by Winding Pathways | Nov 7, 2024 | Birds, Chickens, Garden/Yard, Nature
Cardinals and other birds visiting wintery backyard feeders need grit. They’ll appreciate finding some near the sunflower seeds and millet.
The old saying that something’s as scarce as a hen’s teeth is as true for the chickadees, cardinals, and goldfinches that visit backyards as it is for the hens in our coop. Birds have no teeth. Before they can digest coarse corn and wild seeds it must be thoroughly chewed. How do they do it?
What Is Grit?
Seeing birds along wintery roads solves the mystery. They’re picking up and swallowing tiny pieces of rock that will descend into their gizzard. A gizzard is a powerful muscular pouch that grinds tough seeds against grit, resulting in a seed slurry that then moves through the bird’s digestive system. Grit is a bird’s teeth.
When Is A Good Time to Spread Grit?
Birds flock to the seeds.
During warm months birds have no trouble finding tiny stones in bare patches of earth, but when the world is blanketed in snow or ice, they can’t find grit. Winter is when they appreciate swallowing a few tiny stones near bird feeders.
What Types of Grit Are Best?
As we fill our feeders at Winding Pathways, we sprinkle grit in with seeds and dribble some on the ground. We use two kinds of grit. When we have it on hand, we prefer baby chick grit that we buy at a farm store. It is tiny pieces of sharp quartzite that’s especially effective in grinding seeds in a gizzard. It’s sized for tiny baby chickens, so it’s just right for backyard feeder birds. When we don’t have it on hand we use regular sand. Traction and kid’s sandbox sand both work well and can be purchased at most home supply stores.
How Much Grit?
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Birds flock to the seeds.
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Sprinkle grit once a week to help birds in the snowy season.
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Spread grit when the ground is snow or ice covered.
Birds must have grit, but they don’t need much. A handful in and around feeders once or twice a week is plenty.
Other Uses
Grit’s useful around the house. When walkways are snow-slicked humans are mostly likely to slip and fall. Tossing grit on slippery walkways creates traction for people and may prevent a painful fall. Birds spot it there and occasionally pick up a few pieces. We keep about 50 pounds on hand and use most of it for traction and just a tiny fraction for our birds.
This winter when filling bird feeders scatter a bit of grit. Cardinals and other birds will appreciate it.
by Winding Pathways | Aug 15, 2024 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Chickens
First eggs are a delight to find.
August 26th brought an unexpected and delightful surprise. We found an egg in our coop! Bringing the garden season’s first tomato, cucumber, or summer squash into the kitchen is always an event to celebrate, but it doesn’t compare to the excitement of finding the first egg.
We were expecting eggs soon, but not so soon. Our tiny baby chicks arrived from Hoover’s Hatchery on April 10th. It normally takes a female chick about 20 weeks to mature and lay her first egg. Some old-fashioned breeds don’t start laying until they’re 24 or even 30 weeks old.
We expected our small flock to start laying around Labor Day, but our first egg came when one of our pullets, or young hen, was only 18 weeks old. It was surprising.
Odd Shapes
Sometimes calcium does not form on eggs.
A hen’s first eggs are small and sometimes shaped oddly. Sometimes these early eggs can be found in stores marked as, “pullet eggs”. After a few weeks of laying, her eggs reach medium or large size. Sometimes early in a hen’s laying life, she’ll lay a whopper of an egg with two yolks. It’s startling to crack an egg into the frying pan and discover that second yolk. As her reproductive system matures her eggs will be more uniform in size, shape, and have hard shells, and eggshell tint.
Best Breeds
Hundreds of chicken breeds have been developed since the species was domesticated thousands of years ago. They come in a vast array of size, feather color, temperament, and productivity. The best breed is the one its owner likes.
Our 12-hen flock at Winding Pathways is a mix of egg laying superstar breeds and traditional breeds that don’t lay at a furious pace. We like them all. It’s hard to beat Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, or California White breeds for early and plentiful eggs. We have a few but round out our flock with Brown and White Brahmas, Mystic Onyx, Buff Cochins, and a Rainbow.
Fall Chicks
Most families buy chicks in the spring, but fall is also an ideal time to start a flock. Babies hatched in September begin laying by January or February’s baking season.
For detailed information on breeds and chicken care visit Hoover’s Hatchery Website.
It includes blogs filled with tips and Facebook Live Videos filmed at Winding Pathways.
by Winding Pathways | Sep 7, 2023 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Chickens, Garden/Yard
What’s Egg Color Got to Do With It?
An array of jewels. Photo by Lisa Ramlo.
Are brown-shelled eggs better than white-shelled ones? Supermarkets sell all sorts of eggs. Brown or white shell. Free range or not. Organic. Vegan. Prices per dozen vary greatly. How is a consumer supposed to buy the freshest and tastiest egg?
We’ve been raising chickens for decades and have kept hens that lay white, brown, and even blue and green-shelled eggs. All are laid by birds of the very same species. The nutritional value of an egg is the same no matter what its shell color. Taste varies depending on how fresh the egg is and what the hen ate. It is independent of shell color.
Brown Eggs: Most supermarket brown eggs are laid by hybrid hens, often called ISA Browns. These were developed from the somewhat large Rhode Island Red breed. They may be raised in cages in enormous factory farms or come from a smaller free-range flock. Brown-shelled eggs may be free-range or organic……or not.
White Eggs: Almost all supermarket white eggs are laid by White Leghorn hybrids. They are smaller-bodied hens than brown egg layers and are commonly raised in cages in enormous chicken factory farms.
Blue or Green Eggs: Rarely seen in supermarkets, these beautiful eggs are laid by the Araucana breed or hybrids developed from them. These hens are common in backyard flocks.
Organic: If labeled organic the hens are supposed to have been fed feed raised according to organic standards. Eggs marked vegan or natural may or may not be organic. Be wary of vegan eggs, as hens are omnivores. If they encounter insects, worms or meat scraps they’ll readily devour them.
Cage Free: The hens that laid these eggs normally are crammed into a large building but are not confined to the tight space of a cage. They may, or may not, have access to the outdoors.
Free Range: This is tricky. Supposedly free-range hens have ready access to the outdoors, but there may be only a tiny outdoor run for thousands of hens to enjoy.
How To Tell If Eggs Are Fresh
Store-bought eggs are a pale yellow with runny whites. Fresh eggs radiate a golden hue centered in a firm albumen.
Nearly all egg cartons claim that the eggs inside are fresh, but what does that mean? They could have been laid six weeks earlier. To tell if an egg is fresh, fill a deep bowl with water and gently put an egg on the surface. If it sinks it’s reasonably fresh. If it floats it’s old. The reason is, a fresh egg has a small air cell. As it ages, moisture leaves through the porous shell and the air cell grows, making the egg buoyant.
The white, or albumen, of a fresh egg, will be relatively deep when cracked into the frying pan. It will spread out widely and be flat in an old egg.
How to Tell if Hens are Truly Pastured Raised
Most commercial eggs come from hens fed a specially prepared diet that provides all the nutrients they need but little else. The eggs will have pale yolks. In contrast eggs laid by hens with ready access to green vegetation will lay eggs with deep orange or yellow yolks. Some premium chicken feeds include marigold petals that impart deep color to the yolks.
Choosing the Highest Quality Eggs
It may take buying several dozen differently marketed eggs to find the freshest, tastiest, and most attractive eggs. Although the least expensive eggs usually come from factory farms, the best eggs aren’t always the most expensive. The very best will be fresh and have a boldly colored yolk.
For information on chicken breeds scan the Hoover’s Hatchery Website . For general information on eggs and recipes check out the website of the Egg Industry Center.
by Winding Pathways | Nov 3, 2022 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Chickens
Well, our Ninja Hen is at it again. A neighbor, watching the hens for us, entered the barn one morning to find the California White strutting around inside the barn but out of the coop! Looking around, our neighbor also found a small white egg in a depression in the sand in a tucked-away corner of the barn.
After some coaxing, Ninja Chicken hopped back into the coop through the door our neighbor had opened.
Reinforcing Didn’t Work
You may remember an earlier blog where we explained that Rich had blocked off all the areas he could see where she might be able to fly up to and escape into the barn. All was well for several weeks.
Meanwhile, Houdini Hen (aka Ninja Chicken) was figuring out how to “fly the coop” so to speak.
And she did. One morning, we too, found her again proudly prancing around the barn. She looked at us and seemed to say, “Haha. You can’t keep me in!” But, she could not quite figure out how to get back into the coop.
How in the world did she escape?
We looked around and found over in a far corner another gap between the chicken wire and the ceiling. The wire was bent down so we speculate that she worked at bending it when she landed on the wire and eventually had enough space to squeeze through and roam the barn at will laying eggs in that cozy little corner. The wire is straightened and the space is now plugged with plywood. Will she figure out another way to escape? We’ll know in the next few days.
Lesson
Our Ninja Chicken
This hen continues to teach us something. Chickens are not dumb clucks. This girl used intelligence to find an exit and demonstrated amazing athletic ability getting to and through a relatively small hole up high near the ceiling. And she is first in line for snacks, too.
by Winding Pathways | Oct 20, 2022 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Chickens, Garden/Yard
One of our 14 chickens is a true American Ninja Chicken. Most of us know the TV program American Ninja Warriors where athletes navigate extreme obstacles to beat the buzzer. Well, this gal, a California White, is right up there with the most athletic of them all.
Our American Ninja Warrior Chicken begin to lay eggs at about 20 weeks.
Like most hens, when she reached about 20 weeks old, she laid her first egg in our coop. Then another a couple of days later. Then, none. And, none the next day. That’s unusual. When a hen starts laying, she’ll usually continue.
One evening, Rich counted the hens. There were 13. Hmmmm. Where’s the 14th? Had she met her fate? After recounting three times, checking the run, and scratching his head over this mystery, came a cluck from the attic of the barn. Could she have made the tortuous way up through the rafters into the barn’s attic? Naw. No chicken could do that. Then we remembered that another California White hen had laid eggs in the barn attic. So, Rich got the stepladder and checked anyway.
There she was up in the barn attic above the coop our second American Ninja Chicken proudly looking at her freshly laid egg.
Are Ninja Chickens Dumb Clucks? Not Really
A chicken myth is that they are dumb. Everyone “knows” that. Nope. Not true. To get into the attic our hen had to be both smart and athletic. Brains figured out a pathway through rafters, plywood, spools of wire, and stored items. Athleticism got her there. She negotiated an obstacle course like what we watch on TV’s American Ninja Warrior.
Once she reached the barn attic, she found the darkness and privacy hens appreciate when nesting. Unlike human ninjas,
The American Ninja Warrior Chicken wormed her way to the barn attic.
there wasn’t a buzzer to ring when she got up there, but her clucks gave away her presence.
We admire her athleticism and smarts, but laying eggs up there won’t work. We need to easily collect them. So, we spent a morning plugging up any possible route to the attic.
We may have succeeded. Today’s egg was in the coop, but we’re certain she’s trying to figure out how to again reach the attic. She might outwit us.
When do Chickens Start Laying Eggs?
Female baby chicks usually start laying when they are 16 to 24 weeks old. Of the many breeds of chickens those that lay white eggs are relatively small, agile, and intelligent. They can worm their way into inaccessible places and fly like a pheasant. In contrast, most brown egg layers are heavy and cumbersome, and struggle just trying to get airborne.
Our American Ninja hen is a California White, a Leghorn hybrid. She’s small, fast, agile, and determined and lays white eggs – in the attic of the barn.
by Winding Pathways | Jul 7, 2022 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Chickens, Garden/Yard, Nature, Weeds
Chickens in run
A chicken run is one tough place for plants to live, and our run at Winding Pathways is even tougher than most.
Every day we let our chickens roam around the run. A bright baking sun broils the sandy soil all day long, so it’s hard to imagine that any plant can thrive there. And, chicken run plants face another challenge. The birds love greenery and usually devour every plant they find. As a result, most chicken runs are just bare dirt that’s either dusty or muddy.
Flower and leaf
Big Bracht Verbena (Verbena bracteata), sometimes called Prostrate Vervain, is up to the challenge. It carpets our chicken run. We didn’t plant it. Verbena moved in on its own. Hopefully, our chickens enjoy viewing the plants’ tiny soft blue flowers.
Big Bracht Verbena is common across much of North America, but it’s easy to overlook. Rarely causing problems, it lives in the most difficult environments. The plant thrives in hot dry gravel soil along roads, in vacant lots, and in sidewalk cracks.
We like having this humble plant in our chicken run. It covers the soil, eliminating mud that follows rain. Chickens absolutely won’t eat it, but they love snatching the insects lured to the plant. It needs no human care, but we sometimes mow it if it gets a big shaggy by late summer.
Foraging among verbena
One of nature’s mysteries is how plants have adapted to thrive in all sorts of environments, even harsh ones. Hats off to Big Bracht Verbena.
