Happy Hen Farms

This is a new journey for me here at Homesteadblogger!!

Hello~

My area in homesteading are chickens and saving money on fuel.  I am looking into getting back into the kitchen and cooking more dinners from scratch.  I hope I will be able to journal about our chickens and what I am doing in this area of homesteading.  I look forward to seeing everybody else's blogs.

We have 26 hens.  We had 27 but one died.  We think it was a blowout that killed her.  My boys were very very sad over this.  She was their favorite.  Right now we have a Turken who is being very bad right now.  She keeps pecking the eggs and busting them.  So she may be taking a trip to the ax block soon if she doesn't change things around.  I guess we will wait and see what happens.  All the other hens are not doing that.  One of them would make a great mom.  She is a brooder and will carry her eggs under her wing.  We have to fight her to get the eggs.  We do not mind a bit.  I will try to post some pics of our chickens soon.  Right now they are out in our yard enjoying the time out of their coop.  Our egg production went down alot because of the cold winter.  Right now it is warm and our egg production has gone back up.  Whew!!  I thought I was going to have to go the store and get some eggs which I didn't want to do at all.  How many of you feed your hens feed?  My brother in law do not feed theirs at all.  They have them roam around their property freely.  They are not fed anything.  They fend for themselves and get fed that way.  I am not sure how they do it.  So I am wondering if you feed them or have them fend for themselves.  This would save us money on feed.  Thanks for reading!!

Blessings~

Holly

Hello

{ 01:58, 2005-Dec-27 } { Posted by home4jesus }

I can't wait to get chickens! Hope you enjoy your blogging here. =o)

Chicken feed

{ 02:36, 2005-Dec-27 } { Posted by spinninggrandma }

I am chicken-less right now, and really miss it. We do have a neighbor that gives us eggs, so we don't have to have 'town' eggs ... they are awful! 'Real' eggs are much, much better.

Anyway, when I DID have chickens, I fed them. Less in the summer, but still fed them. I would be leary of not feeding - I'd feel guilty about it. How do you know they have enough feed to keep them going? You can't see how skinny they are under all those feathers!

My thoughts, anyway.

Pastured Chickens

{ 03:56, 2005-Dec-27 } { Posted by NewHarvestHomestead }

Hi Holly!

Welcome to Homestead Blogger! We have kept chickens for over 20 years now. I have always let them roam a couple days out of the week, feed them scraps and also give them commercial feed. Chickens that free range only are called pastured chickens. If you do an internet search on the topic, you will find lots of information. My personal experience has been that, unless you grow a lot of specific plants and grains for your chickens to feed on, pasturing them will result in a loss of egg production.

Hope this helps! Happy homesteading!

Lisa

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{ 07:50, 2005-Dec-27 } { Posted by HSBPublisher }

What is a blowout?

Welcome!

{ 02:31, 2006-Jan-3 } { Posted by SimplifiedLife }

Glad your here. I look forward to learning about chickens too.

Have a great week!

I loved reading your blog!

{ 10:57, 2006-Jan-3 } { Posted by lancelotacres }

We have had chickens for several years, and we have always fed them. They are free-range, and eat less feed in the summer, but I do always offer it. I'd be worried about them if I didn't feed them, but probably if you had the right plants available, they'd be fine. (As the above poster already said).

I look forward to reading more...

Lisa

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{ 01:14, 2006-Mar-9 } { Posted by farmgirlshelley }

I have read from McMurray hatchery that if you place wooden eggs in with the hens, this will stop them from breaking the eggs. Hope that helps. I can't wait to see pics!!

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{ 09:45, 2006-Jun-20 } { Posted by HSBFrontPorch }

Just stopping by to say Hello ~ how is your flock doing? My family has chickens, too - we love them! Hope you'll be back blogging soon!

Blessings,
Harriette Jacobs
on behalf of
~Nancy Carter
Senior Editor of Homestead Blogger

Stop by the Front Porch of Homesteadblogger.com and check out the new changes and features. Today there is a great post on Free Range Chickens.

Take care,
hkj

welcome

{ 06:54, 2006-Jun-27 } { Posted by shelley43022 }

I hope you blog again. I am just getting my first chickens in a few weeks, so nice to read about others who have experience.

joyfullhomemaker

sorry...

{ 07:07, 2006-Nov-12 } { Posted by erinljoyce }

I have no idea...anyway Welcome to homestead blogger! Well cya, Erin

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{ 10:53, 2006-Dec-2 } { Posted by kimmie }

blessings to you & your family!!!!