Same here. My neighborhood doesn't allow them. But One Day Maybe!!! So, I'm in the R&R classroom reading every comment and soaking up knowledge just in case 😊
I’ve started water glassing eggs. I have nearly 200 in 2 different buckets. We’ve only been out here 8 months and we’re in a very hot climate, central Queensland Australia. Homesteading Family have a great video on it. We have a pretty insane political system going on here at the moment so we are doing our best to build community and preserve food. Love and best wishes to you guys. I watch you everyday and am hugely grateful for your insights and shared experience. God bless you guys ❤️🙏🏻
Don’t have chickens. Still enjoy learning about them. I do know chickens are tough, grew up on a farm we never used heat chickens survived just fine. Sometimes eggs did freeze tho. I live in Minnesota. Down to mid 20’s here at night now.
GOOD FOR YOU about waterglassing. I'm getting ready to do some here for the first time. ... AND, please know that SO much of the world hold you and all the people of Australia in prayers, high energy and good thoughts. This will pass. It is temporary. And a LOT of good things will come from this time. Deconstruction before reconstruction. Sending a long hug from Oklahoma.
When you started talking about chickens going off and hiding eggs I started laughing so hard. We've let the chickens free-range during the summer and fall to help with the flies. We were out in the bucks pasture moving their hoop house and I thought I heard birds chirping and it almost sounds like baby birds. I turned around to look in the tree but then I saw one of our hens sitting in the grass. I walked towards her and there were 8 little chicks tucked under her. It was the most precious thing I've ever seen. We didn't even notice that she was missing either lol. Also, our oldest chickens are almost 2 years old and this is the first time I have ever seen them molt. One of them is almost naked because she's lost most of her feathers. She's one of the more diva chickens, so it feels like a humbling experience for her. Also, Jill Winger has a video about water glassing eggs.
Don't you just want Ruth to be your best friend?? I love that show, have watched it so many times and always learn new stuff. That whole group has a lot of knowledge. Have your best day, Jess! ❤️❤️😊
If you want a step by step of water glassing eggs the Homesteading Family vlog has a good video on it. They explain the ratio of eggs to solution and how and where to store them for optimal longevity.
I make 3 dozen breakfast burritos at the time to use up eggs. Freeze individually wrapped and they are so handy to heat up anytime. Some with sausage, some with bacon. Add tater tots and cheese.
Now that I work at Tractor supply, I make sure to show all my chicken peeps the supplies on clearance to help them save money 😊 I cant wait to have my own one day
If you like the Edwardian Farm videos (I love all of the series they put out) then you might like Townsends! He does a lot of videos about life in colonial America and how they lived and cooked and preserved foods. Lots of great tutorials and historical references. I’m going to try curing egg yolks in a dry salt/sugar mixture next. They are supposed to be a great Parmesan cheese substitute when you grate them.
God told you to make this video just for me, didn't he? LOL I kid, but seriously, this was absolute perfect timing for me. This is our first winter with our new Rhode Island Red's and you just answered so many questions I had...not to mention, I didn't know anything about mites! Thanx Jess!! ~Kelly
Always a joy, even though I can’t have chickens yet due to location. Still in the classroom stage there. I do have quail and rabbits, just had 2 litters of rabbits for a total of 17 babies!
Having had a static coop for years due to preditor pressure I have never had a mite issue. I put down 5-6" of wood chips/mulch in their run and 5-6" of river sand in the coop. The sand keeps their feet clean and dries up their poop keeping down any smells and it is a perfect place for dust baths. After 2 years you get yards of compost from the run.
I do something similar but I use their grit - either granite or oyster shell under a layer of 6-8" of straw. This may seem strange but I keep a metal wash tub of light soil for dust baths in the winter. They love it along with a tray of micro greens. Mid-winter spa day for the girls :)
I use sand also and I like it for the reasons stated. River sand, coarse sand, all-purpose sand....it goes by different names, but folks should know that playsand and beach sand is NOT suitable. You want the sand to be coarse particles, not fine sand or powder. Here's the test: take a handful of sand and wet it, then close your fist and squeeze the sand like you're trying to wring out the water. Open your fist. if the sand stays in the shape of your closed fist, it is NOT the correct sand to use. If you open your hand and the sand falls away, it's the right sand to use for the chickens.
My current 25 girls have dropped from 17 - 21 eggs a day during the summer months to now only one or two daily due to molting. Back in mid-June when I was away from home for a week, I had my husband put our fresh (unwashed) 24+ daily eggs that he did not sell directly into our 2nd refrigerator. For the last 2 months he has been after me to throw out those eggs. I had 10 dozen in the fridge from June and had used about 3 dozen of them myself in September. About 4 days ago, I 'floated' 2 dozen eggs dated 6/12/21 and only had 3 that bobbed, but didn't all out float. Those 3 I tossed into the compost pile. I fried 3 of the eggs and had my husband taste all 3, as did I. I was amazed that they were still tasted 'days old fresh'. I steamed the remaining 18 eggs and have made Potato Salad, Egg Salad and Deviled/Stuffed Eggs. I've never tried water-glassing or freezing and I don't have a frreze-drier. Knowing that fresh, unwashed eggs can last so long under normal refrigeration, to me, is amazing. Have a blessed day from Fort Payne, AL. Patricia
Pickled eggs... my favorite lately. Over easy egg on top of burgers, salmon, chilli, stew, steak. Fried rice, ramen w/soft boiled eggs . So many things 😊💕🥚
STRATA! So easy and yummy. Basically, eggs and bread with whatever meat and veggies one desires added to it. I usually uses a sourdough type bread. Good way for her to use up eggs and practice with the sourdough. My boys absolutely love it. Quiches is another good one as they require quite a few eggs and milk. Although, to me, those feel like a bit more work with the prep of the crusts. I add roasted red peppers, onions, sauteed mushrooms, and breakfast sausage to my STRATA. Oh, and CHEESE...
I hope this doesn’t get me into trouble but, I made a mistake in the feed store one time and bought a 50 lb bag of cat food instead of dog food. I do have a cat, one small petite cat. It would take three years to eat 50 lbs so I feed it to my chickens and it was in the winter. My chickens laid during the coldest part of winter. I was told it was the high protein
I saw that BBC Edwardian Farm. It was cool, I learned how to make sloe gin among other types of booze.
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If you provide a dust bath, you don't have to manually dust each chicken. You can just add DE to the dust bath. For a mobile chickshaw, you could put a dishpan of fine soil, sand, and DE and keep it under the chickshaw so it stays dry. They also need a source of grit. They use it to basically grind their food, like you use your teeth. Without grit, they miss a lot of nutrition because it just passes right through instead of being properly digested.
My understanding was that most chicks outside will find grit in the soil? Is that not accurate?
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@@Alexis_9339 If you have a thick thatch on your pasture, they may not be finding adequate amounts of grit there. Also, all soils are not the same... some may be more silt than grit, it depends what your soil profile looks like.
Adding grit is indeed important and I always have a mixture of grit and crushed oyster shells available for them. The oyster shells are a source of extra calcium for their egg shells. And the ones laying always go for some of it first thing in the morning, before they eat.
Yes Jess, water flashing is 10 oz.. of hydrated lime per gallon. No need for refrigeration. Fresh Clean eggs 1 or 2 days old can be submerged in a glass jar for a year!💚💚 I bless you back.
I make 2 big quiches whenever I have extra eggs, uses 14 eggs. Call them egg pies if your boys might balk about eating quiche. Add sliced tomatoes on top right before you put them in the oven.
@@felicias.8680 I use Paula Dean's Spinach and Bacon Quiche recipe. It calls for 6 eggs but I add in an extra one and reduce the cream a little. I double the recipe. Be sure to add the slices of tomato on top. It's the best recipe I've found, but the tomatoes take it to another level.
Jess, I love those shows too! I have done waterglassing with hydrated Lyme for 3 years now. It works very well. There is a great video on how to do it by Homestead Family channel.
As someone who keeps chickens in MN, I feel as if I'm somewhat forced to keep my chickens in a static coop during the winter. Mostly for feed and water reasons but also to keep them dry. What Jess says about chickens being super winter hardy is very true and my girls will still go outside even if there's snow and it's well below freezing. The big key is keeping the coop dry and artificial heat can be a detriment to that. I do use some artificial heat but not like you would think Mostly it's just to keep water and eggs from freezing. Also I have found that if I put down a little diamatacious earth when I put down the first layer of deep bedding I hardly ever have mite issues even in my static coop.
I love the mini quiches and deviled eggs as snacks. Boiled eggs in salads, pickled eggs are awesome. Egg drop soup and stir fry with fried rice. My Dad use to put eggs in my grits…so good! Oh and boiled egg sandwiches, since you made that yummy sourdough. Chicken in a basket, where you cook an egg in a circle cut out of bread with a glass or cookie cutter. Just some ideas for all those eggs 🙂
THANK YOU! Owning chickens for over 15 years and this was very interesting. My chickens biggest worth to me isn’t eggs, but eating bugs in the yard. We used to have wolf spiders, crickets, toads, grasshoppers, fleas, ticks, etc. that kept me from enjoying my property. With these 9 lovely free range birds I still have a few bugs for the wild birds, but not the thousands that terrified me across every inch of the daily stroll.
I love that aspect also. Before I introduced the chickens onto our current homestead, hubby used to have a problem with worms in the ears of corn. We rarely find those anymore. We let our chickens roam the garden in the winter, once the tomatoes are done until we plow in May. We have very little bug damage. They also spread their fertilizer as they go. We empty the bedding from the henhouse into the garden and they spread that out for us too. And we enjoy sitting and watching them. I can't imagine life withoit chickens.
We are preparing to be tenders to. Everyone keeps saying how easy they are but it sure doesn't feel like it when you are learning. I'm thankful for the knowledge that Jess puts out.
@@JmarieD I will be honest and tell you that the first couple of months as a new chicken tender is kinda hard. At least it was for me. Having chickens in the house (I had no where else to put the brooder) drove me batty. Fortunately for all I was able to put them on the coop around 8 weeks. And I had wondered if I hadn't made a huge mistake in investing in chickens. But, I persevered, an soon I got in the swing of things. And I got attached to my 4 girls. A whole heck of a lot more than I thought I would. I am older and my body doesn't like to move like it used to, so cleaning the coop day isn't my favorite day, but thankfully that only comes once a week. It is work. No doubt about it. But I think it is worth it.
@@ramblinrosecottage5983 I hear you on the age thing. I'm not looking forward to the added chores. At this moment, it sounds eggciting.a new learning experience and adventure. But, I'm old enough with enough wisdom to know the twinkle will fade the first cold rainy or snowy day with a stiff North wind. We are making the coop so it should be easier to clean. Now get this... I'm afraid of chickens. - childhood "trauma". But, I've determined it's high time to get over my fear. I want those butt nuggets!!! Thanks for your honesty.
This is why I LOVE your content! I'm currently in the waiting room stage and I'm reading books about homesteading and chicken keeping, looking online, etc. But no matter where I look I ALWAYS learn something new when I watch your channel. Thank you for all that you do
I LOVED the Absolute History Wartime Farm series too. I didn't expect to learn as much as I did since it covers such a recent period compared to the Tudor Monastery or Victorian series, but they really brought to life how desperate Britain was for food during the early WW2 German naval blockades. I had no idea the government regulated the farms that intensely. And the description of recipes designed to cope with severe rationing made it very personal. It was fascinating.
Watching your videos for over a year now. My kids will hear your channel and ask "Mama, is that Farmer Jess?" Big fan. Love the channel, I have gained so much knowledge from what you put out and get a sense of calm and renewed excitement for gardening/homesteading every time I watch. Thank you so much :)
I like to make several quiches at once, portion them out, wrap in foil and freeze. Makes a quick lunch or brunch and uses plenty of eggs. We just throw them in the oven in the foil for 25-30 mins to reheat.
Excess eggs is a good time for quiche. You can freeze them and make them on those days when time gets away too fast. If you like quiche lol. My dad was the egg cooking king. Omelets for dinner!? I can't wait to have my own chickens
@@pamelaremme38 is this really a thing? Our big rooster just died about a month ago really suddenly and for no apparent reason...and we almost immediately stopped getting our normal haul of eggs. We went from 10-12/day to 3-6/day.
@@pamelaremme38 no, never hung him upside down...we always carry them cradled when we have to handle them. Haven't noticed anything unusual with the hens. We semi-free-range them...they are in a pen, approx. 25'x100' with aviary netting. We have a bad hawk problem. The original birds are about 2 years old and the new birds are not quite a year old. We thought something might be stealing the eggs, but whatever it might be would have to work at it to do so. Thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye out for the gulping/gasping. I know they do that when they're overheated, but it's been cold here (mid-30s) at night and upper 50s/low 60s during the day.
@@pamelaremme38 yes ma'am. It did get hot here. My wife just told me they stopped laying prior to the rooster dying. They always have water and food. I'm honestly thinking he may have choked on something...but I have no idea what.
For colder areas, there are breeds which are more cold hardy. One family I used to watch had chickens in Michigan with 3 walls of wood, one of screen with a people door. They said it is most important to keep chickens from getting wet and out of direct wind. The ventilation is what keeps them healthy. I specifically remember that closing down ventilation to keep chickens warmer makes them sick. I hope this helps.
I just watched and thank you for the mites hint. I hadn’t heard that one. Also, Don’t forget you can freeze dry your eggs. Living traditions and Deep South did it and they reconstitute “eggcellently”! I’ve done it too and it’s so cool 🤗
I LOVE the BBC farm series. Ruth(can’t remember last name) is such a go t of knowledge and so willing to dive in and get the work going! Edit: Font of knowledge
Suggestion- can lemon curd to use up a dozen eggs. Just today I was looking at canning recipes with lemons and I had no idea how many eggs were used for this recipe!
If you love lemon muffins, make a normal light sponge mix, put a desert spoon in the bottom of muffin tins, then add a heaped teaspoon of lemon curd, then another desert spoon of sponge mix. bake. then make a lemon butter icing (with grated lemon rind in) to swirl on top. YUM! :D
We are on our second year of water glassing. It's so easy and a great way to save a bunch of eggs. Just don't try to hard boil them. They explode. They are great for every other use, though.
So cool that you are a fan of the BBC historic farm series too!! I love that series, the war time one brought back so many memories from childhood and the stories my aunt and dad would tell me. I've been on the hunt for older cookbooks from that era and general farming stuff. So many practical inexpensive ways of doing pretty much everything. P.S I love your Spock jar on top of your cupboard :D
This post is sooo timely!! Thank You for addressing the cold weather issue. My girls used to get inside their coop before the door shut just fine during the summer but they are consistently not making it inside now. I thought they would make it inside the coop at the same level of light but I guess they like the time of day?
I've heard that lining the coop floor with a couple inches of sand is a good idea. If the chicken sits on the floor, the sand retains the heat from the bird and can keep them warm as well as giving them the ability to dust bathe through the winter. Also, quiche sounds like a yummy breakfast for using up all those eggs!
Hey Jess, another great video! You might want to get some Orloff chickens, which are from northern Russia. They aren't good layers during warm weather but excellent layers during winter. Murray's McMurray sells this breed as well as other varieties from Northern countries.
Hey Jess here is a recipe share to use a lot of eggs! German pancakes or over pancakes. I triple the recipe and either split between 2 10-12” cast iron skillets or one really big one. 3 eggs 1/2 cup flour (I use einkorn) 1/2 cup milk 3T melted butter Dash salt Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 min Reduce heat to 325 for 15 min. Great for breakfast with fruit and syrup or for dinner with sausage gravy.
Our Easter Eggers stopped laying in September. We have quite a few decent winter layers though, so even though we're now into the mid-20s at night the last few nights, we're still getting 9-12 eggs every day out of 34ish pullets. About 9 of them haven't started laying yet.
I love those shows! I watch them over and over. I make homemade eggnog with excess eggs, yes ,year round..delish! I also hard boil them in my insta pot and keep in fridge for snacks, lunches sandwiches, salads ect.
Here in South Dakota some of our chickens want to roost in the rafters of our barn. It was a milk barn with one open side and we have put hardware cloth along that open area. We put a piece of wood up to keep them from wind. We have a lot that do go in to the enclosed area. It gets very cold but they seem to do fine.
I'm posting before I even watched the video! I asked the gentleman where we get our eggs from (I am in Wisconsin) do his chickens ever stop laying eggs. He says they haven't, but he has a timer on a light in the barn where they nest because they need 14 hours of daylight (I believe that was the time he said). He's a fascinating older gentleman. :)
@rootsandrefuge if there's freezer space available cracking them into freezer bags or ice cube trays is always an option! They still make delicious scrambled eggs
I put some eggs in canning lime water last Spring. We've only have 6 layers right now. They're just starting to slow down. My Easter Eggers are the most consistent layers for us
I remember shaking DDT powder into the hen nests as a child! You bought it in a tube with holes in one end for the job.! Now I wonder how many things were used without us knowing how bad they were for us and the environment. 💕💕🌻🌻
Yesterday, I put down pine needles & leaves in the chicken yard not knowing about muddy feet causes them to stop laying. Their yard was just muddy. It rains a lot here from fall to spring. Now, I will be more diligent about keeping their yard dry. Thank you for the chicken tips.
I got my first chicks in February 2020 and they started laying early summer and were nonstop until their first molting coinciding with the atmospheric river rainfalls. Thanks for reminding me about Diatomaceous Earth. I use it to control yellowjackets and flies in the summer. Lemon curd uses lots of eggs and is my go-to recipe that makes a great gift. Sending love from my flock of Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Americaunas, and Copper Marans to you Jess.
Pamela remme mine never have done any of this sorry you have this issue hun . Hundreds of yrs ago they never put heat i with there chickens and did just fine .
Pamela remme and if you do get frostbite on your chickens is because you don’t have proper. Ventilation in your coops or runs . Truth be told. GODBLESS
Up in northern Canada we did put a heat lamps in the coldest parts of winter -20 to -50 Celsius...we put straw down in their coop..partly to keep the water from freezing in 5 min.
Lol throw back to some of the first R&R videos made. I think Jess even fell back into some of the same speech patterns. Hoping I will have a contract on a place by the end of the week and chickens next year! Fingers crossed for me please!
Waterglassing eggs is a fantastic way to preserve-- and so easy!. If you eat them within 7-8 months you can still fry them and they turn out well. This totally amazed me the first time I tried it. After 8 months, the whites become a little too watery. However, they still make great scrambled eggs, or egg bakes.
Eggcellent video! ;) I've tried the water glassing method and there's one thing I would add. If you have any eggs that the shell is thinner than normal; don't add those to the batch. I had a big batch stored up and when the time came to use the eggs, the very first egg that I pulled out was one with a thinner shell. Well, it busted as I was pulling it out and ruined the entire batch because it was rotten. Needless to say, I'm now guy-shy to try it again.
@Kimberly klmo it could be because the days are shorter. Are they molting? When I first got chickens they gave me eggs throughout the winter, but by the second year when fall came around they went through their first molt and stop laying. Do they free range at all? They could be laying them in a secret place.
@Kimberly klmo you're welcome. It could be just from the molt. I know mine will stop laying right before they start molting and it takes several months before they will start laying again. Hope all goes well and they will start back to giving you eggs soon.
My mom always talks about growing up with little money, but they always had lots of eggs. My grandma would take a dozen eggs each week and make an angel food cake with the whites and a jelly roll with the yolks.
We don't have chickens, but we do keep some hard-boiled eggs on hand from time to time for snacks, and to put in salad and of course for egg salad sandwiches.
Yep, I do waterglassing. 1 weighted ounce of pickling lime to 1 quart of water....just FYI, You can get 2 dozen in a glass pickle jar and use 3qts and 3 weighted ounces lime. They aren't that great for frying but you can do anything else. Also, you'll find that some say they have to be same day eggs, and others don't. I do mine whenever I get an excess, up to 2 weeks old and I've never had a problem. Just try it and do what works for you! Thanks for sharing all this information!!!
Loved this Video & the one where you put your late gardening seeds in the potting soil bag. Such an amazing bunch of information! Thank you for your wise teaching. I subscribed & liked (both) videos . I'll be watching all your videos from now on. God bless you & your family. 😊🙏🙏💖👍
Our hens aren’t laying full force now. Went from 10 to only 2-3 a day. Some of the ladies are molting horribly. This is their first laying winter. I’m curious if they’ll pick back up once their feathers regrow. 🤷🏼♀️ I froze a bunch of scrambled uncooked eggs for cooking and breakfast during the surplus season just in case.
If you can provide some increased protein in their feed it will help them grow in easier. It's a lot on their bodies to grow feathers. Some feed suppliers offer a higher protein feed for during molting. They will lay less in winter anyway due to less daylight, and some of my girls are really sensitive to the cold and won't lay when it's below freezing out.
Great chicken advice, and I wish someone had told me all this when I first got hens back in - 2002? We don't have them anymore (live in town now) and I really muss them! I'm also a great fan of the BBC historic documentary farm series. I've watched them all multiple times and learned so much! Glad to know another fan 😉!
I don't even have chickens, but I'll watch a R&R video about anything, so here I am, happy as can be. Thanks for the video!
Same here. My neighborhood doesn't allow them. But One Day Maybe!!! So, I'm in the R&R classroom reading every comment and soaking up knowledge just in case 😊
Same Here 💕💕
I’ve started water glassing eggs. I have nearly 200 in 2 different buckets. We’ve only been out here 8 months and we’re in a very hot climate, central Queensland Australia. Homesteading Family have a great video on it. We have a pretty insane political system going on here at the moment so we are doing our best to build community and preserve food. Love and best wishes to you guys. I watch you everyday and am hugely grateful for your insights and shared experience. God bless you guys ❤️🙏🏻
Prayers for you and your family I'm a homesteader in central Texas and I've been watching the news from Aus it's looking pretty wild.
Don’t have chickens. Still enjoy learning about them. I do know chickens are tough, grew up on a farm we never used heat chickens survived just fine. Sometimes eggs did freeze tho. I live in Minnesota. Down to mid 20’s here at night now.
Sending prayers to you Aussies, love from the USA.
I pray for Australia, we see the videos. So glad you can grow and preserve.
GOOD FOR YOU about waterglassing. I'm getting ready to do some here for the first time. ... AND, please know that SO much of the world hold you and all the people of Australia in prayers, high energy and good thoughts. This will pass. It is temporary. And a LOT of good things will come from this time. Deconstruction before reconstruction. Sending a long hug from Oklahoma.
When you started talking about chickens going off and hiding eggs I started laughing so hard. We've let the chickens free-range during the summer and fall to help with the flies. We were out in the bucks pasture moving their hoop house and I thought I heard birds chirping and it almost sounds like baby birds. I turned around to look in the tree but then I saw one of our hens sitting in the grass. I walked towards her and there were 8 little chicks tucked under her. It was the most precious thing I've ever seen. We didn't even notice that she was missing either lol.
Also, our oldest chickens are almost 2 years old and this is the first time I have ever seen them molt. One of them is almost naked because she's lost most of her feathers. She's one of the more diva chickens, so it feels like a humbling experience for her.
Also, Jill Winger has a video about water glassing eggs.
Don't you just want Ruth to be your best friend?? I love that show, have watched it so many times and always learn new stuff. That whole group has a lot of knowledge. Have your best day, Jess! ❤️❤️😊
If you want a step by step of water glassing eggs the Homesteading Family vlog has a good video on it. They explain the ratio of eggs to solution and how and where to store them for optimal longevity.
I really like that channel too! :)
I've seen a couple channels also water glass but didn't much like the end product. I wish other's would do a follow up when they try this method
@@albanymountainhomestead the Homesteading Family does have a follow up video on her experience and things she does differently then the first time.
I was just gonna say that.
Carolyn is amazing. She just lives up the road from me. She is as nice in person as she is on the channel.
I make 3 dozen breakfast burritos at the time to use up eggs. Freeze individually wrapped and they are so handy to heat up anytime. Some with sausage, some with bacon. Add tater tots and cheese.
Now that I work at Tractor supply, I make sure to show all my chicken peeps the supplies on clearance to help them save money 😊 I cant wait to have my own one day
If you like the Edwardian Farm videos (I love all of the series they put out) then you might like Townsends! He does a lot of videos about life in colonial America and how they lived and cooked and preserved foods. Lots of great tutorials and historical references. I’m going to try curing egg yolks in a dry salt/sugar mixture next. They are supposed to be a great Parmesan cheese substitute when you grate them.
God told you to make this video just for me, didn't he? LOL I kid, but seriously, this was absolute perfect timing for me. This is our first winter with our new Rhode Island Red's and you just answered so many questions I had...not to mention, I didn't know anything about mites! Thanx Jess!! ~Kelly
Hey Jess, Carolyn over at Homesteading Family has a very thorough instructional video on water glassing eggs. I found it very helpful.
Always a joy, even though I can’t have chickens yet due to location. Still in the classroom stage there. I do have quail and rabbits, just had 2 litters of rabbits for a total of 17 babies!
That's an excellent number of kits!
@@SageandStoneHomestead I thought so! Silver Foxes. One was a first litter of 7 kits, and the second was her 2nd litter and had 10.
@@Alexis_9339 great! Congrats!! 😍🐇🐇
Having had a static coop for years due to preditor pressure I have never had a mite issue. I put down 5-6" of wood chips/mulch in their run and 5-6" of river sand in the coop. The sand keeps their feet clean and dries up their poop keeping down any smells and it is a perfect place for dust baths. After 2 years you get yards of compost from the run.
I do something similar but I use their grit - either granite or oyster shell under a layer of 6-8" of straw.
This may seem strange but I keep a metal wash tub of light soil for dust baths in the winter. They love it along with a tray of micro greens. Mid-winter spa day for the girls :)
I use sand also and I like it for the reasons stated. River sand, coarse sand, all-purpose sand....it goes by different names, but folks should know that playsand and beach sand is NOT suitable. You want the sand to be coarse particles, not fine sand or powder. Here's the test: take a handful of sand and wet it, then close your fist and squeeze the sand like you're trying to wring out the water. Open your fist. if the sand stays in the shape of your closed fist, it is NOT the correct sand to use. If you open your hand and the sand falls away, it's the right sand to use for the chickens.
My current 25 girls have dropped from 17 - 21 eggs a day during the summer months to now only one or two daily due to molting. Back in mid-June when I was away from home for a week, I had my husband put our fresh (unwashed) 24+ daily eggs that he did not sell directly into our 2nd refrigerator. For the last 2 months he has been after me to throw out those eggs. I had 10 dozen in the fridge from June and had used about 3 dozen of them myself in September. About 4 days ago, I 'floated' 2 dozen eggs dated 6/12/21 and only had 3 that bobbed, but didn't all out float. Those 3 I tossed into the compost pile. I fried 3 of the eggs and had my husband taste all 3, as did I. I was amazed that they were still tasted 'days old fresh'. I steamed the remaining 18 eggs and have made Potato Salad, Egg Salad and Deviled/Stuffed Eggs. I've never tried water-glassing or freezing and I don't have a frreze-drier. Knowing that fresh, unwashed eggs can last so long under normal refrigeration, to me, is amazing.
Have a blessed day from Fort Payne, AL. Patricia
Ideas to use up Eggs: spinach salad w/ tomatoes, bacon, eggs & balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Homemade egg sausage sandwich. Shrimp salad. Eggs Benedict. Variety of omelets. Egg salad w/ green olives. Deviled Eggs. Corned Beef Hash with Eggs cooked in holes. Egg custard. French Toast. French toast style dipped tuna salad or chicken salad sandwiches. Dijon boiled eggs/asparagus salad. Huevos Rancheros. Fritatta (Kale or Butternut squash). Assorted Cobb style salads. Breakfast souffle, Baked egg boats (in sour dough baguettes)
Pickled eggs... my favorite lately. Over easy egg on top of burgers, salmon, chilli, stew, steak. Fried rice, ramen w/soft boiled eggs . So many things
😊💕🥚
STRATA! So easy and yummy. Basically, eggs and bread with whatever meat and veggies one desires added to it. I usually uses a sourdough type bread. Good way for her to use up eggs and practice with the sourdough. My boys absolutely love it. Quiches is another good one as they require quite a few eggs and milk. Although, to me, those feel like a bit more work with the prep of the crusts.
I add roasted red peppers, onions, sauteed mushrooms, and breakfast sausage to my STRATA. Oh, and CHEESE...
Reading your reply made me just a bit hungry .great suggestions
I hope this doesn’t get me into trouble but, I made a mistake in the feed store one time and bought a 50 lb bag of cat food instead of dog food. I do have a cat, one small petite cat. It would take three years to eat 50 lbs so I feed it to my chickens and it was in the winter. My chickens laid during the coldest part of winter. I was told it was the high protein
Have you ever watched Becky's Homestead channel? She does the same thing to keep her hens laying... feeds them cat food 😀
@@TerrieAllred2023 good to know thank you.
I buy dry cat kibble specifically for my chickens. It's a source of protien that keeps them laying through our very long winter.
Homesteading Family has a really good TH-cam video on waterglassing eggs.
I saw that BBC Edwardian Farm. It was cool, I learned how to make sloe gin among other types of booze.
If you provide a dust bath, you don't have to manually dust each chicken. You can just add DE to the dust bath. For a mobile chickshaw, you could put a dishpan of fine soil, sand, and DE and keep it under the chickshaw so it stays dry. They also need a source of grit. They use it to basically grind their food, like you use your teeth. Without grit, they miss a lot of nutrition because it just passes right through instead of being properly digested.
My understanding was that most chicks outside will find grit in the soil? Is that not accurate?
@@Alexis_9339 If you have a thick thatch on your pasture, they may not be finding adequate amounts of grit there. Also, all soils are not the same... some may be more silt than grit, it depends what your soil profile looks like.
Adding grit is indeed important and I always have a mixture of grit and crushed oyster shells available for them. The oyster shells are a source of extra calcium for their egg shells. And the ones laying always go for some of it first thing in the morning, before they eat.
Yes Jess, water flashing is 10 oz.. of hydrated lime per gallon. No need for refrigeration. Fresh Clean eggs 1 or 2 days old can be submerged in a glass jar for a year!💚💚 I bless you back.
Hydrated lime juice?
Hydrated lime is found in the garden section at ACE. It's a white powder. Not a fruit!
I make 2 big quiches whenever I have extra eggs, uses 14 eggs. Call them egg pies if your boys might balk about eating quiche. Add sliced tomatoes on top right before you put them in the oven.
Yum great idea!
Any special recipes ? I'm looking for recipes on things that use lots of eggs.
@@felicias.8680 I use Paula Dean's Spinach and Bacon Quiche recipe. It calls for 6 eggs but I add in an extra one and reduce the cream a little. I double the recipe. Be sure to add the slices of tomato on top. It's the best recipe I've found, but the tomatoes take it to another level.
@@gusdefur Thank you!
Jess, I love those shows too! I have done waterglassing with hydrated Lyme for 3 years now. It works very well. There is a great video on how to do it by Homestead Family channel.
I loved the Wartime Farm series (all of them are good!) Such an interesting look at life in that era!
That series is called absolute history and I love watching them!
As someone who keeps chickens in MN, I feel as if I'm somewhat forced to keep my chickens in a static coop during the winter. Mostly for feed and water reasons but also to keep them dry. What Jess says about chickens being super winter hardy is very true and my girls will still go outside even if there's snow and it's well below freezing. The big key is keeping the coop dry and artificial heat can be a detriment to that. I do use some artificial heat but not like you would think Mostly it's just to keep water and eggs from freezing. Also I have found that if I put down a little diamatacious earth when I put down the first layer of deep bedding I hardly ever have mite issues even in my static coop.
I love the mini quiches and deviled eggs as snacks. Boiled eggs in salads, pickled eggs are awesome. Egg drop soup and stir fry with fried rice. My Dad use to put eggs in my grits…so good! Oh and boiled egg sandwiches, since you made that yummy sourdough. Chicken in a basket, where you cook an egg in a circle cut out of bread with a glass or cookie cutter. Just some ideas for all those eggs 🙂
we call the bread and egg, framed eggs here in Oklahoma, but , my husband is from idaho and they called them one eyed egyptians..lol
Bulls Eye
THANK YOU! Owning chickens for over 15 years and this was very interesting. My chickens biggest worth to me isn’t eggs, but eating bugs in the yard. We used to have wolf spiders, crickets, toads, grasshoppers, fleas, ticks, etc. that kept me from enjoying my property. With these 9 lovely free range birds I still have a few bugs for the wild birds, but not the thousands that terrified me across every inch of the daily stroll.
I love that aspect also. Before I introduced the chickens onto our current homestead, hubby used to have a problem with worms in the ears of corn. We rarely find those anymore. We let our chickens roam the garden in the winter, once the tomatoes are done until we plow in May. We have very little bug damage. They also spread their fertilizer as they go. We empty the bedding from the henhouse into the garden and they spread that out for us too. And we enjoy sitting and watching them. I can't imagine life withoit chickens.
Thanks, Jess, this helps a new "chicken tender" a lot. Going into my first winter season with my girls and this will help me to know what to look for.
Chicken tender… 🤣 I see what you did there! Very pun-y
We are preparing to be tenders to. Everyone keeps saying how easy they are but it sure doesn't feel like it when you are learning. I'm thankful for the knowledge that Jess puts out.
@@JmarieD I will be honest and tell you that the first couple of months as a new chicken tender is kinda hard. At least it was for me. Having chickens in the house (I had no where else to put the brooder) drove me batty. Fortunately for all I was able to put them on the coop around 8 weeks. And I had wondered if I hadn't made a huge mistake in investing in chickens. But, I persevered, an soon I got in the swing of things. And I got attached to my 4 girls. A whole heck of a lot more than I thought I would. I am older and my body doesn't like to move like it used to, so cleaning the coop day isn't my favorite day, but thankfully that only comes once a week. It is work. No doubt about it. But I think it is worth it.
@@ramblinrosecottage5983 I hear you on the age thing. I'm not looking forward to the added chores. At this moment, it sounds eggciting.a new learning experience and adventure. But, I'm old enough with enough wisdom to know the twinkle will fade the first cold rainy or snowy day with a stiff North wind. We are making the coop so it should be easier to clean.
Now get this... I'm afraid of chickens. - childhood "trauma". But, I've determined it's high time to get over my fear. I want those butt nuggets!!! Thanks for your honesty.
Pickled eggs are great for snacks, lunches and a quick go to food. That will use up a lot. love your videos
I make pickled eggs for my husband. I fill a half-gallon jar up for him, but I can only do one batch at a time because I don't have room for more.
Great idea. I discovered pickled eggs when I had no refrigeration. Delicious discovery.
This is why I LOVE your content! I'm currently in the waiting room stage and I'm reading books about homesteading and chicken keeping, looking online, etc. But no matter where I look I ALWAYS learn something new when I watch your channel. Thank you for all that you do
Hello from Minnesota. Absolutely never heat the coop.
I LOVED the Absolute History Wartime Farm series too. I didn't expect to learn as much as I did since it covers such a recent period compared to the Tudor Monastery or Victorian series, but they really brought to life how desperate Britain was for food during the early WW2 German naval blockades. I had no idea the government regulated the farms that intensely. And the description of recipes designed to cope with severe rationing made it very personal. It was fascinating.
Where can I find the wartime farm series? Netflix, Prime?
@@pattyclarkson3 youtube
Always enjoy watching your videos and listening to you talk hugs and kisses from grandma Sandy and Debbie
Watching your videos for over a year now. My kids will hear your channel and ask "Mama, is that Farmer Jess?"
Big fan. Love the channel, I have gained so much knowledge from what you put out and get a sense of calm and renewed excitement for gardening/homesteading every time I watch. Thank you so much :)
Also.... sticker idea... 15:31 "As far as Egg-cess eggs go..." God Bless!
I like to make several quiches at once, portion them out, wrap in foil and freeze. Makes a quick lunch or brunch and uses plenty of eggs. We just throw them in the oven in the foil for 25-30 mins to reheat.
I love that BBC series. I watch them all!!! The last one was like 1800s on an island. But the war and tutor farm series is my fav.
Excess eggs is a good time for quiche. You can freeze them and make them on those days when time gets away too fast. If you like quiche lol. My dad was the egg cooking king. Omelets for dinner!?
I can't wait to have my own chickens
Oh I absolutely love that series here on TH-cam absolute history channel wartime farm, the monastery farm, all the ones that they’ve done are awesome.
I clean my coop and nesting boxes weekly and about once a month a dust with DE them too. My girls are old, lol. I started water glassing my eggs too.
Caroline from Homesteading Family has a great video on waterglassing, worth watching
You can freeze dry your eggs. Becky on Acre homestead did it, and showed how she reconstituted and cooked them!
Came here to say this!
It’s such a good feeling to get a few eggs at night and know you have breakfast the next morning. 🥳
Time for some egg custard pies, scrambled egg breakfast dinners, and egg salad sandwiches!
If chickens are overcrowded, stressed, or being picked on they may not lay.
@@pamelaremme38 is this really a thing? Our big rooster just died about a month ago really suddenly and for no apparent reason...and we almost immediately stopped getting our normal haul of eggs. We went from 10-12/day to 3-6/day.
@@pamelaremme38 no, never hung him upside down...we always carry them cradled when we have to handle them. Haven't noticed anything unusual with the hens. We semi-free-range them...they are in a pen, approx. 25'x100' with aviary netting. We have a bad hawk problem.
The original birds are about 2 years old and the new birds are not quite a year old. We thought something might be stealing the eggs, but whatever it might be would have to work at it to do so. Thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye out for the gulping/gasping. I know they do that when they're overheated, but it's been cold here (mid-30s) at night and upper 50s/low 60s during the day.
@@pamelaremme38 yes ma'am. It did get hot here. My wife just told me they stopped laying prior to the rooster dying. They always have water and food. I'm honestly thinking he may have choked on something...but I have no idea what.
Thank you! Just what we needed. Our chickens are hardly laying right now. Your place is so nice and peaceful.
For colder areas, there are breeds which are more cold hardy. One family I used to watch had chickens in Michigan with 3 walls of wood, one of screen with a people door. They said it is most important to keep chickens from getting wet and out of direct wind. The ventilation is what keeps them healthy. I specifically remember that closing down ventilation to keep chickens warmer makes them sick. I hope this helps.
Heyyyy... SOILSISTA!! Blessings to you all SoilFamily 👩🏾🌾🥰👨🏿🌾
I just watched and thank you for the mites hint. I hadn’t heard that one. Also, Don’t forget you can freeze dry your eggs. Living traditions and Deep South did it and they reconstitute “eggcellently”! I’ve done it too and it’s so cool 🤗
@@pamelaremme38 yet you haven't offered anything but criticism?
I LOVE the BBC farm series. Ruth(can’t remember last name) is such a go t of knowledge and so willing to dive in and get the work going!
Edit: Font of knowledge
Some of our girls have slowed down also... It's still nice here but will get down to 40-50 at night! Blessings SoilSista 👩🏾🌾🥚👨🏿🌾
The BBC series are great . Not sure if you have followed Homesteading family , she has videos on egg preservation and water glassing
Suggestion- can lemon curd to use up a dozen eggs. Just today I was looking at canning recipes with lemons and I had no idea how many eggs were used for this recipe!
Yes, and you can make raspberry curd, or other flavors, too!
If you love lemon muffins, make a normal light sponge mix, put a desert spoon in the bottom of muffin tins, then add a heaped teaspoon of lemon curd, then another desert spoon of sponge mix. bake. then make a lemon butter icing (with grated lemon rind in) to swirl on top. YUM! :D
Thanks for the wonderful information as I am turning my waiting room into a classroom! Dreaming chicken dreams!
We keep a light on our girls over winter. We supplement them in the morning to give them a total of 14.5 hours of light a day.
@@pamelaremme38 we have had combs freeze on the tips too. There are some breeds of chicken more suited to cold weather than others for sure!
We are on our second year of water glassing. It's so easy and a great way to save a bunch of eggs. Just don't try to hard boil them. They explode. They are great for every other use, though.
So cool that you are a fan of the BBC historic farm series too!! I love that series, the war time one brought back so many memories from childhood and the stories my aunt and dad would tell me. I've been on the hunt for older cookbooks from that era and general farming stuff. So many practical inexpensive ways of doing pretty much everything. P.S I love your Spock jar on top of your cupboard :D
This post is sooo timely!! Thank You for addressing the cold weather issue. My girls used to get inside their coop before the door shut just fine during the summer but they are consistently not making it inside now. I thought they would make it inside the coop at the same level of light but I guess they like the time of day?
I've heard that lining the coop floor with a couple inches of sand is a good idea. If the chicken sits on the floor, the sand retains the heat from the bird and can keep them warm as well as giving them the ability to dust bathe through the winter. Also, quiche sounds like a yummy breakfast for using up all those eggs!
Hey Jess, another great video! You might want to get some Orloff chickens, which are from northern Russia. They aren't good layers during warm weather but excellent layers during winter. Murray's McMurray sells this breed as well as other varieties from Northern countries.
That 's is from autocorrect on my phone.
I asked for it and you delivered...I know you didn't do it just for me but thanks! Your hair looks great today!
Hey Jess here is a recipe share to use a lot of eggs! German pancakes or over pancakes.
I triple the recipe and either split between 2 10-12” cast iron skillets or one really big one.
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour (I use einkorn)
1/2 cup milk
3T melted butter
Dash salt
Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 min
Reduce heat to 325 for 15 min.
Great for breakfast with fruit and syrup or for dinner with sausage gravy.
Our Easter Eggers stopped laying in September. We have quite a few decent winter layers though, so even though we're now into the mid-20s at night the last few nights, we're still getting 9-12 eggs every day out of 34ish pullets. About 9 of them haven't started laying yet.
I look forward to the day i can have a few chickens
I love those shows! I watch them over and over. I make homemade eggnog with excess eggs, yes ,year round..delish! I also hard boil them in my insta pot and keep in fridge for snacks, lunches sandwiches, salads ect.
LOVE LOVE LOVE Ruth Goodman, the domestic historian who does all the historical living series for Channel 4 and the BBC!!!
Here in South Dakota some of our chickens want to roost in the rafters of our barn. It was a milk barn with one open side and we have put hardware cloth along that open area. We put a piece of wood up to keep them from wind. We have a lot that do go in to the enclosed area. It gets very cold but they seem to do fine.
I loved those shows too....Wartime Farm especially!!
I'm posting before I even watched the video! I asked the gentleman where we get our eggs from (I am in Wisconsin) do his chickens ever stop laying eggs. He says they haven't, but he has a timer on a light in the barn where they nest because they need 14 hours of daylight (I believe that was the time he said). He's a fascinating older gentleman. :)
@rootsandrefuge if there's freezer space available cracking them into freezer bags or ice cube trays is always an option! They still make delicious scrambled eggs
I put some eggs in canning lime water last Spring. We've only have 6 layers right now. They're just starting to slow down. My Easter Eggers are the most consistent layers for us
Thank you Jess! We will be getting chickens in the spring and these are good things to know in the future ☺️
Oh Wow!! I'll have to check my girls for mites.. Thanks for the awesome information SoilSista 👩🏾🌾🐔👨🏿🌾
I remember shaking DDT powder into the hen nests as a child! You bought it in a tube with holes in one end for the job.! Now I wonder how many things were used without us knowing how bad they were for us and the environment. 💕💕🌻🌻
Yesterday, I put down pine needles & leaves in the chicken yard not knowing about muddy feet causes them to stop laying. Their yard was just muddy. It rains a lot here from fall to spring. Now, I will be more diligent about keeping their yard dry.
Thank you for the chicken tips.
Thank You for the wonderful Information. I am always learning something New from you. You are a great teacher Jess. Love Yahs.
Blessings to all!
I adore the delivery of your wealth of knowledge! Thank you!
I got my first chicks in February 2020 and they started laying early summer and were nonstop until their first molting coinciding with the atmospheric river rainfalls. Thanks for reminding me about Diatomaceous Earth. I use it to control yellowjackets and flies in the summer. Lemon curd uses lots of eggs and is my go-to recipe that makes a great gift. Sending love from my flock of Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Americaunas, and Copper Marans to you Jess.
I love the Spock figurine!
Live long & prosper ☺️
Yes I never put heat iin with my chickens they do very well . I do deep bedding through winter . They’re just fine . GODBLESS sweetie love you all
Pamela remme mine never have done any of this sorry you have this issue hun . Hundreds of yrs ago they never put heat i with there chickens and did just fine .
Pamela remme and if you do get frostbite on your chickens is because you don’t have proper. Ventilation in your coops or runs . Truth be told. GODBLESS
Ruth Goodman is the historian in the program you mentioned. Great series and quite educational.
Up in northern Canada we did put a heat lamps in the coldest parts of winter -20 to -50 Celsius...we put straw down in their coop..partly to keep the water from freezing in 5 min.
Our girls have slowed down, but thankfully are still laying.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have been trying to figure this out for weeks. Once again, you have blessed me.
Lol throw back to some of the first R&R videos made. I think Jess even fell back into some of the same speech patterns. Hoping I will have a contract on a place by the end of the week and chickens next year! Fingers crossed for me please!
Waterglassing eggs is a fantastic way to preserve-- and so easy!. If you eat them within 7-8 months you can still fry them and they turn out well. This totally amazed me the first time I tried it. After 8 months, the whites become a little too watery. However, they still make great scrambled eggs, or egg bakes.
Eggcellent video! ;) I've tried the water glassing method and there's one thing I would add. If you have any eggs that the shell is thinner than normal; don't add those to the batch. I had a big batch stored up and when the time came to use the eggs, the very first egg that I pulled out was one with a thinner shell. Well, it busted as I was pulling it out and ruined the entire batch because it was rotten. Needless to say, I'm now guy-shy to try it again.
Tr y adding oyster shell grit and you can wash dry and crush the egg shells and feed back to them to increase their calcium intake.
@Kimberly klmo it could be because the days are shorter. Are they molting? When I first got chickens they gave me eggs throughout the winter, but by the second year when fall came around they went through their first molt and stop laying. Do they free range at all? They could be laying them in a secret place.
@Kimberly klmo you're welcome. It could be just from the molt. I know mine will stop laying right before they start molting and it takes several months before they will start laying again. Hope all goes well and they will start back to giving you eggs soon.
My mom always talks about growing up with little money, but they always had lots of eggs. My grandma would take a dozen eggs each week and make an angel food cake with the whites and a jelly roll with the yolks.
We don't have chickens, but we do keep some hard-boiled eggs on hand from time to time for snacks, and to put in salad and of course for egg salad sandwiches.
Yep, I do waterglassing. 1 weighted ounce of pickling lime to 1 quart of water....just FYI, You can get 2 dozen in a glass pickle jar and use 3qts and 3 weighted ounces lime. They aren't that great for frying but you can do anything else. Also, you'll find that some say they have to be same day eggs, and others don't. I do mine whenever I get an excess, up to 2 weeks old and I've never had a problem. Just try it and do what works for you! Thanks for sharing all this information!!!
Homestead Family on TH-cam has a good video on saving eggs.
Loved this Video & the one where you put your late gardening seeds in the potting soil bag. Such an amazing bunch of information! Thank you for your wise teaching. I subscribed & liked (both) videos . I'll be watching all your videos from now on. God bless you & your family. 😊🙏🙏💖👍
Last winter in Canada my chickens survived -42C without extra heat, just a light.
Love this chicken-chat :) with Jess.
Very helpful for future homesteaders and chicken owners.
I’m looking forward to seeing you do the water glassing!!
I always find you videos very informative. Thanks for all that you do Jess
Our hens aren’t laying full force now. Went from 10 to only 2-3 a day. Some of the ladies are molting horribly. This is their first laying winter. I’m curious if they’ll pick back up once their feathers regrow. 🤷🏼♀️ I froze a bunch of scrambled uncooked eggs for cooking and breakfast during the surplus season just in case.
If you can provide some increased protein in their feed it will help them grow in easier. It's a lot on their bodies to grow feathers. Some feed suppliers offer a higher protein feed for during molting. They will lay less in winter anyway due to less daylight, and some of my girls are really sensitive to the cold and won't lay when it's below freezing out.
Great chicken advice, and I wish someone had told me all this when I first got hens back in - 2002? We don't have them anymore (live in town now) and I really muss them! I'm also a great fan of the BBC historic documentary farm series. I've watched them all multiple times and learned so much! Glad to know another fan 😉!
Yes, I enjoyed this chicken video very much! A great way to start my day! (New chicken parents here) ⭐️
Love this! Can't tell you how many people I hear from that have sneaky chickens hiding their eggs!
My chickens stopped laying when my son showed up with his 6 birds. As soon as he moved his birds out, mine started up again.