I found an ad for farm-raised eggs on Cr***st and I'm considering calling them and buying a dozen or so, at least at first. This would be my first foray into getting local meat of any kind. The hens are supposedly free-ranging and if I do this I will make sure they can eat insects off the ground. (This is good, right?) What else do I need to ask or make sure of? What signs should I look out for? We have had snow, do hens lay in cold weather, year-round? We live in a semi-rural area in Tennessee.

Thanx for any help!
Caitlin, agricultural expert-in-training

Chickens need a coop that's secure, a run that's fox proof, constant access to food and water etc etc - I've had some (3 years ago) and it's not as straight forward as just letting them roam the garden.

Research loads more first!

The trouble with farm raised free range chickens compared to home raised chickens is that the farm ones are incubated in an incubator and hundreds are hatched out daily and then reared in a barn under warm lighting.
Home hatched eggs using a batam hens to sit on the eggs are hatched over a couple of days and the mother hen then educates the chicks to scratch, peck insects, search for food etc. While this is great fun to watch it's also interesting to see just how much is genetic and how much environmental.
Come an overflying owl and the batam screeching in alarm all the chick disappear and are lost for several hours till the danger is well past (must be in the genes)
but farm raised hens do not have that level of education and while they MAY suss out how to scratch and hunt for food there is a tendency for them to stay indoors and just eat grain or maybe not stray more than a few feet from the door. Still if you go buy the eggs you will see the hens.
Ours are all over the place and do get foxed from time to time. Neighbours dogs are probably more of a menace.
While they are a bit of a tie they are a lot of fun and the eggs are certainly better than shop bought if you've sufficient grass for them to roam on. Much more than you think is needed and ideally a hedge bottom so they can get some shade and somewhere to scratch around. They are a pain in the garden as they peck everything and scratch any plants you value up, so flowers and hens don't mix.

From the ad it sounds like a family farm - which there are plenty of - along with dogs, some foxes, probably predatory owls. Is there any way to tell if there is disease present or likely? Anything to look out for on the eggs themselves? Forgive me, I'm just newbie-paranoid, after a few times I'll be more confident. I've never bought animal products outside the grocery store. We have a farmer's market in the summer but it's all produce or canned goods. Thanks for the advice!

Oh yeah, hawks. Huge hawks that will carry off your kids. And turkey vultures (but they eat dead things).

I know some chicken producers are making "chicken tractors". They're movable houses for the chickens. So you move their tractor onto a fresh piece of land for them to forage in. They have a house around them but they also have fresh ground under them to forage in.

Yes, bugs are great for chickens. Man, they sure love them too!

Oh, don't worry about diseases. They're probably far healthier than from a big chicken farm. And don't freak out if you find a double-yolked egg or a spot of blood in the egg. It's all perfectly normal.

I wouldn't worry too much, just enjoy! My farmer uses the mobile hen house and it works out great for everyone.

Great! Thanks for all your advice! As soon as this snow's gone I'm off for some real eggs..

I know absolutely nothing about looking after chickens but I know it is something I would like to look into when I am settled with my own house, which won't be for several years.

As with any significant change, all I can suggest is to research until you are blue in the face. I'm sure your local farm and vet will be able to give you advice on how to look after them and what they need.

I've always liked the look of The Eglu which is a complete service, chickens, pens and information included!

That really is a terrible rip off pricewise.
Round here a point of lay chicken is around £3.50 but you can get day old chicks for 50p and if you have a broody bantam whose been sitting a while you can sneek the dayolds under her and she will think they are hers and teach them how to scratch/peck and search for food. but it takes a while to get to the point they are laying so it's less hassle to get point of lay. The other option is end of lay free range birds.
Free range farms tend to change stock every 14 months, so if you know when the change over time is you can get some old birds (72 weeks not ancient by any means) for next to nothing and they should carry on laying, though not as regularly as new birds, for quite a while.
Ideally chickens shouldn't be on the same grass for more than 6 weeks so moving the sheds or arranging a paddock system so they the grass is always fresh will help but for home use where the stocking is not so dense it matter less.

I've been eating farm fresh eggs for over 12 years now. I get upset if I can't find some farm fresh ones. Such a difference. Buy from someone who keeps their animals well cared for. You will know because the farm looks clean and well kept. The people will be clean and well kept. The eggs should be fairly clean, maybe a piece of straw or feather stuck to it. I don't get upset about that because it's very time consuming and can be expensive to supplement a chicken's diet with organic feed if bugs and grass are not available during the winter. They should be out roaming around looking for food during the day. If I buy eggs with poop all over them, then I know the sellers are not keeping the nest boxes clean and restocked with fresh straw. I don't buy there again. I don't expect them the wash the eggs because of the time it takes, but I do expect a clean nest box. The yokes are orange looking when you have a healthy egg. The oranger the better. In the winter, they might not be as orange, because of the lack of bugs. They are so yummy!! About 2-4 dollars a dozen. I pay $1.50, but that is unusual. I can't raise them myself for that price. I used to sell for $3.00 a dozen and had to quit because I spent a lot on organic feed when bugs weren't available, (lots of good stuff for them). But then I couldn't keep the predators out of them. It can be a great loss and time consuming. We had a chicken tractor and moved them daily. It was work, but the eggs are sure good. I like the $1.50/DOZEN better buying from someone else though. I would be more scared of the store bought eggs if I were you. It's those eggs that have the diseases from cooped up chickens living on top of one another, drinking poopy water, and eating inferior grain. Have you ever smelled a chicken farm. Yuck! Don't be afraid of the real farm fresh egg. Only downfall is it takes extra care to peel a boiled farm fresh egg. Doesn' want to peel good. But it helps to dump the hot water and immediately ice down and let it set until cold. Then I usually don't have problems. Love fresh eggs. Grumble over store bought eggs. Hope this helps.

Donna

I produce and sell free-range chicken eggs, relatively small scale, we have about 45 chickens, which means about 30 eggs a day for sale. Buying from a local farmer (like us!) is a great idea, as many have mentioned. I have two points to add:



Also, the eggs last longer and stay fresher if they are NOT washed, as there is a protective coating on them which we remove by washing. I only wipe off the really yucky bits which have stuck on. Always store them with the round end up, as the air in the round end -- if down -- will press upward and speed up the spoilage through pressure.



Don't try to hard boil eggs the same day they were laid -- they will be almost impossible to peel. Let them sit at least 24 hours, then boil and quickly put in cold water as above for best peeling.

Other issues are perhaps size, my clients like the size to be consistent (extra big ), and as already mentioned, color, the yoke should be strikingly yellow, or they're probably not free range. Maybe you would like to look at the farm they come from, just to make absolutely sure they're not keeping their chickens in cages -- that should be outlawed IMHO. We always are happy to have people visit.

Enjoy your delicious eggs!

Oops, I must have given the impression I'm looking to get actual chickens - nope! Just eggs! (Although I've threatened to, to keep my SO in line ) It's a possibility, later, though so I'm saving the thread.

The quoted price is $2.00 a dozen. Grocery store prices are somewhere around $1.20-ish, so that's not bad for us, unless they turn out to be way out in the county.

I'll inspect and store my farm eggs as described above, and won't fear any farm detritus. I used to hang around a relative's chicken coops as a very little kid, and I remember being afraid of the roosters (probably rightly so). They also had some geese that roamed around like mobsters. I was terrified of them and was glad when the coyotes ate them.

Hah! Yes I figured it would be very overpriced, but I guess it would suit people who don't know much about keeping chickens, and I certainly don't know anything about keeping chickens and unfortunately probably won't get the opportunity to do so until I'm at least in my 40s.

Also, I like the idea of rescuing old retired chickens from inevitable slaughter. I saw a programme about that on the TV a while ago.

We kept chickens when I was growing up.
Not because we were new age hippy types, but because it was an economic necessity. I had a boiled egg for breakfast almost every morning into my teens.
We had about a dozen chickens who laid about two eggs every three days per head.
Even without the food aspect it was one of the great things I remember about growing up. The fascination we had as children when a hen would get broody and sit on a clutch of eggs. Counting the days when my father would take a nearly hatched egg from under the hen and we would listen to the chick starting to whistle inside. Watching them hatch and peck their way free of the egg. Then a line of fluffy chicks following their mother around the garden.
Our house would be overrun by all the kids in the street coming in to look at them and wanting to pet them.
I once put a clutch of duck eggs under a hen and they hatched out fine. Funniest things you ever saw.