Roots and Wings Homestead

03/09/2019

Its time to be thinking of the year ahead.

Planning the garden, looking into buying new chicks for egg production. As well as turkeys, ducks and geese.

Looking into farmers market sales or direct sales.

10/25/2017

08/12/2017

Peeping toms, thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.

08/06/2017

Why do chicken coops only have two doors? Because if they had four they would be chicken sedans! I figured we needed a dad joke in here!

07/31/2017

Looks like we have some new layers in the flock.

07/23/2017

Roots and Wings Homestead

07/14/2017

More than a million hens, filling barns at three per square foot. And yes, they're USDA Organic

We are not certified organic because we let our animals live and be able to happy. That means dust baths, eating things in the flowers and garden. And most of all free.

Of all the cartons of organic eggs sold in the United States, more than 1 in 10 originates from a complex here that houses more than 1.6 million hens.

07/11/2017

Timeline Photos

07/08/2017

It was a great day at the market today. Sold out of eggs, and was called the egg lady.

07/06/2017

Nothing like a nice Frolic in the rain

Happy animals

07/04/2017

I get asked alot lately what our animals do everyday. I think its awesome people think about animal welfare.

So this short video is of what they do in the morning after they get out of the barn.
They just so whatever they want, the pigs chill in the pasture. And the birds, go where ever and i mean where ever they want.

07/03/2017

Piggies and mud

06/22/2017

We will have cherries, raspberries, eggs, and a bit of garden produce at the New Castle Farmer's market this Saturday 24 June.

06/16/2017

Free range happy chickens amd turkeys. The ducks would rather be in the back pasture.

06/16/2017

Every bird can go where ever they want during the day, they all have the freedom to free range. Because they all come home to roost.

06/06/2017

Pool time for our piggies.

06/04/2017

Make sure to check us out at the New Castle Farmers Market on Saturdays 8am-Noon.

We have eggs for $2.50 market.

05/22/2017

Now we have the egg market license.

05/10/2017

Just filled the feeders, and it seems some of our birds heard that we put some good stuff in them.

So on the back porch they come.

05/09/2017

Rainy days don't bothered my birds one bit, it just means the worms are easier to find.

05/07/2017

Selling this many eggs equals 3-50lb bags of All Flock feed, and 1-50lb bag of scratch. . . And that's a weeks worth of eggs.

It's nice to see the chickens are finally pulling their weight around here.

04/30/2017

In order to keep feed loss to a minimum, we hydrate the pellets into a mash.

Everyone loves it! And they are all so impatient on waiting for it to be ready they "Flock" to me to wait for a handfed taste.

04/27/2017

What's the Difference Between White, Brown, Cage-Free, & Organic Eggs

Ok, so... for anyone who doesn't know yet... Here's some common confusions and facts about chickens. :)

Roosters are chickens (chicken is the species, hen/rooster refers to females or males, respectively)

The white strings in your eggs are not rooster s***m. They are chalaza--basically little tethers that hold the egg yolk in the middle of the egg so it doesn't bounce around in the shell.

Red spots in your egg are not a developing chick. Blood spots are the result of a small capillary bleed in the hen's oviduct, causing drops of blood to become trapped in the egg as it forms. A developing embryo would be gray in color, with a network of blood vessels surrounding it. Likewise, "meat spots" sometimes become trapped in eggs when a piece of organic debris is enclosed in the egg. Both blood and meat spots are harmless when cooked, but one could be forgiven for wanting to pick them out.

There is a white dot on the yolk. This is actually where the chick would form if it was fertilized and incubated. Unfertilized, it is a blastodisc, while fertilized, it's called a blastoderm.

You actually don't need a rooster to get eggs. Hens produce eggs regardless.

Eggs require three weeks of a steady temperature at or just below 100º F and consistent humidity of around 55% to incubate and hatch.

Eggs are refrigerated because it is required by law to wash them before they can be sold. Washing removes a protective layer from the outside of the shell, allowing bacteria to enter.

The chickens you purchase as meat in the store are a variety called Cornish Cross. They are a hybrid that was developed in the 50's, and they grow so fast that if they are not processed before they are 2 months old, they will die of organ failure or other complications. Roosters and hens alike are processed as meat.

The white eggs in the store are laid by a single color variety of a single breed: White Leghorn Hens. Leghorns have the highest feed-conversion ratio of any egg breed, meaning they produce the most eggs per pound of feed consumed. That is why they are the cheapest eggs--factory farms that keep them in tiny cages don't have to spend as much to feed them.

Egg color is determined by breed of the chicken who laid it. The quality of the egg depends on the hen's diet and health, not on the color of the egg shell. (for more info on this subject, check out this article: https://delishably.com/dairy/White-Eggs-vs-Brown-Eggs )

If there's anything else you've ever wanted to know about chickens but were afraid to ask, let me know. I'll be happy to explain it!

Odd factoids: the hen, not the rooster, determines the s*x of her chicks, AND she can "reject" the s***m of a rooster so no fertilization occurs from a particular mounting incident.

So. If you have a hen whose eggs you incubate, and you notice a high ratio of male to female chicks from her eggs, don't blame the rooster. Conversely, cherish her if she throws more pullets than cockerels.

Notice how a hen usually does a full body feather shake after being mounted? That moves s***m up into her body.

A hen which gets up and walks (or runs) away after being mounted WITHOUT doing that full body feather shake will not achieve fertilization from that particular mounting.

What's the difference, and why do brown eggs cost more than white? Learn all the egg vocab you need to know to get the best eggs for yourself!

04/15/2017

Some of the babies out and about.

04/14/2017

Our chicken Elsa as quality control.

04/13/2017

So it seems "Bigfoot" our Rooster has found his crow, and is now practicing. Practice makes perfect.

04/10/2017

This morning's activities include transplanting my cabbage seedlings.

04/09/2017

First day in the pasture.

04/06/2017

The best way to keep everyone entertained in this wet overcast day...

Is to mix scratch in some straw to keep everyone from getting bored.

04/02/2017

Starting to break up the ground where we are going to plan rows of sweet corn.

04/02/2017

Time to get the garden ready. We found a great deal on this rear tine tiller. So we will be putting it together Sunday. To prep the garden when it's not so wet.

03/31/2017

It was time to move some of the chicks to the big barn as well as our meat chickens.

03/24/2017

Beautiful mornings made the task of getting the animals outside easier.