Back in production mode. No more store eggs.

Spring is starting to, uh, 'spring' forth.  With all the snow here in Ohio lately reflecting sunlight into the coop late in the afternoon and early in the morning, and the daylight lengthening, the ladies (my 6 hens) are in full swing again.  It was KILLING me to have to buy eggs when I have 6 hens in the backyard.  Argh! The girls were slowly molting over the winter, I only got 1 egg per day from that one reliable egg machine all winter long... then one day, boom.  5 eggs in 1 day.  The one that isn't producing is the one who went broody in the fall.  She's molting now, but who knows, maybe she will go broody again?  That would actually be nice, because I'll get some little meat chickens and tuck them under her wings one night.  That's a nice little short term project that's finished in 8 weeks.  5 of the 6 ladies will be 3 years old this Easter, and I'm averaging 3-4 eggs per day from the producing hens.  That's pretty darned good for old birds. I was fully prepared to cull them after 2 years, but maybe I won't need to do that until this coming Fall?  The 1 new replacement pullet just started laying.  I was beginning to think she was a packing peanut, a dud.  But no, just a late bloomer.  Didn't start till she was 30 weeks!  No matter.  We're rolling now. She gives the prettiest deep dark purplish-brown eggs every day like clockwork.  They're downright gorgeous.  I'm lucky that each of the girls has her own color egg, so it's easy to tell whose is whose.  We're having breakfast for dinner on a regular basis again... bargain days are back!  Yah!  

Urban Farmers get Real in Butchering Classes

Hat tip to Lee Hill Kavanaugh, published in the Kansas City Star.  [Good for you writing about this!]
Writeup here: Chicken butchering classes really are offered and attended.
Pictoral Blog of workshop here: [There is blood so don't visit if you are squeamish]  Urban chicken butchering workshop pictures

The pictures from the chicken workshop are exactly what my workshop was like.  People in bandannas, tables set up, pots of water, buckets... same same.  Except for the snips.  We learned a few different methods, but that one actually looks better than my sharp knife.  I went to one of these at a farm that was more than an hour away.  It was one of those things where I was glad that I went.  My daughter wanted to attend also.  She was fine with it and has helped me since then with the odd roosters that we've ended up with.  She was 8 at the time.

If chicken isn't your thing, you can attend a  Rabbit Class in Brooklyn.

No, I don't keep rabbits.  ;-)

New Yorker Chooks

If you want to be allowed to have chickens, New York is the place to be.  Apparently, the hottest spot is Brooklyn! (Hat tip to bloggers at PathToSustainability for pointing the way to this clip)

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