Hot Day and Pecking Away...

By now you know I am in California and in most cases, the weather here is moderate to hot. Rarely is it cold. I think I remember a morning when it was 11 degrees in 1993 and last summer I was driving home from work and it was 117. On these hotter days, it is simply hot, not humid. Recently, however the weather forecasters have predicted El Nino, which is a warming of the waters off our coast, which ultimately drives warmer weather storms up here. This means we might get out of our drought this winter, since in past El Nino winters it has rained non-stop. However, I have noticed something lately - humidity. This morning it was 45% and 80 degrees at 9:00am. This is incredibly odd, but showing up more and more. I checked the weather station about 30 minutes ago (2:00pm) and it was 95 with 25% humidity and tons of stratus clouds in the sky. I let the chickens out for a while and they ran straight for the garden, scratched, dirt bathed it and have parked themselves there like a family on a picnic. I think I am going to leave them there and let my nephew round them up tonight and tuck them in with the blankies.

A couple new purchases -

I bought a 12lb feeder and hung it in the coop - genius... it is perfect.

I graduated the birds to Layena.... which is suppose to support calcium in the shell and Vitamin E in the yolk. We'll see since I am having my eggs tested for nutritional content. The were suspicious of the new feeder - in fact - they looked liked they were being held up in the coop.. all lined up against a wall waiting for the their pictures to be snapped.

Here is the recent picture of them grazing and the Layena...

Off to Santa Barbara....

Santa Barbara -

Hey all -

I am heading to Santa Barbara for some vacation (July 19-24). I will try to find some chicken farmers there and report on them. I should be able to keep up with the blog. Just a warning in event there is a little radio silence over a day or so.

Surf Camp for the Chickenman!

And The Fight Rages On.........

A buddy of mine, we'll call him, "Timmy 2 Puff" sent me this article...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124761681413642361.html

So, if you've read this, I still want to reiterate something. I think people who use arguments, like Terri Frohnmeyer, who says, "what's next llamas, goats.... get a farm!". This is the ultimate in fallacious arguments and ultimately makes her look ignorant, which is just desserts, but painful nonetheless. Why? because people like this get air-time. Terri is probably the loudest person at the party, the one who sits on every committee in town, the one who claims she can bake, cook, win Wimbledon, parent better, run faster, grow better vegetables and designed the space shuttle. It kills me, they are not thinking about the truth, they are xenophobes who know nothing about the bird, the value and the real symbiosis with nature chickens have.

Next are government officials and you know how I feel about this. I loathe the official that gets sucked into group think. One official says "chickens are evil!" and the rest echo the mantra. OK, I confess, I am generalizing, but I have to say, when one says.... "Hey neighbor who ratted out your neighbor for chicken keeping.... beat it, go do something positive for the world and get happy, don't waste our time!" Oh my how refreshing this would be. The counter to this is: What is the chicken-keeper doing? Growing weed? Running a meth lab? Breeding cocks for fighting? No, they are raising chickens!

People really need to get a life....

So the positive... raising chickens is incredible. I watched, with wonder, before shooting off to San Francisco to the InterSolar Show, as the chickens ate spiders and clipped my weeds!

Watching the Tour de France... what beautiful country. I need to go there and do the chicken blog from there on my bike while eating brie and sipping a nice Bordeaux!

Today In The Garden

Formating on Blogger is really weird right now! Sorry for the screwy look and formating -

It sure is fun to come out in the morning and let them loose. Like kids lined up to get into a waterpark. I open the door and they crash the garden. This morning, prior to heading off to work, they were picking the bugs our from under the siding on the house. Here they are gathered around a peach tree heading over to the nastiest fence line I have.

Pictured below are Loa (gold neck - Arcauna), Scat (Golden Buff), Kapalua (middle and hard to see), Hoot is to the right and actually Millie is hiding behind the little Peach tree.

Coop Clean-Out and Other...

I spent the day cleaning the coop and doing yard work extrordinaire...Here is a picture from about 5 minutes ago.



For the first time today I watched them all eat weeds! They left my garden alone and ate WEEDS!!! And then pooped!!!! Doesn't get much better than this. This is sad, I am not playing in a rock band or traveling to Paris and getting excited - No... I am watching chickens eats weeds and poop. That is just pathetic..

Roosters Over-Taking Kauai Pt. 2

It is a small island and I was contacted by the military (they read this blog) that they are going in!

It has gotten too hostile, the chickens are trying to change the name of the island to Chikauai. It's a mess. The politicians and police don't want any more egg on their face...

Hey... we surpassed 3,000 visits!!!! Incredible.

Thanks

Kauai's Roosters

As my family and I have taken on the life of chicken farmers, people now share their stories with me about raising chickens. The one I heard yesterday was from a guy I work with and his eminent new life as a chicken farmer as inspired by us. He was explaining how the Island of Kauai, has been, is being, overrun by chickens.

The Islands have been a stopping off point for hundreds and hundreds of years. So sea travelers undoubtedly packed with food on their ships, had creatures on board. Creatures for food and not indigenous to the islands. The theory most floated is; early Polynesian and french travelers brought chickens to Kauai as a food source and, as usual, chickens have taken over. I do recall the last time I was in Kauai, a whole town had become ruled by chickens, and "people" where laying eggs, it was weird. I dressed as chicken in order not to be noticed. However, my size had them tilting their heads around and clucking.... I scratched on the ground and made myself look "normal" they seemed appeased by this. The other theory is; in 1992 when hurricane Iniki hit is wiped out electricity for weeks and even months and with a strong backyard chicken contingent in Kauai already, coops and chicken fences came down and allowed the existing population free-range. Hmmm, I guess this is plausible, but what about other areas of the world where disasters have hit? Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Indonesia... you never hear about dogs taking over, or cats, or cattle, or monkeys (actually in parts of Indonesia I think this is the case)... why chickens?

As we all know, there is a "balance". You introduce a new creature to a new land, it's habits and needs can go nuts and destroy their new digs. And, it is even more obvious, the new land cannot support the new creatures habits as there are often times no natural predators.

Another case in point in Hawaii is snakes. Yeah, I hate snakes too. Someone introduced snakes to the islands, accidentally I am sure. Then someone got the idea to introduce mongoose to eat the snakes, the problem with this is; mongoose are nocturnal and snakes aren't. OOPS!

So, chickens living on the lamb in Kauai is a bad deal. The land there is so lush with every kind of foliage, weed and bug imaginable, the chickens are breeding, laying eggs, getting educated and taking jobs away from Hawaiians. I am not sure how Obama is going to handle this. I assume via a tax on the chickens and government assistance to the Hawaiians. It is really sad. Locals now have so many chickens running around that when it rains, and this can be often, they walk into stores, restaurants and the like and just sit down and nap. Accounts from people say that if your not careful, the chicken will be on your table pecking away on your cheesecake. And, the crowing is not just in the morning, it is ALL DAY LONG! Suffice it to say, Kauai has a problem. While free food is roaming the street, and from reports... good food. They are getting a bad wrap. I guess the Rooster are so aggressive the cats are scared.

I find this to be an interesting quandary. If living there, I am sure I would take a more militant stance against the chickens, if aggressive or a nuisance. On the other hand, they are good looking birds, family oriented and homebody's ergo possible good neighbors as they would control the pests, dump in my garden and maybe drop an egg once in a while. I would have to put up with the noise though.

New Home!!!

I always do a morning check on the chickens. It's like checking on a small little adopted family, whom you've taken in and you want to make sure they have everything they need.

I walk out there this morning look in the coop and only see two of them! "Oh no.. they've run away, we did not treat them well, they've found another family!!!!, at least two liked us... or were too weak leave..."

Then out of the ceiling, one fly's down from the retractable roost door. "Huh?" I look up and there sits the other four... (three in the picture)... Ahhh they are happy in the roof! It is warmer up there.

Secondly, what happened to these birds! They are getting huge, it is like a chicken-inflater jumps in the coop every night and blows these birds up. They grow incredibly fast.

Someone left me a comment on how fast they eat. I think I am going to install a silo on the side of the coop and left it gravity feed them.. this is insane. I cannot keep up.

Natural Instincts

I don't get it. How can these birds know they need to fly up and rest on a rod? Well instinct is strong and the plain and simple reason is... most predators come from the ground... snakes, skunks, bobcats, small transformers - although I think they could fly in like a chicken, roost with them and then take shape into any predator. Can you imagine this...? The chickens sitting there... "Ahhhhhh cluck, cluck...." Here comes another chicken-looking chicken... clucking robotically and WHAM! It takes the shape of a toaster!

I have really digressed here.

I visited the coop this morning and here they are... I am still working on the water attachment for the Auto-Wata and then need to come up with a way to feed them automatically. They eat like they've not had food EVER!

Chicken Breed 101

I am going to, once in a while, drop a blog on a breed...

Today's Breed?

Ameraucana, Arcauna, Easter Egger - the breed is actually from Chile (Columbia - prior to that Chile) and named after a Chilean indian tribe who raised them. They are not a pure breed, but were APA accepted in 1984.

They are known to be fairly calm and not aggressive. Our Arcauna's Loa, Kapa and Hoot... are the most skitish of the group by far, but that may be because we scream a lot.... not true, but they are the most jumpy.

The Arcauna is known for its eggs. They lay real easter eggs, blue, green, voilets, pale yellows among

other pastel type colors. The Arcauna is also known for their hardiness, typcially resistant to disease, cold and addictions - gambling, drinking and smoking... really a good role model for your kids and our politicians!

They purportedly mature early. Ours have definately matured much quicker than our other birds. Here is an Arcauna. Pretty cool bird.

Creepy, but cool.....

Besides the fact our chickens have been free to roam the garden since 8 am ( it is now close to 11), they have eaten every spider along "Spooky" fence there is. Yes, we have one of those. You know, the fence that is slightly rotten on the bottom and has spider webs everywhere. Well one of the chickens pulled out a Woolly Mammoth of spiders. It was the size of the chicken. They all wrestled for it ultimately tearing the spider from limb to limb and devouring it in no-time at all. While this a creepy, nothing compares to this...

http://www.duncraft.com/Feeders-Houses-Baths-Foods-W117C202.aspx?gclid=CPvt8aeLupsCFRFMagodmhgHAA

Why do we insist on having talking Avatars, are people too creepy? Too expensive? Too large a file? I think this is Animatronic hell. "Hi buy my bird feeders and they will attract pterodactyls and then you won't sleep cause you'll be thinking about my talking head" ( you need to read this with one tone and a little herky-jerky). Why do people think this is cool? Let's think of the market. Outdoorsy people, farmer-like, gardners, possibly older.... 35+ Do we (me included) think this is a sell?

Anyway, I think my point is... chickens are incredible pest control. I have read where farms no longer have flea problems due to chickens...really this is all too cool. Manure, pest control, food and fun. My Aussie is fun, but leaves a lot of poopy to haul, that is worthless and sheds everywhere. Thank goodness he is scary, cause it keeps the creepy door to door sales people from peddling their $100 a pint citrus colon cleanser.

Bucolic sounds as they romp off into the garden to be frightened by every wind swept breeze or noise. Since I have 5 days off over the July 4th holiday, I am trying to make it my habit to get some coffee at Peet's, come home, let the chicks out and take a seat. It is better than any entertainment I could buy. Each one having it's own personality and each one fixated on a

different morsel. As soon as one looks like it has scored a sloppy worm, they all run to it in hopes of getting a bite. Most are getting wise to this gang-up mentality and are getting their food and sauntering off like it is no big deal - "I am just heading over here to look for food" as they have a 4 inch worm hanging out of their mouth. Then once out of sight, they sling it around like they are wrestling and anaconda.

They are definately drawn the base of the corn stalks, not sure why, but who cares.. it is fun to watch. All six are in this picture... Loa, Millie, Kapalua (kook), Sunny, Hoot, Scat.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Striking The Pose!

They are growing up so fast. It seems like only yesterday they were coo'ing and giggling and now they want the keys to the car and new feathers. No one tells you how tough the teenage years are. They are constantly trying to get out of of the coop, always trying to get away and "Fly The Coop" That cute little saying didn't come about because the chickens love to sit in the coop and stay close, although at bed-time they are quick to return, but boy once they are up and fed... they want OUT! In the foreground is HOOT. Really this is a beautiful bird, never thought I would every write those words. I like to build stuff, play guitar, break things, go to the mountains - Lake Tahoe to be exact, but never, ever...ever utter "pretty bird". Anyway - Loa is in the background, Sunny to the right and Millie in the foreground. Today is going to be spent mostly out of the coop and roaming the yard. I need to go grab a saw and cut something.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Contact Aurora, Colorado

This is ludicrous.... and ignorant.

Noisy?
Predators?

You have got to be kidding me!!!! Let's see dogs aren't noisy and dog owners have complete control over their dogs barking. If I think about it... I can hear a dog barking nearly every day and nearly every hour on the hour in my neighborhood. And.... volume... seriously, dogs bark in all pitches, tones and ranges and can bark all night sometimes. And to slap chicken owners with noise and predator tag as an excuse to ban chickens is, well... government intervention of the lamest kind. So, lets think about this. Most cities allow for 3-5 birds. 3-5 birds clucking (Roosters not included in this analysis) sound like music, even pastoral in nature. Chickens... cluck at levels which are low, outside of "egg-laying" where the hen can let it fly, but overall they cluck in a very calming manner. And.. CHICKENS SLEEP! They are like well-trained kids. Sun goes down and viola' they are down. Sun comes up and they get up slowly, happily and even with a little bed-head.

(here is a lightening storm over Aurora - maybe they can ban them too since they are so noisy) Argh! I loathe government when it makes a decision in a vacuum. It only perpetuates the fact they can't govern, they are miserable custodians of our money and the time this money affords them to govern and, ultimately, become meddlers in all our business. I am sorry, if I've offended anyone here, but this is a pathetic excuse for banning chickens. How about banning pool pumps? We have pools surrounding us and they hum all day and loudly. How about leaf blowers, mowers, motorcycles... I am spent.


http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_12712594?source=rss

Slate Magzine Article

Many of you probably saw this and many probably did not. I am going to link it here. The author seems to be a of a protagonist, but I think shows we are not going away and with Rob Ludlowl's Backyard Chicken website and his 35,000+ members and growing. As I write this, we just had another earthquake... crazy! Also he mentions the 100,000+ readers of Poultry Magazine.

http://www.slate.com/id/2218390/

Here is the article as well...

"In all of God's sweet aviary there exists no bird more diabolical and ruthless than the egg-laying chicken. Despite the darkness of this clucking beast's heart, our nation's press has gone on a rampage insisting that more and more citizens everywhere in the United States are choosing to board and feed these creatures in their urban and suburban backyards so they can harvest the eggs. It's a trend, the press claims. But we know better, don't we? To begin with, keeping chickens is a filthy, time-consuming, and expensive way to keep the pantry filled with eggs. And as this continuing feature has taught its loyal readership, too many of the "trends" reported by the press are actually bogus trends, hyped up by a reporter or her editors to get a lame story into print.

Flaunty bogusity in this morning's (May 14) Washington Post Home section feature, "Hot Chicks: Legal or Not, Chickens Are the Chic New Backyard Addition," which claims to have discovered the "vanguard of a resurgent interest in backyard chicken keeping, especially in distinctly nonrural settings." But the closest the Post comes to actually counting chickens is reporting the press run of Backyard Poultry magazine, a bimonthly: It is 100,000. The Jan. 2 USA Today, which reports a "growing number of city dwellers across the country choosing chickens as pets," measures the hen-keeping renaissance by enumerating the size of the BackYardChickens.com community: It is 19,000 worldwide.

For more all-feather, no-bone journalism, see the May 10 Chicago Tribune Magazine, where "Chicken Chic: The Backyard Bird Is Back in Style" claims that chicken keeping is a "craze," is "[w]ay in," and is "a fresh fad." The piece insists that "[m]any an ordinary citizen of many an ordinary neighborhood owns an actual chicken," but never assigns a number to the "many." This is the paper's second example of crying chicken in recent months. The Dec. 15, 2008, Trib discovers "[s]igns of the burgeoning urban chick movement" in the mere publication of Backyard Poultry magazine, the existence of the urbanchickens.net blog, and the fact that a local workshop on raising your own birds sold out in 48 hours.

A bogus trend isn't a bogus trend unless the New York Times has signed on. The Dec. 7, 2008, Westchester Weekly section of the paper contributes "Chicken-Raising Trend Takes Hold in County." The well-to-do folks of that region have been sharing chicken-raising stories, the newspaper reports. It also publicizes the claim that a "growing number of people" are cultivating the birds as an easy way to connect with nature. Then, the story soberly acknowledges that "it is difficult to know just how many households are tapping into the chicken-raising trend." In other words, it's a trend for which there are no numbers. The May 9 Arizona Republic makes similar pumped-up claims about chicken mania in "Urban Chickens the Latest Healthful-Living Trend" before deflating the premise with the admission that it "is hard to know exactly how many people are raising urban chickens." And so it continues throughout the land. "Urban Chicken Movement Taking Roost in KC Area" (May 11, Kansas City Star) compiles chicken-raising anecdotes and regulatory issues but never puts a number to the alleged trend. "Hot Chicks: More Raising Own Fowl" from the May 10 Providence Journal-Bulletin cites a growing demand for spring chicks but supplies no numbers. The Oregonian (May 14) backs the trend with a story that marvels at how quickly baby chicks are selling out all over town. But don't chick sellers manage their inventory to sell out quickly? If you're in the business of selling chicks, you don't want to over-order and end up with a bunch of unsold adolescent birds playing video games and smoking cigarettes in the store, right? An April 17 Associated Press story datelined Union, Mo., opens with an exciting scene-setter of 1,200 baby chicks peeping and cheeping at the Clearview Feed and Seed store. But the actual story—titled "More Suburbanites, Hobbyists Raise Chickens" on Nexis—undercuts the headline. "Mostly farm families wait to pick up the chicks," the story reports.

If backyard hen keeping is indeed a trend, it constitutes such a long-standing trend that it has ceased to be one. On March 29, 2002, the Wall Street Journal ran a piece about the "McMansion" coops some chicken owners were building for their birds. The April 5, 2004, Arizona Daily Star noted the high attendance drawn by Kim Fox at her chicken-raising speeches in Tucson: "About 50 people attended her last discussion," the Daily Star reported. The Sept. 14, 2003, Seattle Times explored the world of the city's backyard chicken farmers. In the summer of 2003, both USA Today and Newsday profiled the author of Keep Chickens! Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs, and Other Small Spaces. "We sold 2,000 laying hens last year," the owner of a downtown Houston feed store told the Houston Chronicle for its March 30, 1993, edition. Dialing the Nexis machine back even earlier, we find a syndicated Martha Stewart piece in the April 23, 1986, San Diego Union-Tribune oddly titled "Home-Grown Eggs—Can't Beat 'Em." Before you place your Web order for chicks, consider the wisdom shared by experienced chicken-owner Jean Moore with the Albuquerque Journal for its July 26, 2003, article about the art of raising egg-layers in the city.

"On the warmth and entertainment scale," Moore said, "they're better than a snake, but not as good as a cat."
******
Don't raise chickens to save money, advises the Dec. 15, 2008, Chicago Tribune story "Chickens Earn Keep in Chicago Backyards: More Urbanites Have the Critters for Eggs—and Companionship." One chicken-lover says the coop, chicken wire, and feeders set him back $500. A 50-pound bag of organic feed costs $22. You have to secure the coop to keep out raccoons, dogs, and cats. A hawk or a teenager with a Wrist Rocket can waste a free-ranging chicken in a flash. Generally speaking, urban veterinarians don't know how to treat sick chickens. Hens don't start dropping eggs until about 20 weeks, the Denver Post reports, on average three hens will produce two eggs a day, and the birds reach their peak production at two years. There's no way around shoveling the chicken shit, and who the hell likes eggs, anyway? "

Interesting....

The Straw-Bale of Fun

So here they all are. Prior to leaving this morning, I let them out to roam about the cabin, stretch their legs, have a smoke, or scratch in their case... and poof! They all jump on to the straw bale and begin scratching this thing to crumbs. Whatever is in this thing, drives them mad. Pictured here are Millie, far left rear end pointing due north, Scat (Buff), Hoot (gorgeous Arcauna, white and gray), Kapalua (Arcauna that must have a guilty conscious because she jumps and runs at the slightest disturbance), Loa (foreground, Arcauna) and Sunny (Buff)...

I am looking forward to this long weekend coming up. Getting auto-watering set-up, sprinklers for the garden and planning on the tilapia pond. Oh, yeah and running the CAT5 cable for the webcam. So this webcam will be controlled by you - meaning you will be able to move it left, right, up and down and even zoom it in and out.

The mister saved their bacon again today. It was 104 and a little humid - I am a west coaster, we have no idea what humid is, so I am not complaining - it just had a little more humidity than normal which makes me want to eat more avocado and acai berries and chase celebrities across earthquake damaged roads.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

HEAT WAVE - Chicken Mister

Well, had no idea we were traveling to the surface of the sun today. The temperature is 95 in the shade and expected to hit 100+. We are in drought conditions here in the West and are not suppose to be wasting water... So, it was a choice between water or chickens, chickens or water...so I flipped my 1750 two-sided chicken coin and well, it came up chickens. So, I ran down to ACE and bought a mister. Hooked it up and mounted it to the coop. Chickens should be feeling about 15 degrees cooler.

Omnivores Dilemma

A friend of mine - we'll call him "Joe"... recommended a book. While I will avoid appearing like the Oprah's Book Club although you can call me the "Chicken Whisper"..., I think this could be a good recommendation. I have also read a few reviews and this seems to be right up our ally... Here is a quick review written by Beverly Crumpacker (I hate chuckling over some one's name - but Crumpacker slays me - what is the derivation of this name? Crumpacker? Was it Crumbpacker? Did it have to do with some one's job in Elizabethan England?) I digress...

"We've lost touch with the natural loops of farming, in which livestock and crops are connected in mutually beneficial circles. Pollan discusses the alternatives to industrial farming, but these two long (and occasionally self-indulgent) sections lack the focus and intensity -- the anger beneath the surface -- of the first. He spends a week at Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley, a farm that works with nature, rather than despite it. Salatin calls himself a grass farmer, though his farm produces cows, chickens, eggs and corn. But everything begins with the grass: The cows nibble at it at the precise moment when it's at its sweetest and are moved from pasture to pasture to keep the grass at its best height. Their droppings fertilize the grass, and the cycle is under way. There's a kind of lyrical symmetry to everything that happens on this farm. Even the final slaughtering of chickens is done quickly and humanely, in the open air. It isn't pleasant, but compared to the way cattle are fattened and slaughtered in meat industry feedlots and slaughterhouses, it is remarkably reasonable."

Whew - Time Is Flying And Chicks Are Growing!!!

UPDATE - June 25, 2009. I took these pictures this morning before flying off to work. Loa (Arcauna) is on the left. This bird is looking good. Gold with brown and white markings. Loa has this weird little trait where she, tilts her head in 20 different directions in order to check you out. I understand I am confusing and she does not understand my sense of humor...sometimes I don't pick up my shoes or leave soda cans around the house... wait am I still talking about Loa...? Anyway, Loa is great fun and very curious. Millie (RIR) is a spaz, but taking on the typical reddish coloring and flat back of a RIR. Hoot (Arcauna) is on the far right and is getting some nice coloring as well. Gray and white, she is looking like an Eagle, but flies like Eddie The Eagle - remember him from the 1988 Calgary Olympics?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7MmJIy0bjo

Not sure what language they are speaking, it has to be Scandanavian or Jibberish...

Here is another picture with Millie in the foreground, Loa on the left and Hoot in the back. Hoot is always the first to the dinner table, the first one out of the coop and the first one to fly AT me.

By the way, the ABM bedding material is working out great. At first there were some "drive-bys" and I could smell the stench, and then it seemed to level off and become non-existent. Thank goodness, nothing like having trailer trash farmer wanna-be's living next door to you.

Grass Fed Chickens

Seems adding some natural grasses to the food along with legume scraps and other natural non-meat makes chickens much healthier and thereby able to produce much healthier eggs. Here is some common sense... and an excerpt from www.loinsgrip.com

"Very few commercial chickens really get to eat grass or scraps. Chickens, being birds, naturally need to eat grains along with their grass, so free-range chicken is not as high in Omega-3 as is grass-fed beef or lamb. The best Omega-3 levels in chicken come from a poultry diet to which abundant fish meal has been added. By marketing chickens with "all vegetable diet," we are throwing the baby out with the bath water. Chickens need bugs and animal protein! Fish meal brings about great poultry health ~ English farmers who feed their chickens fish meal report their chickens live and lay eggs for over 10 years. In some leading-edge restaurants in the US they are beginning to use the "grass-fed" label in their menus. Many big-city chefs and butchers have heard a rumor that "chickens cannot eat grass." Pastured poultry farmers just love to hear about things like this ~ they roll around laughing ~ it makes their day. Chickens that are really free range will consume about 30% of their calories from grass. Since grass has very few calories, that translates to a LOT of grass.

Omega-3 Eggs:

Eggs with the highest levels of Omega-3's come from chickens raised on grass and/or fed fish meal, with the grain component greatly minimized. But lacking this, some commercial enterprises are producing eggs from chickens fed on flax seed. They use the words "Omega-3" on the egg carton, and state the Omega-3 levels in their eggs. If your heart health is important to you, try to get fish-meal-fed, grass-fed eggs. Better yet, raise your own. Most cities allow 5 "domestic" animals. If you keep your 5 chickens clean and in a large, caged area, with lots of grass growing behind wire so they can't kill it, just eat off the tops, and feed them fish meal and good bugs along with their regular diet, you will have some really good Omega-3 eggs.

So off to get some fish meal....!