My journey with chickens began when my husband and I moved out of suburbia and onto 6 tree-filled acres in rural Tennessee, mid-2021. After repurposing an old doghouse into a very nice chicken coop, we headed to the local farm-supply store and came home with six Easter Egger pullets. My granddaughter carefully named member of the new chicken flock: Brownie, Cherrybit, Elfaba, Graybeard, Littlefoot and Penelope.
After eight weeks in the garage, we introduced the flock into our beautiful condominium of a chicken coop and anxiously waited for eggs! After carefully guarding and coddling them, we slowly let them free-range.
On the first day, two mysteriously disappeared, and we realized we weren’t the best chicken parents. We didn’t let them out for another three weeks until we felt that letting them out for short periods during the day was safer.
Rookie Mistakes
I still remember our surprise when we got our first eggs in December of that year. We were told they wouldn’t lay eggs in the dead of winter, so imagine our excitement when we discovered our first beautiful blue and brown eggs around Christmas at the age of 26 weeks.
The following spring, I headed back to the local store and picked up four more pullets. I also couldn’t resist the baby ducklings in a tub nearby. That was certainly a mistake! The two Peking ducks were adorable but quickly grew fat and really didn’t fit into the chicken coop world.
They were huge and also made a huge mess in the coop. They waddled, honked and really weren’t very nice, although they seemed to think they were part of the chicken family!
Our egg production plummeted, and after two months, I was ready to relocate the ducks to a nearby farm with a pond. They immediately took to the water, and I realized they were in a much better place. Afterwards, some normalcy returned to our coop!
Meanwhile, we needed more chickens, and the egg production was not going well. I found someone selling 12-week-old pullets at a nearby farm and came home with seven young hens and a rooster for our chicken flock! Our coop was flourishing.We were really feeling like irresponsible chicken owners by now, but we were determined to make a happy and safe place for our chickens. We lined the coop with a second layer of wire which we hoped would raccoon-proof the outside. During this time, we also trapped and relocated two raccoons that were stalking the place every night (caught on our trail cam). They would open the food-can lids and pretty much terrorized our chickens at night. I felt like this really contributed to the poor egg production, plus we kept finding shell-less eggs.
After relocating the food, we set about trying to solve the rubber egg problem. We always provided crushed oyster shell, but our chickens weren’t too interested. This is when we decided to introduce the shells of the few eggs we were getting into their diet. We would dry the shells overnight, pulverize them in a mortar and pestle, and then sprinkle this in their food every day. It seemed to do the trick, as over the next couple of weeks, the shell-less egg phenomenon subsided!
Time for More
We have lost many chickens over the last two years due to encounters with foxes, raccoons, unknown predators and illness, but our chickens are happiest when they can free-range. Hopefully our rooster, dogs and cats will keep them safe and happy enough to keep giving us eggs.
What a fun and egg-citing adventure keeping chickens has been. We can’t wait to see where this takes us. Having a rooster has gotten us into the business of hatching our own eggs. Out of six incubated, five eggs have hatched. We already have plans underway to enlarge our coop and improve our run for our expanded family of chickens to safely free-range.
Life with chickens has lots of ups and downs, but overall, we recommend it to anyone who has patience and time. While it has been a learning curve, we know we have so much more to learn!
Alison Davis is a retired medical technologist, mother
of four and “Nana” to three grandchildren. She and her husband recently moved from Nashville, Tennessee, to 6 acres nestled on a ridge in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, where they enjoy tending their garden, orchard, chickens and dogs.
This article originally appeared in the September/Ocober 2023 issue of Chickens magazine. Have a great story about your flock? Email the story of your birds in ~750 words to chickens@chickensmagazine.com (subject line: Chicken Chat). Be sure to include high-resolution images of yourself, your chickens and/or your coop. The author of each issue’s published essay receives a prize from one of our ad partners. (See print magazine for rules. Sponsor: EG Media Investments LLC)
In springtime or shortly after bringing new pullets to the flock, the gravity of the number of eggs a small flock of hens can produce settles in. Couple a laying flush with chicken math—the equation that proves a few more chickens won’t hurt a thing—and you can end up with many dozens of eggs per week. This is what happened to Missy Singer DuMars, of Crown Hill Farm in Eden, New York. Also a business coach, she thought about the enterprising advice she might offers to someone with excess product, and she launched an egg CSA. Since 2018, she delivers a dozen eggs—accompanying shares of vegetables and more—to CSA shareholders in Buffalo every two weeks in the spring, summer and fall.
CSA is community supported agriculture, a partnership between farmer and consumer. Consumers—called shareholders or members—pay upfront for a share of the season’s farm products. The intention is for members to share in the risks and the rewards of farming. If the farmer has a great year, shareholders get an abundance. If the farmer has a less-great year, shareholders might receive less. In either case, the members’ upfront commitment helps to fund the work of the farmer for the year to come.
If CSA makes sense for vegetable producers, why not chicken keepers, too? In this article, learn the basics of egg CSAs and decide whether this could help your hens pay for themselves.
First, The Chickens
While the existential chicken-or-egg question remains, in the case of running an egg CSA, it starts with the chickens.
“I personally prefer the heritage breeds, so my eggs are a little smaller than the standard egg sizes. My customers love getting rainbow boxes,” Singer DuMars says. “I want a different range of color of eggs, and I pay attention to the average number of eggs per year. I aim for the higher layers where I can. And I also pay attention to which ones are cold hardy and are better foragers because they’ll be pasture raised.”
Three heritage breeds she especially appreciates are Salmon Faverolles because of their good looks, Brahmas for their large eggs and foraging abilities, and Welsummers for their dark, speckled eggs.
The ideal breed for your egg CSA will be one that thrives in your climate, lays consistently and is a pleasure to care for.
courtesy Andrea Wenglowskyj
Designing an Egg CSA
Just as there’s no one best chicken breed for an egg CSA, there’s no one best CSA design for every chicken keeper. Thoughtful planning is the key.
The Number of Shares
Singer DuMars kept chickens for about a year before offering an egg CSA. From the beginning, she recorded the number of eggs she collected each day on a paper calendar. This enabled her to look back over the year and see the ebb and flow of egg production. Since then, Singer DuMars started using the Mother Hen app to record her egg inventory, sales and expenses. Your recordkeeping can be as simple or complex as you’d like. The important part is that the system works in a way that makes sense to you.
Knowing what your chickens are capable of is an essential first step. These numbers hold the answer to the question you’re likely already asking: How many egg shares could I offer?
Consider the eggs that will inevitably be cracked or too gross to share. Expect about 4 percent of your eggs to have cracks, according to Manitoba Agriculture. Consider whether you have eggs committed to other markets. Singer DuMars used to offer 20 to 22 egg CSA shares and then scaled back to 15 to 16 because she supplies eggs to chefs, as well.
Also consider how happy you are with the size of your current flock and what adding or taking away a few hens would do to egg production and expenses.
Let’s say you have 20 hens that lay an average of five eggs each per week over the course of 20 weeks. Subtract 4 percent of those eggs as seconds, and you have 160 dozen eggs, or eight dozen each week throughout the season.
The Frequency of Shares
Weekly shares are probably the most common CSA pickup offer. The consistency of knowing how many eggs are going out the door each week is nice. Biweekly shares are another option, and this is the way Singer DuMars runs Crown Hill Farm’s CSA program.
“I did that for a few reasons,” Singer DuMars says. “No. 1, two weeks was enough time between deliveries to build up enough egg supply when I had a really small flock. Also, as a single person myself, I always felt like when I participated in CSAs, it was too much too quickly, and I would waste food. So I formulated my CSA with a combination of not trusting my consistency of weekly delivery and wanting to serve the single person or the smaller household.”
The Season
Peak egg production happens at a different time of year than peak vegetable production, which inhibits some vegetable CSAs from also offering egg CSAs. In much of the Northern Hemisphere, chickens are laying best in early spring. In New York state, that’s March through May, while outdoor vegetable production gets rolling in June.
Singer DuMars offers a 12- to 14-week spring egg CSA from March through May and another season from June to the first week of November.
“I try to get chicks in mid-February so that way they’re starting to lay a little bit in August, September to augment as the older ones are slowing down for the winter,” she says. “Their first eggs are little, but I’ll mix and match them in a carton.”
She welcomes 16 to 20 new chicks to the flock each year, and hens live out their lives on her farm, so she has hens of all ages laying all the time.
She also undersells her flock’s egg-laying capacity. “That way I kind of extend my inventory by a couple weeks at the end when things slow down,” she says. “Even though in the spring I have a lot of extra eggs beyond what I need for my CSA, I try not to sell out completely of those.”
Using first-in, first-out egg stacking, Singer DuMars always offers the freshest eggs, regardless of the time of year.
Cavan/Adobe Stock
The Other Options
It seems to be that eggs are an afterthought to a CSA. This wan’t the case for Singer DuMars, who started the egg CSA before starting the vegetable CSA.
Her reasoning was that she was more confident in her chickens’ ability to produce eggs than she was in her own ability to produce vegetables as a beginning farmer. Now she offers her own eggs and vegetables, as well as meats, baked goods, mushrooms and cheese from other producers. Let’s not forget duck eggs, as well, which Singer DuMars sells out of each year.
There are all kinds of ways to have a CSA.
Your Customers
Skyrocketing grocery-store egg costs in 2022 put a dent in consumers’ argument that farm-fresh eggs are too expensive. Singer DuMars’s soy-free, pasture-raised eggs are $7 per dozen. For her customers in Buffalo, the convenience of biweekly availability and the understanding that the eggs were produced by local hens living in humane conditions factor into their willingness to pay.
“Know your customers, or decide who your customers are, and be in service to them,” Singer DuMars says. She values transparency with her customers. Especially because our society has gotten away from cooperative agreements, navigating a CSA for the first season can be confusing for some shareholders.
A newsletter with each share and a slip of paper in the carton explaining how to wash and cook the eggs help with this.
Singer DuMars has found that with consistent communication, her shareholders are forgiving when she owns up to making a mistake. “I ran out of eggs once, so I replaced them with some vegetables, and [shareholders] were grateful and happy,” she says. “If you set expectations with your customers, then they’re not surprised, and they won’t be upset. On my signup page for my CSA, I explain what a CSA is and that it’s not a subscription, it’s not a guarantee, that a CSA takes both the reward and the risk.”
Egg Sales Rules
Setting up a CSA doesn’t exempt you from egg-sales laws. Each state has them, and you can learn yours from your state department of agriculture. Egg laws may govern things like egg washing, refrigeration, use of cartons, label requirements and more.
Most laws are based on the number of eggs you sell or the value of the eggs you sell. It’s possible that your operation falls below the threshold of egg-sales laws—however, this doesn’t mean you should ignore the laws altogether. Purposefully ignoring food-safety rules will lead to trouble if a shareholder were to become ill in connection to your eggs.
By putting your hens to work with an egg CSA, you can bring in funds for their feed bill, provide good food for your neighbors and educate more people about the reality of how their food is produced. It might even be just the excuse you need to add a new breed or two to your flock.
More Information
Egg CSA for Hire
Keeping chickens isn’t for everyone, and you could be the chicken keeper others look to for collaboration.
Jen and Jeff Miller, at Prairie Wind Family Farm in Grayslake, Illinois, raised their own chickens for years and transitioned to sourcing eggs from Joe’s Farm in Three Rivers, Michigan, in the past few years.
“He raises hens that produce eggs that we believe in,” Jen Miller says. “We prefer pasture-raised using regenerative farming methods to add nutrients to the soil and provide for animal health, as well.”
Collaborating allows the Millers to focus on providing a great CSA for their shareholders and to support other farmers. In addition to their fruit and vegetable CSA offerings, the farm has the option of a range of egg CSA seasons: spring, early summer, late summer, fall and winter, and a full-season package. They typically sell out.
“We begin taking orders in October, as that’s the premise behind CSA,” Miller says. “Members make an upfront commitment so we have the time and resources to prepare for our farming season.”
She thinks the egg CSA has allowed more people to take part in their CSA program, as eggs are delivered even in seasons they’re not growing produce.
“We love building community, and egg CSAs are a great way to build a shared appreciation for all that goes into raising hens, especially into the winter season, which is no joke for Midwest farmers,” Miller says.
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2023 issue of Chickens magazine.
Muck’s the Edgewater (above) offers an all-terrain outsole for protection, grip and stability; a self-cleaning outsole for mud, snow and dirt; and a reinforced, protective rubber shell, focusing on the heel and toe. The upper is composed of neoprene and rubber, making it 100 percenr waterproof.
Keen’s Women’s Ridge Flex Waterproof Boot
Keen’s Ridge Flex is designed to reduce the energy each step takes and offer traction, grip and support with a quick-dry lining for those muggy summer days.
Twisted X Women’s 9-inch All Around Work Boot
These farm boots from Twisted X have a removable, moisture-wicking, antibacterial and machine-washable molded footbed, stitch reinforced toe and heel, and integrated spur ridge.
Brunt Workwear’s Marin Soft ToeBoot
This Brunt boot offers triple-layer waterproofing and a oil- and slip-resistant, rubber-skinned sole. A removable insert allows the boot to go from regular to wide fit.
Hawx Men’s Radian Waterproof Western Work Boot
These pull-on farm boots with composite toe from Hawx are engineered to reduce ankle pressure and shaft tension while protecting you from electrical hazards. The full-grain leather boot has a slip-resistant rubber outsole.
Georgia Boot’s Eagle One
This steel-toed waterproof work boot from Georgia Boot is quipped with full-grain SPR leather; a wide platform shovel shank; and an oil, chemical-, abrasion-, heat- and slip-resistant rubber outsole. Each boot has an AMP memory foam footbed.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2023 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.
You’d be surprised how easy it is to lose small bits of metal on a farm. Nuts, bolts, nails, screws, wires, drill bits … the list goes on and on. Finding them is the tricky part. Losing small pieces of metal can range from annoying (you lose a washer in the grass) to problematic (when the nut works loose from a hitch ball and it falls off somewhere in a 5-acre field) to dangerous (when the demolition of an old barn leaves nails scattered around your farmyard).
You might say, “I won’t be careless enough to lose pieces of metal like that,” but it happens to everyone and is part of farm life. You might be minding your own business one day, adjusting the height of a hay rake, when piiiiiiiiing!!! You remove a nut and a compressed spring sends an important washer careening who-knows-how-far across the yard. Been there, done that.
Fortunately, farmers have options for recovering lost metal items. Depending on the specifics, you can try a metal detector, a magnetic sweeper, or both.
A metal detector uses coils of wire to, well, detect metal. When sweeping it back and forth across the ground, the machine will give an alert when it passes over metal.
A magnetic sweeper is much simpler, using a strong magnet to attract and pick up pieces of metal. Often the magnetic sweeper will be installed on wheels so it’s easy to roll back and forth across the ground.
Both tools have their uses. Let’s explore their pros and cons.
Magnetic Sweeper
A magnetic sweeper is a quick and easy way to pick up pieces of metal scattered across the ground. Spill a jar of screws? The sweeper will pick them right up, saving you from crawling around on your hands and knees, and making sure you’ve plucked every one out of the grass.
But a magnetic sweeper isn’t flawless. Not all types of metal are attracted to magnets. You’ll be good to go picking up iron and steel, but copper and aluminum will be disappointing. And if the lost pieces of metal have become trapped in yard thatch or tall grass, the magnet might not be strong enough to pull them out.
Metal Detector
A metal detector is an awesome way to find lost pieces of metal. I can attest, I’ve gone on just-for-fun “treasure hunts” around my farm with a relatively inexpensive metal detector, and it has turned up all sorts of relics inadvertently left around by my family and by past farm occupants: fencing staples, nails, pieces of welded wire and barbed wire, hunks of metal evidently broken off old farm machines and more.
A metal detector will locate a wider variety of metals than a magnetic sweeper, and it will find the metal even in tall grass or when the metal is buried in the ground. But unlike a magnetic sweeper, it won’t pick up the metal for you, so once you’ve nailed down the right vicinity (“It’s beeping over this spot!”), you’ll have to get down on your hands and knees to find and pick up the metal yourself.
The good news is, both magnetic sweepers and metal detectors save time and effort when you’ve lost small pieces of metal on your farm. They’ve come to the rescue countless times for me, so why not add both to your toolbox? There will likely be many occasions when you’ll be thankful to have them.
They say necessity is the mother of invention, right? Well, if you’ve run out of ideas to make the most of your cucumber harvests in the kitchen, why not harness the power of these prolific fruits for your face!I’ve always been cucumber curious and love growing lots of different varieties. This means there comes a time when I have too many cucumbers and even my friends and neighbors refuse any more.
So, at the end of the season, once I’ve canned, fermented, relished and made every variety of cucumber salad imaginable, I start juicing and freezing them! You can use overgrown cucumbers for this project too, which I love. As hobby farmers we hate to see anything we grew go to waste, right?
Note: I can also say that using cucumber juice in a margarita or mocktails is really refreshing too!
Cucumber Health Benefits
Cucumbers have many benefits for your overall health. Because they’re 95 percent water and contain electrolytes, they’re known for being one of the most hydrating foods, a great option after working in the garden.
Plus, a single cucumber holds around 40 percent of your daily recommended vitamin K, plus around 15 percent of A and C. Cucumbers also contain many antioxidants including flavonoids and lignans—but be sure to eat the cucumber skin for maximum vitamin benefits.
But you can still benefit from all these nutrients via your body’s largest organ—your skin!
You’ve probably all heard of placing slices of cucumbers on your eyes to reduce puffiness. Well, there’s some serious science behind that. Cucumbers contain caffeic acid, which can reduce water retention in skin, especially the thinner skin around your eyes.
Cucumbers also deeply cleanse while brightening the skin. Because of the cucumbers’ high amounts of vitamins C and A, they can help regain elasticity and build collagen, too.
DIY Cucumber Cubes
I find that two medium large cucumbers blended to a puree fit nicely into an old school ice cube tray. You’ll need twice the cucumbers if straining out for juice. I don’t mind using the pulp, too, but be aware that, even though blended, there will be some “solids” left as you use the ice cubes.
I often use these on my face while taking a hot bath!
Deseed any large and tough seeds. Remove any blemishes or bruises, but leave as much skin on as possible.
Use a blender to puree. You can either use as is or strain out the cucumber juice.
I really like the simple single ingredient cucumber cubes, but I have made and enjoyed these other combinations as well.
Cucumber + Green Tea
Mix 1 to 1 with prepared green tea and cucumber juice or pulp. Freeze in cubes and rub over face to really reduce puffiness.
Cucumber + Aloe Vera
Mix 1 to 1 with aloe vera gel and cucumber juice or pulp. Freeze in cubes and rub over face to soothe and hydrate.
To Use
Wash your face prior to using the cucumber cubes. Rub the cubes in circular motions over your face for three to four minutes, making sure not to stay in one spot too long. Rinse and moisturize as normal.
Fall is a welcome break for sheep and goats. Cooler weather and shorter days are a relief for animals as much as people. Fall also ushers in breeding season and is a great time to perform seasonal maintenance for each animal on your farm. Delaying flock maintenance can cause a multitude of issues including careless breeding and anemia.
Take time now to follow these steps for the health of your sheep this fall.
Evaluate
Check Eyelids
Check each animal’s eyelids for signs of anemia (usually from parasites).
Trim Hooves
Hooves should be trimmed at least once a year. Especially muddy seasons require trimming more often. Check for hoof rot and overgrown nails.
Examine Mouth for Sores
Common viruses cause mouth sores in sheep and can spread among the flock. Make sure they don’t show any signs of blisters or infection in their mouths and in their teeth.
Check Wool
Check wool for any wool break, often a sign of stress or lice. Malnutrition also causes wool break. If you notice patches of wool missing, determine the cause and, if necessary, treat the problem.
Medicate
Make sure and gather all the medication you might need before catching the animals and be prepared to give right away. Having all medicines within your reach will save you time and frustration if you notice any of them actually need to be administered. Consult your veterinarian for dosage.
Here are a few medications we keep on hand for fall flock maintenance.
Antibiotics for any infection on mouth, hooves or anywhere else
Vitamin B12 could be used if they show signs of weight loss and need a boost.
Sort
Separate the males and females. This will allow you the time and ability to flush feed the females before turning them back to the males for breeding. Flush feeding gives the females’ bodies the best chance for a viable and healthy pregnancy. Flush feeding also creates the optimal chance for multiple pregnancies.
Know Your Timeline
A sheep’s gestation period is 152 days. It is not advised to have lambs in the harshest period of winter. Keeping your males and females sorted will help inform your timeline. The end of February is the earliest we plan to start lambing season.
Once you are ready to turn your females back to the males, sort them according to breed to ensure the lambs you hope to produce.
One decade ago, Jenny and Will Ledlow bought 6 acres in central Oklahoma, where Jenny dove into hobby farming. Raising a vegetable garden, pigs, guineas, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and quail, Jenny provides most of the family meals and a lot of fun. Plus, through social media and farmer’s markets, she sells what the family doesn’t use.
“I’m not a quail expert,” Jenny says. “But I’ve had poultry since I was a kid. I learned quail care online, reading books and through years of experience. After reading about quail, I decided to try raising them. In 2014, I hatched around 20 quail eggs that I bought online. I chose coturnix quail because they are fast growing, very productive and fairly easy to care for.
“Quail are not a big investment, and they can provide eggs and meat for people without land. Plus they are quiet and small.”
Quail-Raising Basics
During the first four weeks, Jenny feeds her quail game bird starter. Then she switches to game bird feed, kale, herbs, lettuce, cucumbers, corn on the cob, mealworms, berries and insects.
For living quarters, Jenny says, “Housing needs to be safe and easy to clean. Most people who raise quail for eggs use stacked cages with roll-out spots for eggs. Metal, wood and wire are common materials used. I move my housing according to the weather. I like movable pens that are about 4 by 5 feet because it is easy to move them outdoors when it’s nice and onto a clean area so I can clean the previous place where they were. It also lets me add things for them to do such as sand boxes, clumps of grass and dirt, and places to hide.
black coturnix quails
“I protect my quail from predators using small wire on the pens or hardware cloth. Or I move them indoors. I never allow them to free range because coturnix quail are not native to Oklahoma. Also, they would be eaten by cats or other predators. I’ve seen them raised with chickens, but I haven’t tried it. I house them separately from other birds.”
In winter, Jenny’s quail are in sheds, chicken coops and Will’s shop. In summer, Jenny keeps the quail in the shade and monitors for fresh water. One summer she kept them in the garage with a window air conditioning unit.
The Value of Quail Eggs
Coturnix begin laying tiny, spotted eggs at 6 weeks of age. Jenny says they lay any time during the day and during all seasons, including winter (depending on the quails’ ages and housing).
“The chicks hatch in 18 days but can hatch earlier or later,” Jenny says. “They are similar to baby chickens, but they need food, water and bedding changes a lot more often. There are special food and water containers for quail chicks. Plus, they need a heat lamp until fully feathered.
“The eggs start developing at around 99 degrees in an incubator, or underneath their mothers. I have only had a couple of quail try to hatch their chicks, and it never worked.”
coturnix quails
Jenny spends 10 to 20 minutes daily gathering eggs, replenishing food, water and sand, and inspecting for injuries. She fills the feeders and the water containers, and spends an hour weekly cleaning the cage/pen and providing new bedding.
“The eggs taste similar to chicken eggs,” Jenny says. “I’ve read that quail eggs have about 15 calories each, and more protein, iron, riboflavin and Vitamin B than chicken eggs. Many sources say they are a super food, and that they can help with health issues such as diabetes.”
For incubation purposes, Jenny stores eggs on the counter. But she cleans the other eggs and stores them in the refrigerator. Although soaking eggs in white vinegar makes the shells come off more easily, removing the shells is still tedious work. She pickles eggs for salads and snacks. As well, she fries and boils eggs, and uses them in recipes.
She says they are great in Asian soup recipes. For recipes, keep in mind that three quail eggs equal one chicken egg.
As for challenges, Jenny says, “The males start fighting around 5 weeks old. If you aren’t fast about separating them, they will pull the skin off the heads of other males. There are different colors of coturnix quail, but only a couple are color sexable, including Pharaoh and Italian. Females have spotted breasts but males don’t.
“Starting with one of those colors makes it much easier to separate the extra males early.”
Quail are great for meat, eggs and pets. By June 2023, Jenny owned 150 quail, but she says to start small, with five females to every male. Don’t mix different ages because older birds will hurt younger additions. If there are bird wounds or food buildup, change the setup.
“Seeing the range of colors in one carton turns peoples’ preconceived notions about what an egg is,” says Annie Dye, who runs TheChicks Next Door in Red Hook, New York.
These days, Dye cares for a flock of over 100 chickens at her micro farm and has gained a reputation for producing vibrant arrays of rainbow eggs, but it turns out she originally embarked on a markedly different career path. “I ended up working in gemology in the diamond industry in New York City,” recalls Dye. “But when I moved upstate and when COVID hit, it was finally an opportunity to have the space and land to keep chickens and do something.”
Taking time out from overseeing the flock, we spoke to Dye about chicken social networks and the eye-catching appeal of speckled eggs. We also got to hear about head rooster Napoleon.
An Early Farming Imprint
little chick
“Growing up in Ireland, we had dear family friends who had a small farm and some of my earliest memories are being on that farm,” recalls Dye of her formative steps into farming.
“I remember being with the cows as they were milked, feeding the chickens and being with the sheepdog. We’re talking the age of 2 or 3, and I think it just imprinted on me.”
The Chicken Social Network
Walking Chickens
Asked about pleasantly surprising examples of chicken behavior, Dye says that her flock have developed very intricate social networks.
“There are very definitive social groups within my flock,” she explains. “I did not expect such complexity in the pecking order and their friendships. I have seven roosters, and they all have their own harems. It’s just fascinating to observe.”
All Hail Napoleon
When it comes to Dye’s current flock, she says head rooster Napoleon is the star personality. “He’s a small rooster, hence the name, but he’s the boss of the flock,” she explains.
“He’s a black Phoenix, and he’s a powerhouse. He doesn’t have to do much to maintain his status—he has this quiet authority and although he’s small in stature, he’s very respected by everyone in the flock. He’s a calm ruler.”
Vibrant Speckles
Chicken Eggs
Dye says that people tend to naturally gravitate towards very vibrant and speckled eggs. “Some of the turquoise blues just get that wow response, and then you couple in speckles and that has the biggest impact for people,” she says.
“But seeing them displayed in a rainbow in all their varieties, that’s what has the most impact as opposed to just one color,” she continues.
Humbling & Healing
Reflecting on the nourishing nature of spending so much time around chickens, Dye says that it feels “very humbling and it’s very healing.” She adds that while chickens are some of the most abused animals in the world, she finds “being able to raise them humanely and care for them is very humbling.”
Plantain is an excellent plant for a first herbal introduction. It has multiple virtues that we can share with beginners and kids. And it’s found almost everywhere people have stirred up the earth, walked and mowed frequently.
Of course as always we want to avoid anywhere that cars drive to avoid chemicals on the plant. But you’ll have no problem finding plantain in other places!
Plantain
Plantago major or broadleaf plantain is quite common in temperate zones. Plantago lanceolata or narrowleaf or ribwort plantain is usually nearby as well but additionally thrives in coastal and riparian edges.
The parallel veins running along the leaf, from the base of the stem to the top of the leaf edges without intersecting, is one of plantain’s signatures for identification. Here we find plantain so abundantly that our biggest challenge will be to find the fresh green leaves.
We might notice broadleaf with its more widely spreading rosette of leaves. Narrowleaf plantain, conversely, has almost needle-like leaves. Plantain flowerheads are similar to one another. As always enlist an experienced botanist or herbalist to help you identify it in person for the first time. And the second!
A Digestive Aid
Plantago ovata is the desert Plantain known around the world as psyllium. Psyllium seed husk is sold in many forms as a digestive tonic, helping to add fiber to our diets. We need this fiber to cleanse intestinal linings by gently scrubbing like a toothbrush in your guts.
There’s a slimy quality imparted by a cold water soak of the seeds in your yard that can be incorporated to help loosen stuck pockets in the guts while also soothing them. The seed husk part of the plant used for these over-the-counter supplements can be found in our temperate plants, but the processing it would take to get enough seed husk from these tiny seed heads is daunting for most of us.
You can notice the seed husks this time of year, when you find those slender-stemmed seed heads standing taller than the basal rosette leaves.
narrowleaf plantain
In the Leaves
The leaves are what I celebrate most in plantain. I eat them in salads and praise their fresh juices. I dry them to make tea in winter and to infuse them into medicated ointments like salve and bathing washes. I freeze some strained tea for winter enjoyment as well.
Like jewelweed, plantain can be poulticed up in the field. But unlike jewelweed, plantain is best poulticed by chewing the leaves in your mouth.
I’ve introduced many people, including children, to herbal medicine for the first time this way. When a person gets a bee or wasp sting while playing in a soccer field or other open, frequently mowed spaces, we are able to quickly remove venom using nearby plantain that readily offers itself up for picking.
To work with the poultice, I will break off a fresh green leaf and chew it up so that it’s a wad in my mouth with saliva. I spit out the green saliva with plant bits and place the whole mess directly on the sting.
Feel the heat of the sting cooling as plantain’s drawing action pulls things out. Once the relief wears off and the pain or heat comes back, repeat with a fresh leaf at the ready to chew while gently wiping the first poultice away. Then add more plantain-spit-poultice immediately. Repeat and repeat over the next half hour, even after the heat of the sting has gone, to get the rest of that venom out and keep that sting from swelling and itching all day.
Note that this will definitely only work for those with mild swelling reactions, not dangerous allergic reactions.
A Healing Tea
Plantain’s been known to help my family pull foreign objects like splinters and even glass, as well as the venom of stinging insects, excess fluid from a blister or otherwise infected punctures. But of course don’t spit-poultice an open or serious wound!
A tea of boiled water, strained and added to herbs prepared by your local herbalist, will better serve than a poultice there.
During a course on gut health, jim mcdonald pointed out the virtues of chewing raw plantain leaf throughout the day to let the cooling juices run into the mouth and down the throat and esophageal linings. This can reduce irritation that comes from conditions such as acid reflux. I’m experimenting with this method for mouth complaints.
Chicken keeper, gardener and author Frank Hyman talks about his gardens, chickens, books and more.
Hear about Frank’s books, Hentopia: Create a Hassle-Free Habitat for Happy Chickens and How to Forage for Mushrooms Without Dying: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide. Hear about the design of Frank’s chicken pagoda—not just a coop—and some of the time-saving chicken-keeping projects in Frank’s book and his backyard. Learn about the origins of How to Forage for Mushrooms Without Dying and how Frank is advocating for all of us to let loose of our fear of fungus.
Get to know Frank’s unconventional vegetable garden-ornamental garden-“lawnlet”-chicken area. He shares some garden-design tips, including what Frank calls his No. 1 horticultural technique. Hear about Durham, North Carolina’s, zoning ordinances for lawns and chickens, too.
