kind, but that it was great because of the nitrogen content. Best luck with your farm!
Samantha