Chicks, Mayonnaise and Personal Responsibility

June 12, 2014

Animals, Chickens, Food, Thoughtstylings

...ou may be able to keep your own laying hens, as we do. This is why we keep chickens–to enjoy eggs without guilt. You may even be able to raise meat chickens, depending on where you live. Just be aware when buying chicks from a hatchery or feed store that if you buy sexed females it is possible that their brothers were all killed at hatching. It depends on the breed you’re buying. If it is a dual purpose breed, rather than an egg production breed,...

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Lead in Backyard Eggs: Don’t Freak Out But Don’t Ignore the Issue

Mr. Homegrown

March 11, 2019

Animals, Bees, Lead

3 Comments

...rial as needed. To further prevent ingestion of contaminated soil, provide chickens’ regular feed in feeders, and avoid scattering feed, including scratch grains and food scraps, on bare ground. Also, avoid feeding chickens unwashed garden scraps from these areas. Consider providing a calcium supplement, which may help to reduce the amount of lead that gets into chickens’ eggs. While we got a free test out of the study (thank you UC Davis!), you c...

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Fabulous Postcards from HenCam

Mrs. Homegrown

October 2, 2013

Animals, Reviews

...ally like how the pictures show the intimacy of people with their pets and smallstock, and their pride in these animals. Though few of us are farmers now, most of us come from farm people if you go far enough back. The land is in our blood, and as those of us who have rediscovered the joy of keeping smallstock, whether those be bees or hens or goats, our connection with animals comes right back, too. And of course, we love our dogs, whether we’re...

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Chicken Cannibalism!

Mr. Homegrown

August 27, 2007

Animals, Chickens

9 Comments

...e if that will help as there is a minority opinion in poultry farming that chickens resort to cannibalism as a result of protein deficiencies. Most commercial poultry farms take care of cannibalism by cutting off beaks when the chicks are around 4 to 6 weeks old. We believe beak trimming along with the associated practice cramming chickens in “battery cages”, as pictured above, to be inhumane. For more on the behavior of corporate agriculture read...

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