Backyard Chickens for Eggs
A lot of folks have asked about backyard chickens recently. There are a few projects that you can start today that will yield food and satisfaction for years to come. If this is something you are going to do, order your birds now, then you’ll have about 4-6 weeks to build your coop. The first question to answer is what and where to get chicks or more mature birds. We have always purchased our birds through the mail. You read that right: we have had up to 180 birds shipped to our post office! You will likely need a smaller quantity, so your order will be no sweat for the hatchery and the US Postal Service. There are several hatcheries you can choose from, but we have found Murray McMurray hatchery to be reliable. You can order chicks (about $3-$4 each) or more mature pullets ($25 each). While chicks are less expensive, they are very fragile and can die very easily in cold weather, even with heat lamps. More mature birds will cost you more upfront, but have a lower mortality rate as the temperatures fluctuate this time of year. Pullets also have a head start over chicks, and will begin producing eggs sooner. If you are willing to wait and have a space to keep them warm, chicks are the most economical option. The next step is selecting your birds, mainly deciding on white, brown and or easter egg layers. Breed determines what color eggs your hens will lay. Our favorite birds are New Hampshire Reds, hearty brown egg layers who will lay, on average, an egg a day. Most hens will lay as often as every 26 hours; it’s part of their lady process and they do not require a rooster. Unless you (and your neighbors) want a solar powered alarm clock that is often known for a foul (no pun intended) attitude, you can get by with females only. How many!? One egg every 26 hours, means about 4-5 eggs a day from 6 birds – every. single. day. (Your girls will start reliably laying at around 22-26 weeks old). Get a few extra in case they don’t make it all the way to maturity. If you have 12 birds you can make gifts of your eggs or sell them to help buy feed. Kentucky’s laws make it pretty easy to sell your backyard eggs, so long as you keep it to less than 720 eggs a week. The post office will call you on the day your chicks arrive. Here, they call at about 5:55am and ask (please hurry) when we’re planning on retrieving our box of constantly peeping chicks from their offices (usually you can hear them in the background). When you receive that box you are officially in the chicken farming business! What you’ll need for the first few weeks: A baby pool or other type of high sided enclosure, and make sure it is plastic and easily cleaned. Speaking of cleaning, you’ll need some shavings to help absorb the waste. Get a waterer and a feeder. Often times you will find a miniature versions of these for chicks, we have not found them to be necessary. We will typically feed chicks out of the base tray of...
read moreMeal planning with a Whole Chicken
We sell whole, processed chickens, packaged similarly to whole chickens found in the traditional grocery store. Many people are used to buying chicken pieces, like breasts, thighs, and wings, so it may be unfamiliar to purchase and prepare a whole chicken. We’re here to help with recipes and meal planning ideas.
read moreHall’s Hill Rice
We love to use as much of our pork and chicken as possible. After all, we have labored and prayed over our meat for months before it reaches the table! So we respect the animals and the effort by wasting very little. Making chicken broth is just one way we use the bones and scraps that would otherwise be trash. With the broth, we make a variety of meals, including rice.
read more2016 Begins on the Farm
Things are picking up on the farm… So far we have two hogs, 30+/- layers, and a few eager helpers – we are excited for all the Lord has in store for HHF in 2016! We are planning to sell whole and half hogs again this year, as well as chickens. Let us know if you’re interested in either – last year the hogs were claimed quickly! We will be accepting initial deposits soon, so keep up with us on Facebook and here on the blog for the latest info. We look forward to supplying your family with pasture-raised pork and poultry this...
read moreBuilding a Chicken Tractor, Step by Step
This coop is an adaption of Joel Salatin’s chicken tractors. I have seen his tractors but have never found a design online and finally just had to guess a bit and build one. I built a coop a few years ago which turned out to be too heavy to move efficiently. I literally went to the drawing board last year and came out with a Salatin-esque tractor.
read moreOur first year with Aunty Barbara, our Livestock Guard Dog
Before Barb, it was open season on chickens and any stored feed. We effectively had a neon sign above the barn flashing “Open Late!” Attracted were all types of predators common to Kentucky: possum, raccoons, and foxes. (We never encountered coyotes, probably given the proximity of house to barn). Despite the lack of coyote sightings, there were hoards of others. Fox were the main problem with the chickens. Rumors have gone around that a neighbor has supported the breeding and release of fox in the area to promote fox hunting. With or without a breeding neighbor, our chickens were attacked mercilessly by foxes. Foxes kill for sport (as many as possible) then make off with one or two. The sight of a dozen chickens in various states of dismemberment is one of the most demoralizing things we have encountered on farm. But it was becoming frequent, and coupled with raccoons gorging themselves on feed, we finally quit chickens altogether.
read moreSpring 2015 and what’s new on the Farm
Spring 2015 arrived quietly on a grey 45 degree day here in Kentucky. I only knew it had arrived when in exasperation I asked my wife “when does spring get here?” As to a simpleton, she responded, “to-day.” I should have known however, that spring was upon us as the signs were everywhere. Thankfully we haven’t had a hard freeze, or really a mild frost since much earlier in the month and the earth has subtly begun to awaken. The boar (male hog) and gilt (unbred female) are “dancing,” and not, as they say at Catholic High School dances, “leaving enough room for the Holy Spirit.” The hens are broody; they are trying to sit on their eggs to hatch chicks rather than just depositing their daily egg and moving on. Where the chicken tractor made tracks last year the grass is already growing and lushly green unlike the rest of the yellow splotchy grass around the same field. There is one other place where the grass is deeply green, last year’s pig paddock. That grass never lost its color over the winter, its almost as though the pigs aeration and fertilization made the grass an evergreen. With these small reminders it is apparent that the earth was made for stock and the stock made for the earth. Our plans this year include adding a family cow for milk and meat. Taking a cow bred for milk and breeding her to our neighbor’s angus (beef) bull will keep us in milk and in the fall fill the freezer with young milk fed beef. (This is not my idea, credit to the Contrary Farmer, Gene Logsdon). Furthering bio-diversity, we hope to add guinea fowl as well. They’re beautiful birds and prodigious layers. They also are kown to keep tick populations down – ticks are menacing to all of us on the farm. Last year, I pulled a small tick off of my chest and soon found myself broken out in hives after every serving of red meat, including pork. This is not a good place for a pork producer but with prayer and time the sensitivity to red meat has subsided. We are committed to being more diligent with the garden this year. You feel truly deficient when people naturally wonder, “wow pigs and chickens – you must have a great garden…?” Confession time, up until last year we hadn’t gardened much at all and last year we only grew tomatoes and potatoes – our garden had a nightshade theme (both potatoes and tomatoes are of the nightshade family, once considered poisonous). This year we’ve already planned out the garden and put in our early plants – peas, onions and cabbage The farm goes on. We have become more involved in spreading the “good news” of slow alternatives to our fast food society. We emphasize that confidence and indulgence accompanies most every meal when it’s farm fresh and from a trusted source. In our Christian tradition, Adam’s first calling was to keep the garden. With that in mind it could be inferred that we were made for this life. If we all tried to keep our part of the garden and kept responsible dominion over the creation the world would be a cleaner and safer place. Thankfully that notion is catching...
read moreFarmer’s Market Bounty
We did our grocery shopping for the week at La Grange Farmers’ Market & Artisans this morning. For $22, we got 6 ears of corn, 5 red potatoes, 2 tomatoes, 1 head of cabbage, 1 watermelon, 1 cantaloupe, 1 lb green beans, and 1 loaf of bread. All this plus our freezer stocked with beef and pork should make for a pretty good week of meals! How are we going to feed a family of 5 on just $22? Well, using items we already have on hand, here is my plan (farmer’s market purchases in bold): Saturday: Birthday party – cook’s night off! Sunday: tuna melts on honey wheat bread with yellow squash Monday: steak on the grill with corn on the cob Tuesday: Bible study picnic – another cook’s night off! Wednesday: chicken thighs with roasted red potatoes Thursday: pulled pork sandwiches with green beans Friday: leftovers Lunches will consist of sandwiches on the honey wheat bread (grilled cheese, peanut butter and honey, BLT), cole slaw, watermelon, cantaloupe, and of course leftovers from the night before… No more grocery shopping til next week’s market. Think we can do...
read moreChicken Tractor
Last night we moved 76 chicks from the barn to the new chicken tractor in the field. They will stay in the tractor, which we move daily, until September when they are big enough for processing. They have grown quite a bit since they arrived in the mail on June 2nd, just 2 days old. Now they are coming into their mature color and have lost their chick fluffiness. We chose to raise New Hampshire Reds, which are known for both their quality meat and laying output. We will only process 50 birds for meat; the remaining 25 will live on the farm to be our egg producers. Our current layers are getting older and have slowed in their production. June 2, 2014 July 10, 2014 July 10, 2014 July 10,...
read moreRendering Lard
Our last slaughtered pig brought us more lard to render than we ever could have imagined. With plenty to play with, we experimented with different ways of rendering. Our favorite was in a slow cooker – lid off on low for about 2 days. Make sure to cut the fat into 1″ pieces or smaller. The trick to chopping up large amounts of lard is to make sure it is not too frozen, not too thawed. The first batches will make snow white lard, which is perfect for pastries. Later batches of golden lard are still very useful for sauteing or deep...
read more