Saturday, March 31, 2012

Why I'm becoming an urban chicken & duck farmer:


1. Higher in Nutrients ! Fresh eggs from your back yard or even farmers market are higher in nutrients and lower in cholesterol. I am feeding my chicks Layena Omega 3 feed to help increase my omega 3's even more in the eggs we'll get. 

2. Fresh eggs! Store bought eggs can be 30 days old by the time they get to the store !! I don't want harmful chemicals used to clean or de-stain the shells that I eat. The natural bloom (coating on the shell from the chicken when laid) protects the eggs from bacteria naturally and increases shelf life for storage. With this being said, you need to be careful how you wash your eggs. Since the eggshell is porous bacteria like e-coli can contaminate through those pours. Fresh eggs do not need to be washed. I know, shocking right ?! But seriously they don't, unless there's poop or blood on them. Washing eggs can actually push e-coli, if there's any, into the egg itself due to the pours opening up during washing. When your eggs come from your coop or local farmers market they are much more cleaner than the commercial environments and contamination is far far less due to much better living conditions. All eggs sold at the store are washed even the organic eggs and the USDA regulations regarding chemicals used to wash or sanitize eggs is vague. If you must wash your eggs wash them after they have been refrigerated for a while to the pours are smaller and less risk to get e-coli in your eggs. Eat safe, buy local :)

3. Cost. Start up cost is obviously more than purchasing eggs at the local grocery store, but the accessibility and health benefits pay off for me. I will have access to fresh eggs whenever I need them. I will have farmers market eggs that usually sell at $5-6 dollars per dozen for free. I will also have duck eggs that are going for $8.00 a dozen here locally.

4. They make great pets! My duck Duckie (the yellow one pictured above) is our new guard duck. She is the guarder of our flock and lets me know if there is a stranger around, if they need water or food, if there is a chicken away from the flock and so on. The chickens are less maintenance than a cat. The ducks are a little messier than the chickens but still pretty low maintenance. They also are getting along nicely with our two big dogs. Of course Duckie is boss though, the dogs respect that !

While the chicks are adorable and the coop takes a little work to get together the long term benefits will far outweigh the cost. 

Friday, March 30, 2012

Ducks first swim! 

Swedie and Duckie experiencing their first swim in the bath.

Chickens & Ducks


My most recent addition to being more self sustainable and eating more healthy is adding some chicks & ducks for eggs! Wilco & Costal farms still have some in stock if your thinking about raising some of your own. Mine are about 6 weeks old now and covered in their feathers. I have just taken away their heat lamp and helping them acclimate to the outside weather by keeping them in the garage. Their chicken coop is just about done. We have been building one in the backyard for the last few weeks. Our area has lots of raccoons and neighborhood cats so we made sure to make it raccoon and cat proof. Here's some pics..  

 



































Roxie at a few days old

Back left: Roxie, Mom's chick, Swedie. Front: Duckie, Buffy

Dad helping build the chicken coop

Dad

Duckie now ! 6 weeks old

Left to right: Buffy, Roxie, Mary, Swedie

Roxie @ 6 weeks

Chicken coop currently. Tim added a door that I can reach in easily to get our eggs :) 
Hello everyone! I have finally started a blog to pass on my thoughts and ideas about 'Back to Basics.' In this time of economic stress and uncertainty I want to share my ideas of how to spend less money on the necessities and share ideas on how to eat and live more healthy.

My idea of Back to Basics: Gardening, being self sustainable, food storage, emergency prep/sustainability, making use of the land you have and your resources to help you live more healthy and have more healthy food available. And a little bit of everything :)

Welcome all and I hope to share some ideas with you to help you spend less at the grocery store and rely less on the grocery store for your healthy food needs.