Chickens, and things related

[JESSE1]

That's a pullet egg. They'll get to regular size as the chicken matures.

I've got 15 African geese. The oldest ones are 11 years old now. The hens start laying in early spring and have just now stopped laying. A goose egg equals about 3-4 chicken eggs. They're great for any type of baking, makes great cornbread or pound cake. Only problem is that the shells are very hard and tend to get chips of shells in with the eggs. Just adds a little bit of calcium. I feed the geese a 50/50 mix of hen scratch and laying pellets.

 

[Tororider]

That's a pullet egg. They'll get to regular size as the chicken matures.

QUOTE]

Yep. I knew they would be smaller, just didn't realize they would be that small.

Got another egg yesterday, I would really like for them to learn where I want them to lay though. Hopefully in time.

 

[dooleysm]

dooleysym

Are those layers straight run or 'meats'?

Roosters are usually the bigger ones, and ones most likely to start crowing. Quality of the crow is usually the rating for the quality of the pot. The worse the crow the more likely to be in the pot.

I've got (had) 24 straight run 'brown egg layers'. I got them from a guy on craigslist who hatches eggs he gets from another lady. He said they are a mix of Rhode Island Red, White Rocks, Barred Rocks, and maybe a few others. I guess there are several different breeds of roosters running around with a bunch of different breeds of hens, so who knows what I have. Only 1 of the roosters has started crowing, and he's noticably more 'roosterish' than the others.

We butchered 4 of them last weekend. They weren't nearly as big as the Cornish X's I helped my wife's uncle butcher last year. They were tasty enough, though a bit chewy, not bad.

Over on the chicken board everyone talks about how great their home grown chickens and eggs taste. Honestly, I can't tell a bit of difference in the flavor of either.

 

[Tororider]

I honestly don't seem to notice too much difference in the taste of the eggs, haven't done meat chickens yet. I am doing it more for the hobby/pet aspect of it, and to know what is going into my eggs/chickens.

 

[tony123]

Toro, glad to see your getting eggs!

I truely do taste the difference in the eggs. Don't know yet on the meat.

 

[PineRidge]

The wife and I can taste the difference in the fresh eggs also. That's one of the main reasons for going to the trouble of building a coop.

My wife will have the hens all named 15 minutes after they hit the coop and other than eggs she'll never eat anything she names.

 

[Tororider]

Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that there isn't a difference, only that I can't taste it. I guess I don't have a sophisticated enough pallet(sp?)

 

[JESSE1]

I'm not sure you're going to taste a big difference between cage and free-range eggs. The difference is going to be in the richness and color of the yolks. Eggs that come from chickens that forage will be almost orange in color and not the pale yellow that store-bought eggs are. The eggs my geese lay are a rich orange color. Really makes a difference in the appearance of baked goods.

 

[ihookem]

I buy eggs from two farmers, one has white eggs and the chickens stay in the pen. I also buy eggs from a farmer who lets them free range. I can't taste a difference but the free range brown eggs have a darker yoke. By the way, I just took my Cornish Cross chickens in for the butcher. I did things different this year. I fed them 24% diet all nine weeks and let them run in the yard to eat clover and some bugs. They averaged 5.4 pounds each but 2/3 were roosters.They were the healthiest chickens yet. They could actually jump and run when the others could hardly walk and would have some die of heart attacks at 5-8 weeks. I didn't eat one yet but I'm sure they will be good. Just in case anyone wants to raise meat birds.

 

[dooleysm]

I bushogged around the chicken coop and pen last week, first time this year. I was out there looking around yesterday and found a couple of 'nests' in the area I mowed. There were 2 whole eggs in each nest and a few broken eggs in each one that I could tell had been there a while. They were all the same type of egg. I have 3 hens that are laying and I can tell each of their eggs apart. One of them has apparently been sneaking up there to lay her eggs. It's the same one that occassionally lays on the floor of the coop. I cracked open the whole eggs and could tell they had been there a while, they were pretty ripe.