Trying To Hatch Those Eggs

It all started at the beginning of May. I went out to collect eggs and noticed that one of the hens was sitting in the nesting box. I tried to move her, but since she had decided that it was time for her to have a family, she didn’t take to kindly to my efforts. As I normally do in situations such as these, I went and summoned muscle. He removed her, and it turned out she was sitting on two eggs.

Later that I night I asked my children if they thought I should just let her sit, and of course they said yes. So it was decided that if she was sitting the next day, I would just leave her. Apparently she heard of our plan and decided that she would get us back and not sit! I let the kids know and things went on as normal, until the next day when she decided it was time again and there she has been since that day

The Triplets

Apparently word got out that one of them was trying to start a family and others decided that there was no time like the present. So now I have four hens sitting and we’re not quite sure what to expect. The original hen is sitting in one house all by herself, and she is sitting only on her eggs. The three other hens are sitting together in the big house, and they are busy trying to sit on all the eggs they can get. Each day that I check on them, they seem to get fatter and flatter.

Leave My Eggs Alone

Most of the hens lay in the big house and as they lay, the other three are moving their pile of eggs and incorporating the newly eggs into their clutch. I’m not sure if anyone has clued them in to the fact that I would like to have some of those eggs. At any rate, it takes about 21 days for a chicken egg to hatch, so by the beginning of June we should have our first batch of chicks. We’re not quite sure how to handle this event, but I’m sure we’ll learn.

I almost forgot, this blessed event is brought to us by our favorite rooster (who was supposed to be a hen!):

Pappa

Missed It! 5.10.2008

I try to look at everything that is growing every day. Some days I miss a few plants, but on the whole, I look at every plant, even when I know that there is nothing to be harvested. It makes me feel good just to know that I played a part in any particular plants formation.

Harvested! 5.17.2008

So imagine my surprise when last Saturday, I was filling up my watering can and happened to look at the section of the bed that contained several varieties of cauliflower and I discovered that I had entirely missed one that had been forming. It’s almost like finding out that one of your children has gone missing and you never even noticed!

These pictures are of that very Cheddar Cauliflower that I some how never noticed. How could something that big sneak right past me? I wish I knew, but it will forever remain a mystery. Since taking this picture it has grown even more and should be ready to harvest by this coming Saturday. The kids think it’s cool because it’s yellow, but apparently I will be the only one eating it.

Update: I harvested the Cheddar!! No one in my house is buying that it is even remotely related to cheese though!

Very simply, they are eggs that come from happy, healthy chickens that are allowed to do what they do best, live their lives doing all of the things that chickens do, without being caged. Chickens need to be able to nest, take dust bathes, roost as well as be able to scratch in the dirt to find bugs and other goodies.

The majority of the eggs that are for sale in the supermarkets come from what the egg industry refers to as “Battery Hens”. These are hens that spend their entire lives in little battery cages. They have roughly 67 square inches of space, which is not enough room to do any of the things that chickens normally do. The cages can contain anywhere from 3 to eleven hens and are made entirely out of wire.

These hens start their lives at the hatchery, where they have their beaks painfully trimmed and are then shipped to the farms where they will spend the next two years of their lives pumping out eggs. During those two years they are put through what is called a “Forced Molt”. This is when food is withheld until the hens lose their feathers, once the feathers start to grow back, they are offered feed again. Once the hens are fully feathered, they will resume laying and once they reach the end of this cycle, they are killed. We won’t even go into that process.

At our farm, the hens don’t go through any of this. Our hens roam the property all day everyday, and come back to their house at night. Their houses are located inside a fully enclosed pen where they are kept safe at night from the many nocturnal predators that we have. The doors on their houses are left open so that when the sun comes up, they are free to leave their houses and start their day. This is when we get up and open the door on the pen and set them free for the day.

Throughout the day they are able to eat, drink, scratch, roost, dust bathe, preen and of course nest whenever they want. The only time a hen is ever put into a cage is if she gets hurt while she is out. Even this cage is larger than what you would find on your typical egg farm, and she is always within sight of the other hens. The reason an injured hen has to be separated is because chickens are cannibals, once they see another bleeding chicken they will literally peck that chicken to death and then proceed to eat it.

I like to think so! Truthfully the answer to that question all depends on your definition of a farm and how open minded you are! We are not a farm in the classical sense, but rather in the urban sense. What we are, is the urban answer to a farm. We are located on the outskirts of several major metropolitan areas, which means we have more open space than most people in a typical urban setting. On the flip side, we don’t have as much open space as someone in the country.

However, we do have chickens and grow lots of vegetables! I am always trying to convince my husband that we have enough room for a pig and a miniature Jersey cow, but so far he has failed to believe me. Perhaps he just needs a little more time and little more working. What we do have is plenty of room for are lots of free roaming chickens and more vegetables than my children care to eat.

Everything is grown organically, although since we are not certified organic we are not able to call our produce “organic”. I would love to be organically certified some day, but at the present time, it’s just not something I am able to pursue. However, you can be assured that everything from Sunset Bay Farm is grown without the use of pesticides, chemicals or any other non-organic substance.

We are allowed to say that we are all-natural, but I find that sometimes the use of that term can be misleading. There are many things in this world that are natural, but that does not mean I would use them to grow crops. Often you will find that people will use this term when they are not certified organic, but what you may not know is that they probably aren’t able to be certified due to the use of certain “all-natural” chemicals.

Sunset Bay Farm does not fall into that category! We do not use any fertilizers, or amendments that are not certified for organic growing. This means that you will always get 100% pure and natural produce and eggs from us. Remember, the same produce you buy from us, is what I feed to my family!