Chicken days

Our small flock of birds moved to a new area two weeks ago. They have a lot of green grass and fat juicy worms to feast on. Within days of moving them, the yolks in their eggs became deep orange. The previous chicken run was disked and then reseeded. The chickens will return to that run later in the summer.

We are lucky to have In Season Farms in the Fraser Valley. They are willing to deliver feed to small farms like us. This is the auger sending feed down to one of our feed barrels this morning. Shortly after the photo was taken, the truck got stuck trying to leave the farm. I didn't take photos of the tractor pulling out the feed truck. I don't think anyone would have appreciated the visual record.

All About Our Eggs

One of the questions we get every week at the markets concerns whether our eggs are from Free Range chickens. We actually spend more time talking about our eggs and hens than any other topic with customers. So, here's some info.

To be certified organic, eggs must come from free range hens. This means outdoor access, no cages. In our case, our small flock has access to half an acre of green space to roam, plus a spacious coop where they roost, feed and lay their eggs. They also have a covered space outdoors and a dust bath (which helps with controlling parasites).

Our hens get a diet of certified organic grains, plus access to oyster shell to help their shell strength. They also get a large dose of greens from our vegetable production, including beet tops and extra lettuce, chard and kale that comes back from market. They also eat greens growing in their chicken run (various grasses and weeds) plus a healthy dose of insects and worms that they scrounge from the earth.

It is the access to greens and bugs that give our hens' eggs a rich, dark yolk -- due to the
presence of organic pigments called cartenoids, found in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants. But in case you're worried that the richer yolk is bad for you, here's some info from a 2007 study commissioned by Mother Earth News -- Truly free-range eggs had:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

Now, although the colour of the yolk indicates healthier eggs, the shell colour is irrelevant. Shell colour is determined by the breed of hens (i.e. it is a genetic trait). For example, brown colouring comes from the pigment protoporphyrin. This comes from haemoglobin in the blood; the pigment is added to the egg during its formation. There are heritage varieties of hens that lay different coloured eggs (blue, green, etc) but these are generally not available commercially because the hens often have lower productivity than breeds used in commercial production today.

Our chickens play an important roll in our overall farm operation. The manure we get from the birds is composted and then used to nourish the soil for our fruit and vegetable crops.

Finally, there's the issue of price. Simply put, it costs more to purchase organic feed and to maintain the space required for free range hens. Our farmers market cost of $5.50/dozen doesn't actually leave us with a very large profit margin at the end of the day. But we think the price (lower than most store-bought organic eggs, higher than conventional battery cage eggs) is worth it.

Chickens in the Night

Jeremy, me, and chickens; barreling down the #1 Highway.

The stars peek curiously at us in the early darkness, the moon grins on the horizon.

Who would have thought that I, an urbanite not 3 weeks ago, would be a part of a midnight chicken run."They're Hy-Line Brown" the man had said as I watched, captivated as the chicken catchers in their full body jump suits and loose plastic foot coverings put aside their cigarettes long enough to chase down 300 chickens. Now there's a job I didn't know existed.

The barn sits ready, the new hay and wood shavings still settling in the air from our earlier "interior decorating". It's a pretty swanky place for a chicken, several times the size of my tiny home on the farm (I could take this the wrong way, but instead, comfort myself in the fact that they will each have 299 flatmates).

Soft clucking and an atmosphere of confusion permeate the air as we unload 30 crates into the barn, the chicken's heads poking out the sides like hopeful inmates.I open the first crate and shine my headlamp onto our newest residents. The chickens maintain their positions, side by each in the crate. I had hoped that they would all just, you know, get out when I opened the lid.

The next half hour consists of flying feathers (and chicken poo), squawking, scratching, and attempts to roost on my fingers, arms, and whatever is within claws reach. My visions of a Snow White-like relationship with the animals on the farm slowly melt away.

Finally, the crates lay empty and a quiet sense of relief passes over me (and the chickens) (and Jeremy (although he appears the least ruffled of all of us)).

Not the most bizarre Friday night of my life, but certainly up there.

Waiting for the sun

I've neglected doing a posting for a while amidst various other tasks and taking some down time before the start of the season. Here's a summary of what's happening on the farm these days as we get into the spring season.

Most of the potatoes went into the ground a couple of weeks ago. There's one bed's worth of spuds still waiting . . . the weather changed faster than they could be dealt with. Kale and Collards also went in.

In fact, I was away for the planting. A good friend was getting married in Ottawa (he must have wanted farmer friends present, because March is a great time to attend weddings in terms of workload and schedule adjustments, not to mention airfares and hotel costs). That means Jeremy was hard at work doing much of the work solo. Word is that we was in the field one evening, working on the tractor in the dark with spotlights on trying to beat the rain.

Since then we've been waiting on the weather to dry up and warm up again. The early start we had in February has evaporated and we're back to a slow start similar to the past couple of springs.

Nonetheless, the warm February has brought about an early crop of flowers. The daffodils are almost finished and tulips are in full bloom. We purchased hundreds of bulbs this past fall when they were on discount (end of season) from a bulb company. As a result, we have a whole new array of spring colour on the farm. This adds to the multitude of daffodils already present, planted by farm shareholders in past years. The results are visible in the photo at the top of this post.

Our 2010 CSA is now full with a small waiting list. We'll consider whether or not we can accommodate the waiting list later today.

We had the chickens slaughtered on Thursday, which means we have a freezer full of stewing hens and a break from the daily chores related to feeding, collecting eggs, packing and such. I'll have another blog post finished soon about slaughter day (I'm sure you can hardly wait). Thanks to BC's meat regulations we can't sell these birds because they were slaughtered on-farm.

The other major event has, of course, been the arrival of the new baby goats. Six kids (four male, 2 female) were born to four does in mid- to late-March. It's a manageable number. It'll give us the ability to increase of milking herd in the next year or two with the two females and provide us with a good supply of farm meat next winter from the boys.

New goats bring about a whole set of tasks ranging from monitoring feeding from the mothers to removing horns and castrating. As of this weekend we're also milking three of the adult goats -- a daily event at 6 a.m.

Milking got off to a shaky start. We put the kids in a separate pen overnight. The first night is noisy across the farm. Babies cry much of the night and does make their displeasure known. By morning the maternal instincts lead some of the goats to fight us for the milk.

Last night, however, the kids seemed settled into the new routine (they pile together under the manger) while the mothers realize that they get a full 10 to 12 hours without babies -- not bad for a break. They aren't as uncomfortable with us milking in the morning either. The kids still feed all day, so everyone is happy.

I recalled the other day that at their last farm the goats listened to the CBC during milking. Having constant voices seems to sooth them, but I wonder if they will produce differently based on the host. I imagine they would prefer Radio 2 over Radio 1, especially at 6 a.m. We'll have to give this a try!

The one last activity of the season is to do taxes. Agricultural taxes are a bit more involved than I did in my past, but I still refuse to pay someone to do my taxes. I'm really trying to get this done in the next few days of heavy rain. Once the weather turns it'll be too busy outside to worry about catching up on paperwork.