The Yardstead

 The eggs shown here are all from free-range chickens here at the Yardstead.  You can see they are all different colors including green, blue, pink, beige, brown and white.  They vary in size a bit as well.  They all look the same on the inside though, and taste the same, which is far better than mass produced eggs from large poultry farms.  They have more flavor and many studies have shown they are more nutritious. 
The first thing most people notice when they crack open one of our fresh chicken eggs is the thickness of the shells.  Because these chickens eat a more varied diet than "sweat shop" chickens, they get more nutrients such as calcium (good for shells) in their diet.  The fresh egg yolks also look different.  They are more orange than yellow and appear thicker. 
I was going to crack a store bought egg and one of our's side by side on a plate to illlustrate the difference, but I couldn't bring myself to buy eggs at the store.   It is interesting  to see them together.  I will post a picture for comparison later in the forum.  I'll just borrow a store bought egg from a neighbor.  
One of our goals here at the Yardstead is to produce as much of our own food as possible.  By growing our own groceries we have much more control over what we put into our bodies.  We feed our chickens mostly garden waste, grass clippings, food scraps and occasionally scratch feed to supplement when things are slow in the garden.

Other than a small garden or a few fruit trees, I believe that raising chickens is one of the easiest ways to gain some self-reliance in your food supply. It can also be a very rewarding and enjoyable hobby for adults as well as children. An adult chicken only needs 3-4 square feet of space. Hens do not need a rooster to lay eggs (only to reproduce). Anyone can have a few chickens and their own natural egg supply. Here are a few reasons why I think raising chickens is a great idea: Chickens are easy and inexpensive to maintain Home raised eggs are great tasting & nutritious You are in complete control of what goes into the production of your eggs. Chickens are fun & your children can get involved in their care (maybe even show one in the state fair) Chickens provide free fertilizer Chickens eat bugs! What a great idea for pest control Everyone has a dog or cat. Why not be the interesting neighbor raising their own hens and eggs? Now that I've convinced you that this is a great idea...Where do you buy chicks?

We have been raising chickens here at the Yardstead for over 4 years now.  We started with 12 chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  The minimum order for baby chicks from Mcmurray is 25 but that's more than we wanted to start out with.  A friend offered to split the order so we each picked several varieties from the catalog and placed the order.  I don't remember the particular breeds from the first order (my wife actually picked), but they were all hens listed as good layers.  We didn't want to get any roosters mainly because we did not want to listen to the crowing.  The baby chicks were shipped overnight and the post office called me the next morning and said they were holding a box for me at the front counter and that it was chirping.  I sped over and picked up the package and opened it as soon as I got in the truck.  There were 25 lively chicks inside.  I took them home and put them in a larger box with a small waterer and food dish.  It was the end of winter so we kept them inside in their box for several weeks.  All of the chicks we ordered for the yardstead survived to adulthood, and all but one of the chicks my friend ordered survived.  In fact two of our current chickens are from this original order. 
We purchased more chicks the next year from a local feed store after an unexpected event caused a rapid drop in our chicken population.....