Never Say Never… Or Always

Justin Bieber’s song, NEVER SAY NEVER, applies to chickens How can that be?

 

Rich and Marion Patterson learned “how” with their new flock When preparing their chick order in early spring they selected half their chicks to be from well-known, dual-purpose production breeds So, they included Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and Delawares in the order along with one California White, a famous laying dynamo All are breeds unlikely to pause laying and go broody The other half of the flock was from fun breeds like Brahmas and Cochins They’re gorgeous modest layers that have a tendency to go broody

 

Their

Broody Adventures

Chickens have minds of their own Broodiness proves it When a flock owner wants a broody to mother a new generation of chicks it’s certain that no hens want anything to do with motherhood But, when that person needs the hens to lay lots of eggs, many will decide to go broody It can be maddening

One way to think about this is to remember that few chicken raising aspects are as fascinating as watching a broody hen incubate and mother a brood It’s also an easy way to acquire new chicks to replace aging hens

Broodiness

Before scientists developed hyper-efficient egg

Harvesting Clean Eggs: Tips to Collecting Eggs That Don’t Require Any Washing

“To wash or not to wash” seems to be a big question when it comes to farm fresh eggs Some people prefer them washed; others (like me) prefer their eggs untouched I’m often asked how I clean my freshly harvested eggs, but truth is, I don’t They go straight from the hens hiney, to the nesting box, then to the egg cartons No cleaning in between When you have a flock of 50 hens (and counting, yikes),

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