Woodworking of a rougher kind

[Black wallnut]

Lately my shop time has been more along the lines of rough carpentry. Where good enough is the goal and standard. I decided last winter to begin chicken farming on a small scale for meat and eggs. I built the coop to house my birds.




One of my Rhode Island Red hens



Had to make this "penalty box" to break a hen from being broody and wanting to lay on eggs. A dark box that includes a built-in mini feeder and a hardware cloth bottom. I've read that 2-3 days in this and my hen will no longer be broody. We shall see.



Pic showing two of the built-in feeders, the close one is an oyster shell feeder the one next to it is a feed feeder. The hens eat oyster shells for the calcium to make their eggs harder shelled.



On the floor I have pine shavings and use the "deep litter" method. The shavings pull the moisture out of the chicken schit and will be composted and used as a high nitrogen garden fertilizer.

More pics to follow once I resize some more.

We picked up the chicks on Easter Sunday this year. We are down to one rooster, broken foot, a real cocky guy and 12 hens. Currently we are getting 7-9 eggs a day, mostly brown large. The chickens we butchered have been very tasty. In a couple of weeks I will receive another 25 chicks of a fast growing meat bird variety that should be ready for harvest in early December.

[russde]

Mark,
I grew up 'semi-rural', but never did learn to butcher anything 'from live to oven'. How hard is it to kill, pluck, prepare a chicken, from scratch (lol, pun only valid for those that get it), so to speak?
Russel

[LCHIEN]

mmmm chicken pot pie!

[Mr__Bill]

Mark,
I grew up 'semi-rural', but never did learn to butcher anything 'from live to oven'. How hard is it to kill, pluck, prepare a chicken, from scratch (lol, pun only valid for those that get it), so to speak?
Russel

You heard about the city girl who married a farmers son....
He was always going on about how his mother cooked/baked everything from scratch. So she got some from the farm supply store and......

[Black wallnut]

Russel, there is plenty of work involved however I choose to simply skin mine which cuts out the worst of the work. When I was a kid we helped a family friend butcher chickens each June. Us kids got to pluck. Plucking takes too long plus it makes a bigger mess. All things considered a chicken is about as much work as a game bird to clean which is not too much considering the taste. More costly in the end than a grocery store but the flavor is so much better.

[atgcpaul]

What do you do with all those eggs? Eat them all or sell/give away?

One of my earliest memories before coming to this country as a 3 year old was witnessing a chicken being slaughtered by one of the kitchen helpers. I do know what it means to be "chicken running around with its head cutoff"

When we were just getting started in this country, my parents, to save money, bought live chickens from a farmer and butchered them in the apartment kitchen. That was a sight to see.

[Black wallnut]

Paul we eat as many as we can and currently are giving the surplus to friends and family. At some point in the near future I hope to start selling the surplus at $3 a dozen.

[All Thumbs]

Paul we eat as many as we can and currently are giving the surplus to friends and family. At some point in the near future I hope to start selling the surplus at $3 a dozen.

Is that $3/dozen shipped?

[LCHIEN]

Is that $3/dozen shipped?

he throws them and you catch them.

[Black wallnut]

Is that $3/dozen shipped?

You are the second person to ask that. Sadly I'm too lazy to jump through the hoops to become a licensed farm and as such folks that want my eggs have to pick them up at my "farm". To deliver or ship I'd need a license from the WA dept of Ag. So until the transporter is perfected by the Trekkies I'll just post pics for you.

[leehljp]

I have been talking with some folks that recently moved out in the country around me and they got some chickens. They LOVE the fresh country eggs. I can't get them to give me any to try!

I grew up on a farm and used to eat fresh laid eggs, but that was so long ago that I can't even remember what REAL fresh eggs tasted like. Kinda Jealous here! Enjoy the eggs!

[cwsmith]

WHAT?.... I looked at that "penalty box" construction and saw YOU actually used nails. Why I half expected to see dovetailed corners or something!

Nice job though, really.

Some of my fondest memories of childhood was being at my grandparents farm in Wellsboro, PA. While I couldn't help with the cows and draft horses like the older boys, I do remember helping Grandma with the chickens; feeding them and gathering eggs. It was great fun and a good responsibility for the little guy I was at the time.

We had eggs at every meal it seemed, mostly as a side dish for lunch and dinner and hardboiled were good to go when we were off to other tasks. My Grandmother was always baking so fresh eggs were essential. They also sold a lot of eggs in the village and even to some of the smaller grocery stores there at that time.

If I lived in the country I think that would be a great thing, especially with the ever-increasing prices and the dwindling quality we see in most stores.

Thanks for the post,

CWS

[Pappy]

Been many years, but we used to dip them in HOT water to make plucking easier.

The wife wants chickens but I'm not sure the fresh eggs are worth the hassle. They do taste better than store bought, though! Neighbor used to have chickens and was always giving us eggs.