8 ms·

I took on some caged hens (about 6months back now) that were off for slaughter to be turned into dog food. Straight away they took to the patch of land in my g

by xd 5y ago

I took on some caged hens (about 6months back now) that were off for slaughter to be turned into dog food. Straight away they took to the patch of land in my garden I gave them and laid eggs .. the eggs they lay are on another level to anything store bought. I can put a pan of water on boil over a stove; crack an egg into it and have a perfect poached egg 2-3mins later. They are creamy and rich as if they have life compared to what now tastes almost rancid in store eggs. Waking up at sun rise every day to let them out is a pain but more than worth it. That said I wouldn't recommend keeping hens unless you've had exposure to them on some level other than visiting a farm.

zwieback 5y ago
I added a solenoid-operated latch to my chicken coop that opened when the sun came up. I didn't like getting up at 4:30 in the summer. At night I still manually closed it since I had to make sure I didn't lock a skunk or possum in with the chickens.
- inetknght 5y ago
  > I added a solenoid-operated latch to my chicken coop that opened when the sun came up. That's pretty cool. Is it battery operated? Do you have your chicken coup next to your home or did you run power to the hen house?
  - zwieback 5y ago
    The coop was maybe 60 ft away so I opted for a battery that I'd have to recharge every few weeks. I don't have chickens right now but if I ever get more I'll use a small solar charger and maybe add a few more bells and whistles. I lost a lot of chickens to raccoons and hawks so maybe next time I'd actually do a fully enclosed chicken run.
- wiredfool 5y ago
  Funny, I had it auto open at 8am and close at civil twilight automatically, and it was the auto closing that was the much bigger deal for me.
inetknght 5y ago
> That said I wouldn't recommend keeping hens unless you've had exposure to them on some level other than visiting a farm. I recently bought a few acres in SE Texas and several people have recommend I raise chickens both for the eggs and also to help with some of the insects around here. Why don't you recommend it?
- omeze 5y ago
  Not GP but how'd you find the land? I'm from Texas (grew up but haven't lived as an adult) and was wondering how to find 1-2 acres
  - inetknght 5y ago
    I went through a half dozen real estate agents. After several months and false starts, I found a real estate agent who was close to retiring, loved driving far, and liked looking at rural properties. During the week she'd send property listings to me and I'd yay/nay them. Then on the weekend we'd drive around and see three or four of them -- literally all-day affairs on Saturdays and half-days on Sundays. That went on for several months. I moved from Houston to my new 5 acres in August after watching the housing market for a year and actively searching for a home for about 6 months. Honestly the real selling point is that this home has AT&T gigabit fiber :)
    - jdhn 5y ago
      AT&T fiber in a rural area? What's the closest major city?
      - inetknght 5y ago
        I'm 15 minutes from Cleveland.
      - lotsofpulp 5y ago
        I find fiber to be most rare in recently developed suburbs (1980s to 2000s) with buried utilities. It is too costly to dig and lay new fiber to the home underground. Stringing it along existing poles is cheap, and installing it in new underground utilities is cheap.
conradev 5y ago
This. It is all in the yolks. Farm fresh eggs from happy chickens can be a nice deep yellow/orange, whereas factory eggs are usually pale yellow. Of all of the farm products discussed in the thread, eggs show the biggest difference in my opinion
- gniv 5y ago
  Are you sure this is still true? I thought nowadays it's mostly what supplements they put in the feed. These supplements are sold exactly with this kind of promise.
  - philipkglass 5y ago
    You appear to be correct. "Handbook on Natural Pigments in Food and Beverages" Chapter 14 - Feed Additives for Influencing Chicken Meat and Egg Yolk Color Pigmentation of egg yolks and poultry tissues (mainly skin and fat) directly reflects the contents of carotenoids in the feed of birds. In most countries of the world, consumers prefer pigmented egg yolks, whereas pigmented poultry tissues are less desired. Especially in the southern part of Europe, eggs with a golden-orange tone of yolks are preferred. This is achieved by supplementing feeds of birds with both yellow and red carotenoids. For this purpose, nine carotenoids are approved as feed additives in the European Union, five natural and four artificial products, six with a yellow color and three with a red color. This chapter describes the ways of pigmenting egg yolks and poultry tissues, how to measure the achieved color, the factors affecting the color of the product, the deposition rates of carotenoids, and the contribution of carotenoids in egg yolks to humane intake. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081003718000142 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978008100... Here's one of these products from BASF: https://nutrition.basf.com/global/en/animal-nutrition/products/lucantin-yellow.html https://nutrition.basf.com/global/en/animal-nutrition/produc... Poultry cannot produce carotenoids on their own, which is why the color of egg yolks depends on the carotenoids combination in their diets. However, it is not only the quantity of pigments that matters but also their bioavailability and color intensity. With Lucantin® Yellow (C-30 ester) any egg yolk color between light pastel yellow and reddish is possible.
  - 5y ago

by xd 5y ago

zwieback 5y ago

I added a solenoid-operated latch to my chicken coop that opened when the sun came up. I didn't like getting up at 4:30 in the summer. At night I still manually closed it since I had to make sure I didn't lock a skunk or possum in with the chickens.

inetknght 5y ago
> I added a solenoid-operated latch to my chicken coop that opened when the sun came up. That's pretty cool. Is it battery operated? Do you have your chicken coup next to your home or did you run power to the hen house?
- zwieback 5y ago
  The coop was maybe 60 ft away so I opted for a battery that I'd have to recharge every few weeks. I don't have chickens right now but if I ever get more I'll use a small solar charger and maybe add a few more bells and whistles. I lost a lot of chickens to raccoons and hawks so maybe next time I'd actually do a fully enclosed chicken run.
wiredfool 5y ago
Funny, I had it auto open at 8am and close at civil twilight automatically, and it was the auto closing that was the much bigger deal for me.

inetknght 5y ago

> That said I wouldn't recommend keeping hens unless you've had exposure to them on some level other than visiting a farm. I recently bought a few acres in SE Texas and several people have recommend I raise chickens both for the eggs and also to help with some of the insects around here. Why don't you recommend it?

omeze 5y ago
Not GP but how'd you find the land? I'm from Texas (grew up but haven't lived as an adult) and was wondering how to find 1-2 acres
- inetknght 5y ago
  I went through a half dozen real estate agents. After several months and false starts, I found a real estate agent who was close to retiring, loved driving far, and liked looking at rural properties. During the week she'd send property listings to me and I'd yay/nay them. Then on the weekend we'd drive around and see three or four of them -- literally all-day affairs on Saturdays and half-days on Sundays. That went on for several months. I moved from Houston to my new 5 acres in August after watching the housing market for a year and actively searching for a home for about 6 months. Honestly the real selling point is that this home has AT&T gigabit fiber :)
  - jdhn 5y ago
    AT&T fiber in a rural area? What's the closest major city?
    - inetknght 5y ago
      I'm 15 minutes from Cleveland.
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      I find fiber to be most rare in recently developed suburbs (1980s to 2000s) with buried utilities. It is too costly to dig and lay new fiber to the home underground. Stringing it along existing poles is cheap, and installing it in new underground utilities is cheap.

conradev 5y ago

This. It is all in the yolks. Farm fresh eggs from happy chickens can be a nice deep yellow/orange, whereas factory eggs are usually pale yellow. Of all of the farm products discussed in the thread, eggs show the biggest difference in my opinion

gniv 5y ago
Are you sure this is still true? I thought nowadays it's mostly what supplements they put in the feed. These supplements are sold exactly with this kind of promise.
- philipkglass 5y ago
  You appear to be correct. "Handbook on Natural Pigments in Food and Beverages" Chapter 14 - Feed Additives for Influencing Chicken Meat and Egg Yolk Color Pigmentation of egg yolks and poultry tissues (mainly skin and fat) directly reflects the contents of carotenoids in the feed of birds. In most countries of the world, consumers prefer pigmented egg yolks, whereas pigmented poultry tissues are less desired. Especially in the southern part of Europe, eggs with a golden-orange tone of yolks are preferred. This is achieved by supplementing feeds of birds with both yellow and red carotenoids. For this purpose, nine carotenoids are approved as feed additives in the European Union, five natural and four artificial products, six with a yellow color and three with a red color. This chapter describes the ways of pigmenting egg yolks and poultry tissues, how to measure the achieved color, the factors affecting the color of the product, the deposition rates of carotenoids, and the contribution of carotenoids in egg yolks to humane intake. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081003718000142 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978008100... Here's one of these products from BASF: https://nutrition.basf.com/global/en/animal-nutrition/products/lucantin-yellow.html https://nutrition.basf.com/global/en/animal-nutrition/produc... Poultry cannot produce carotenoids on their own, which is why the color of egg yolks depends on the carotenoids combination in their diets. However, it is not only the quantity of pigments that matters but also their bioavailability and color intensity. With Lucantin® Yellow (C-30 ester) any egg yolk color between light pastel yellow and reddish is possible.
- 5y ago