Diana, what about adding a section on raising your own backyard chickens? I’m very interested, from the reading the coop and feed are the most expensive part, I checked out hatcheries they want as much to ship as for the chicks. With the price of eggs climbing weekly, and the heavy use I thought it would be a good way to stop paying the Big 10 food companies. And have fresher eggs.
I think raising chickens is a great topic, and we have a few FReepers here that raise them.
I used to raise them in a big way (50 hens at any given time) at my other farm and sold the eggs to a local deli and right from my farm when I had extra beyond what my family would eat each week.
Right now, Beau is clearing a spot in the barn where the milking parlor once was and is building us a coop. It may not be finished until NEXT Spring, but that’s OK. I’m regretting ever giving up ‘my girls’ in the first place; especially now!
It’s a HUGE topic with lots of ideas/opinions, so let me think on it and gather some data and I will do a separate ‘General Chat’ post on the subject. :)
Gail, apparently you can’t just eat eggs and get the benefit of protection against covid. Somehting evidently needs to be separated out, then injected in order to get the possible protection. That is what one poster stated the other day. I was bummed out as I eat eggs regularly, but we still get good stuff from eggs, so there’s that. Home raised “free range” are said to be pretty good for us- but store bought ones do somehow add in extra nutrients to some of their lines of eggs.