Happy Easter from Steph’s Garden. We are enjoying a sunny, almost 80-degree day here. Our granddaughter, Raya, just went home after spending a couple of days with me planting flowers, potatoes, and onions, as well as her favorite task of “taking care of the animals.” We enjoyed an Easter brunch of pancakes she helped make, with eggs and farm-cured bacon. Her visit was a wonderful surprise due to a maintenance issue that forced her family out of their home for a few days. Since we didn’t know she was coming, I didn’t have all the things on hand to do the traditional Easter Egg Hunt and Easter basket. She is having those traditional celebrations with her mom this afternoon.
It occurred to me that with our super free-range chickens, every day is like an Easter Egg Hunt with the locations of the eggs always somewhat in flux. Right now, about half of the chickens are contained in the fenced chicken yard, with the nesting boxes in the chicken house being the most obvious and appropriate egg laying location. These chickens decided that they prefer a shared “nest” on the floor over the nesting boxes. The ducks that reside with this group of chickens never lay eggs inside the house. Usually, they choose a shared “nest” somewhere along the perimeter of the chicken yard that is different every day.
The remainder of the chickens have rejected the chicken yard all together. Instead, they prefer to nest in the trees near our house at night, and they have a variety of nesting places. Currently, these include the nesting boxes of our movable coop that we reserve for brooding spring chicks, a cardboard box of used bailing twine on the deck, and underneath the ramp leading to the back door. Soon, I will need to kick them out of the movable coop to get it ready for the spring chicks. I will try to lure them back into the shared chicken and duck yard where there are better facilities. I expect that most of the girls will reject that and again we will be on an egg hunt. I know I could clip their wings and prevent some escapes, but with many predators in our environment I choose not to do it, so they have a chance for escape if the chicken yard is breached. It doesn’t happen very often with the livestock guardian dogs, but it does happen sometimes. We have rarely experienced losses from predation.
Regarding those spring chicks, I share fertilized eggs from our flock with my friend James who has many incubators. He will hatch a group of chicks and ducks for me, and I will continue to share eggs for a few weeks this spring that he can keep or sell. This is the second year we have done it this way, instead of shipping in chicks from the hatchery or visiting a farm store to pick up chicks. Our chicks are mutts, rather than a straight single breed. They have many shapes, feather colors, egg colors, and it is always a surprise what we end up with. They also seem to be very well-adapted to our environment with a preference to free-range.
Another thing that is different about our flock is we allow our older girls live out their natural lives rather than culling them after two years as most producers do. They continue to lay eggs, drop fertilizer, and control insects on our farm. Our intergeneration approach leads to some natural conflicts as new chickens are introduced, but also the benefit of intergenerational learning. The younger and older hens learn to live together in some semblance of harmony. In addition to greenery and bugs, our girls dine on local, organic grain we purchase from farmer Jake at Sacred Sun Farm down the road from us. It smells so good the dogs want to eat it and I’ve considered cooking up porridge to sample myself.
Speaking of eggs, I understand from my regular egg customers that they are “the best!!!!” They are completely different from grocery store eggs, with bright orange yolks that stand tall and hold their shape. I have extra eggs these days and I have openings for a couple new “regulars.” Our regular price is $4 per dozen. Please send me a note if you are in Oskaloosa, Lawrence, Topeka, or the surrounding area and looking for a regular supplier of farm fresh eggs. I am happy to deliver weekly, or every other week to meet your needs.
Share a comment with your favorite egg recipe to use up all those spring eggs!