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to Our Wyoming Life, where 3 times per week we
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New life is rampant on the ranch, not only are calves being born everyday now but its
also that time of the year when we replenish other members of our herd.
A few months ago, we ordered new chickens and Erin snuck a few ducks in there as well,
today they arrive and they are introduced to their new life on the ranch.
Each and every year we replenish our flock of chickens, for the last few years we have
been keeping numbers down at around 35 birds.
On the average a chicken will lay 2 eggs every 3 days or two thirds of an egg a day per chicken.
When all 35 of our chickens are laying eggs that’s about 2 dozen eggs per day.
This year we are ramping things up a bit.
A few years ago, I built our chicken house, its 24 feet square or 576 square feet.
Not all of it is used for chickens, as there is a small storage area but this chicken house
can easily be home to over 100 chickens.
There are 20 separate nests for them to lay eggs in and soon they will all be put back
into use.
We raise chickens solely for their eggs, each and every day we collect them, and store them
until its time to sell them, then right before they go to our customers, we wash them and
package them.
And we will get to all that.
First, we need chickens, more precisely we need chicks.
And holy smokes did we get them.
I knew Erin ordered a lot of chickens back in February, but when they arrived the realities
of the numbers hit me like a brick.
Arriving via post office we received 60 new chickens and 8 new ducks.
Add that to our existing flock of 35 and we will have 95 chickens laying at some point
in the near future.
At the rate we figured out earlier, we will get 63 eggs per day or around 5 dozen.
With Mackenzie at school, Grace and Lincoln gather around and help welcome the new chickens
and ducks to the ranch, well to our kitchen to start with.
Each and every new bird needs a drink, from the time they were hatched to the time they
arrived here they haven’t had any food for water.
Just prior to hatching, a chick absorbs all the remaining nutrients from within its egg.
With this nourishment, the chick can survive for up to three days without food or water.
But this group is now hungry and thirsty and a little bit of sugar water is just what the
doctor ordered to get them up and moving.
All but one, one little chick is having trouble, and the only way that we have to help her
is to warm her up, placing her on a heating pad, and hoping for the best.
In the shop, we can start preparing a new home for our newest arrivals.
I built this chicken brooder a few years ago in response to a fire we had in our chicken
house.
Back then we would move chicks into the chicken house earlier where they could be safe, or
so we thought.
They knocked down a heat lamp and almost burned the entire building down, luckily, we caught
it in time and our local fire department was able to put it out.
That ordeal made us realize we needed a new way to keep chicks out of the chicken house
until they are older.
By building this brooder using a pallet for the base and a 2x4 frame and covered with
particle board we now have a safe place for our chicks to grow up for the first month
or so of their lives, although it is going to get a little crowded in there.
Covering the base with paper makes it easy to clean and after a quick vacuum and replacing
the paper base, we are ready to go.
Back in the house Erin is just finishing up what we call dipping and getting all the new
chicks and ducks their first drinks.
Our sick little girl is still on her heating pad and although not doing great, she is showing
signs of life and looks almost 100% better.
Then its time to move all the new little ones into the shop and their new home.
Erin first adds a new heat light bulb, then fresh wood chip shavings to the brooder, after
which its time to start adding the chicks.
Of our 60 new chickens we have received Black Laced Golden Wyandotte, Silver Wyandotte,
Buff Orpintons, Cherry Eggers, Columbian Wyandotte, and White Leghorns.
We also got ducks, why because some of our customers are allergic to chicken eggs but
they can eat duck eggs no problem, also duck eggs work great for baking because duck eggs
contain more fat which in turn makes baked goods richer.
For ducks we have Ancona, Black Runner Ducks, Cayuga and White runner ducks.
All of these fit nicely in the brooder, for now.
Water is brought in as well as food.
Our last chick, who was on deaths door only a few minutes ago is now up and alert and
ready to go in with her friends as well.
One thing that is great about chickens, around here at least, is how they really do become
a family endeavor.
With chickens everyone pitches in and as the new baby chicks get used to their home the
girls head out to do their daily chicken chores, collecting eggs.
With farmers market tomorrow, the girls also will be washing eggs today as well.
With the help of the little egg scrubber.
The little egg scrubber is a brand-new innovation in washing eggs, invented and manufactured
right here in the USA, in Vermont actually.
Commercial egg washers cost upwards of thousands of dollars and with our increased production
we realized we needed to come up with a faster way to wash eggs.
With the little egg scrubber, you can wash up to 700 eggs per hour and its easy enough
to use that a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old take to it like ducks to water.
The little egg scrubber folks also include an enzyme presoak, which we take care of for
the kids, adding a tablespoon or so to a 5-gallon bucket to help remove stains and organic contaminates.
The girls finish washing their 2 dozen eggs in about 3 minutes and it’s off to packaging.
Eventually mom and dad get to play with it too, and I have to say, it does make the process
go a lot faster.
Once you get into a groove you can be constantly washing eggs as you set them up for drying.
Washing 18 dozen eggs in about a half an hour, a process that by hand could have taken easily
twice that.
Chickens have been labeled as a gateway livestock, and the reasons are clear and reasons to raise
them are too many to count.
We don’t raise them to make money off the eggs, in fact we rarely do, but by selling
the eggs we can demonstrate to our customers the value of farm fresh products.
You want fresh, try and egg that is a few days fresh as opposed to eggs in the grocery
store that can be as old as six weeks.
Chickens eat insects and weeds, they eat table scraps, and create great fertilizer They teach
kids about responsibility and where their food comes from and give back in a way that
a kid can instantly recognize, whether its hard boiled or over easy.
Best of all you don’t have to walk them, and they aren’t going to eat your toys or
chew up your favorite shoes.
Thanks for coming along with us today, if you are interested in raising your own backyard
chickens I have included a few links in the description to help you get started as well
as a link to the little egg scrubber for those of you that need to free up time from washing
eggs by hand.
If you made it this far, then why not go one more step and peck that subscribe button and
come along with us as we continue to explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary.
I’ll see you next time and until then have a great week and thanks for joining us, in
our Wyoming life.