Chickens in the garden

Amazing … I number one had no idea that chickens got so pretty and truly developed distinct personalities. You certainly sound like you have some awesome pets!!! Great Story!!!!

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" -- Royal Oak, MI

Thank you!

I meant to post a picture of Red…It still bothers me to look at her sweet face but she went fast, most likely from a stroke…I don’t believe I will ever find another as smart as this girl:

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

And here is what our lovely pets give us :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

I’d comment but I’ve been forbidden ;)

I’ll summarize my story though (I’m not very good at dealing with “forbidden” directions lol)
Rooster…. attacks…. ... enough said.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

ok… a leash???

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

oh
and the eggs…......... all worth it !! :)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Look at all the color of those eggs … why are they different colors? Do they taste different?

And, Red was a gorgeous bird ... sorry you lost her. It is hard when we lose a pet; they become such a part of our family … we just had to put down my “buddy” (and I miss her dearly) ... Tabbie. She was a stray kitten that befriended us one night during a rain storm 14 years ago. She filled many long hours after my accident with love; she seemed to sense when I needed her close. So I understand the sadness …

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" -- Royal Oak, MI

Different breeds of chickens just lay different colored eggs…Funny thing is that I am so use to seeing colored eggs now that white ones look like they’ve been painted with primer..LOL

I was in the grocery store and this lady checking in her groceries ahed of me decided to open the carton to check her eggs and I was stunned at how white they were…I looked at DH in amazement and was like “LOOK…White eggs!!! Look…and he was looking and saying wow…white” Then I realized the lady was looking at us like…who let those poor people out :D.

I love the colors some lay chocolate brown, some olive green, mint green, blue, peach and different shades of medium brown to cream.

The eggs don’t taste different because of the color but they DO taste different because they are fresh and because of what they eat. I love the flavor of the eggs when I toss them raw garlic, the next day the buttery rich eggs with a hint of garlic are amazing.

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

yah, that is AMAZING that you can feed your “babies” garlic and the eggs then have a hint of it. Never heard of that !!! I too love the different color of the eggs … almost too pretty to eat! Never had “fresh” eggs, maybe someday I will get to taste the difference as I do love eggs.

You have written a wonderful story and I have really enjoyed the pictures and our chat!!! Glad you joined GT!

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" -- Royal Oak, MI

Mmmmmmm….fresh eggs.

I really wish we were able to have chickens here in the suburbs. And I wish that my dogs wouldn’t likely eat ‘em.

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

Thoroughly enjoyed your story and pictures.
My son wanted chickens in his garden we started him off with two this year, they are named Georgina (George for short) and Columbus (as this one likes to explore)
They have produced some lovely eggs, nothing quite like fresh eggs in a morning.
I will tell him the garlic idea, he and his daughter love garlic.
thanks for sharing.

-- Derbyshire------- English Countryside

Garlic is also naturally good for their immune systems and deters mites…not to mention adds a better-than chicken-poo scent to their droppings :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

I know your situation very well…
My wife was new to country life when we got together, I call her Ellie Mae Clampett…No butchering gonna be happening here, unless she’s at work…And I can maybe through the feathers in the road and call it a hit and run
we had 14 Buffs, now down to 3 (predators) they, the remaining three, will surely die of old age…and when she first tasted lamb she said….LOL

-- Old Pharmer Phils Country Living Phorum - http://pharmerphil.proboards37.com

Here is a link with some beautiful pictures of many differnt colorful chicken breeds:

Chickens

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

I am getting my baby chicks in march, I couldn’t be more excited. I swear we are going to use some for meat, but Andy just knows I’ll have them all named with in a week. We will see :) Great story, and wonderful information!

I love BBQ chicken

chicken wings

fried chicken

chicken monteray

chicken cord de blue

cream of chicken soup

chicken stir fry

chicken dumplings

I jus looooove chicken

finger licken chicken too….......the Coronel thinks its great

me too

the eggs are a bonus

omellettes

chicken stir fry with egg

scrambled

once over easy

sunny side up

eggs benedict

hmmmmmm

gotta love chicken

-- Central northish Ontario

sorry

forgot BBQ chicken n eggs

-- Central northish Ontario

now, now greenthumb…. that’s not a nice thing to say to someone who has chickens as pets!!

Xplore…..... I bet you have recipes that mimic chicken dishes. Got any to share with us meat-eaters?

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Well… I do enjoy eating a little meat including chicken once in a while…just not my pets of course ;)

I also ensure that I purchase meat from people who keep their animals healthy, happy and clean.

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

Was there a melody that went with that list … something you could sing to???? LOL

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" -- Royal Oak, MI

haha yah G… that does have a song flavour to it.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I am wondering if you can feed them onions and peppers? If so does that flavor carry over in the next egg production? I love the colorful eggs!

-- "God made rainy days so gardeners could get housework done."

I have fed onions and peppers…Mine are not fans of onions…for some reason they just enjoy tearing the paper off. I have never found a difference in taste with onions or peppers…Only garlic really. Lots of greens will make the yolk a deep orange color. I have a kean sence of taste and do find small varried differences in yolk flavor when cooked over-easy. Sometimes a little buttery and others a little acrid. Although most say they don’t find a difference in fertile vs unfertile eggs, I do. I do not like the after-taste on fertile eggs (faintly fishy) even though there are claims that fertile eggs can be healthier.

I am an egg connoisseur of sorts :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

I should say, you know your eggs! How many years have you been raising chickens?

-- "God made rainy days so gardeners could get housework done."

dont you wish you could say what you want?

most of the time, or at least more and more often, I am quite happy to think what I want

and say less

and less

Cheers

and thanks for the info

-- Central northish Ontario

I’ve thought that at times, Greenthumb (that we should be able to say what we want) .. and then I watch “House” and I think—geez.. some things should just stay inside one’s head.

And then I think of things that I have said in humour (black humour, about my husband’s death, that I still think is funny – the humour, not the death sheehs.. lol ) that put others in a panic… I just laugh.

Also reminds me of when myself and a couple co-workers danced and sang around the parking lot… what a wonderful feeling but it was frowned on by some passers-by. We worked with developmentally challenged individuals and we thought: “wouldn’t it be wonderful to be so carefree (such as many of the clients) that we could laugh and dance freely without worrying about people’s responses?

and then I think of clients that I work with and terrible things they say to their spouses and I realize that perhaps we just have things a little mixed up—we should be able to say/do whatever we want without worrying WHEN it is positive and cheerful and fun (and neutral) and we should keep it to ourselves when it is hurtful to others…

and then.. just kidding.. I’m done now.. heheee

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

(taking off my Life Guide hat now) haha

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

soooo

what kinda chicken do you recommend for meat?.....and eggs?

-- Central northish Ontario

Looks like you have either auracunas or americunas in your flock xploreorganics! We ended up with some from an auction, they looked like autrolorps but were apparenly crosses as we were getting vivd blue and green eggs. then through my own breeding and some crosses by the end we had blue green, purple, yellow even orange eggs. The natural easter eggs ;) Back in my hay days of 4-H and fiars and all I used to keep a varriety of purebred chickens, Silver Spangled hamburgs and Sumatras were the standsards I use to show but I had rocks(white for meat, barred for eggs), leghorns, decalb, rhode island reds, austrolorp… heck even kept nd showed a bunch of bantams, including old english, cochins, rocks, wyandottes, and rosecombs. I still have a few chickens, only my base breed now. when we bought our barred rock chicks we had the same thing you did except only ended up with one hen, the rest were spot on hehe.
Enjoy them!
sib

Yes, they were supposed to be Americunas however they have no resemblance except for the egg colors. My roos look like giant OEGB’s except some have rosecombs one hen has a peacomb. I would have loved muffed and bearded chickens or even a rumpless but the true Auracunas are difficult to find. My favorite little breed is the Silver Laced Seabrite but I doubt it would preform well in egg production :) Pretty little things tho.

Sound like you had a beautiful flock. DH loves the Barred Rock…Nice looking bird.

Enjoy I do…Well sometimes I grumble about going out in these storms but I still enjoy my fresh eggs and happy birds!

Thanks :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

You are a real source of inspiration: you seem to have done what I want to do every time I turn around.
Do you have a picture of your coop somewhere? Are they free ranging (first picture)? If yes, how do you control where they go? or do you have a big fence? I have so many more questions on how YOU do it! But, that will be it for now!

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

Here is the girls coop…It is attached to the back of the garage and is 6’x 12’. Half 6’ x6’ is a windowed play/feeding area for the long winter so they can have room to play and see sunlight…the other half is seperated with a storm door and is their nesting area. Their fenced yard is 20’ x 10’.

Side entrance:

The boys have a 16’ long 3’ deep pad with a shed roof allowing cleaning access through the back and is placed on the rear of our house….the 4 runs are 3’ x 7’ .

This pic was taken last year…It now has siding to match our house:

We invented a sliding door system using rubber boot mats and a clothes line…Chick-door1000 we call it :)

They are mostly in their coops and pens…I take them out to freerange only when supervised by me as we are in a subdivision and I don’t want them bugging the neighbours…also for their sake…the neighbours let their dogs and cats roam.

Babdoll can walk on a leash (still trying to find that pic for MsD). Most are happy to rturn to their coops on their own when told to do so…others…not so smart.

Ask away :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

I was looking for the picture of my friends Impatiens growing here in NL but instead found the pictures of my roo walking on a leash…so here they are :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

that just seems so strange!

and people used to laugh at me when I took my cat for walks, on a leash….

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

X, I just found this earlier posting of yours and truly enjoyed reading it and seeing your pictures. When my youngest son was about 7, he bought a chicken from our farmer friend. The chicken was just about to start her egg-laying career. We lived on a farm at the time so having a chicken running free was not a problem to any neighbours. That chicken was so smart—-knew her name, would ride around on my son’s shoulder and bullied the 10 cats we had at the time——-also ate with them out of the same pan of food. She gave us an egg every day. On the weekends we’d all have eggs for bkft. And still had some left for baking.
I loved your story and although it’s late had to tell you.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Thanks Iris…I love your chicken story too…so cute :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

When my wife and I lived in Fergus, we had chickens then in a little shed out back. One day we had lobster with a friend, and we tossed the bones into the pen. The next day, the yoks were so red, it was amazing. I actually had a bone crusher which would grind up old chicken bones after cooking, or fish bones etc, and we gave them to the chickens as a source of calcium to get thicker shells. You are right about the wonders of having FRESH eggs. What a treat.

It is interesting that this showed up today, because we were coming back home from a trip to Fergus, and saw a sign for a show of poultry. There were all kinds of ducks, chickens, and of course Roosters. They had finished the judging when we arrived, but we saw some amazing birds. It brought back the memories of the Wyandots that we used to have.

-- jroot