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Rated: 18+ · Book · Writing.Com · #388967
Daily notes and timed freewrites but mostly my blog
All comments are encouraged, I am interested in what others think and feel along the topics I choose to write about.

Highlighted entries:

[#732826] "In Memory" Open in new Window.



Thank-you geja8856 for this wonderful gift

Soaring EagleMother Goddess

Gift from Jilley's PeteyHalf Borgevna and half Morivini and destined to save her world.


Merit Badge in Supportive [Click For More Info] Thanks so much for being a great support and wonderful friend *^*Heart*^* Merit Badge in Fantasy [Click For More Info] Member of the Month - September 2008 [Link To Item #1340208] Congratulations! *^*Bigsmile*^* Merit Badge in G. o. T. [Click For More Info] Thank you for participating in [Link To Item #1157596] 2014 competition and for winning 3rd Place! *^*Trophyb*^* As a group, you guys did an amazing job! You should definitely be proud of yourself for all your hard work. *^*Glass*^* Here's to a successful year and I hope to see you in 2015! Cheers! ~ Gaby Merit Badge in Dark Dreamscapes [Click For More Info] Thank you for you participation with [Link To Item #1157596] and for supporting [Link To Item #dreamscapes] as a member of House of Baratheon. Merit Badge in Short Stories [Click For More Info] Thank you for your participation in [Link To Item #1157596] with written pieces. Whether you wrote poetry or a short story, doesn't really matter. I just want you to know that I appreciate your time, effort and working with short deadlines. You did great! ~ Gaby
Merit Badge in Generosity [Click For More Info] Thank you so much Dyrhearte for your generosity! May this merit badge inspires you to keep spreading the joy of giving. Merit Badge in Writing [Click For More Info] A small gift for a fan, and a friend. Why? Because we are writers. Merit Badge in Campfires [Click For More Info] Thank you for your steady participation in your campfire, as part of [Link To Item #1157596] ! You've shown courage and originality, and you've stepped up to the plate when it was needed. Kudos to you! *^*Thumbsup*^* You're one of the few who are receiving this special MB as a thank you for your teamwork. ~ Gaby Merit Badge in Good Deeds [Click For More Info] Congratulations, you won First Place in the March 2014 round of [Link To Item #gooddeeds] !

At my Sister's Wedding
January 3, 2025 at 3:01am
January 3, 2025 at 3:01am
#1081890
The following is an excerpt from: The Best Chickens For Beginners (#3 Is The Easiest!) Story by Thomas Nelson for The Garden Magazine

"Welsummer chickens are maybe my favorite type of chicken due to their distinctive speckled, mahogany-colored feathers and large, upright combs. They are stunning chickens and excellent foragers, which saves money on feed. This breed is known for its docile, friendly temperament. Welsummer chickens are also one of the best egg layers, with many chickens producing over 200 eggs per year! The eggs themselves are a deep, dark brown color and are known for their rich, creamy flavor. Welsummer chickens can also be used for meat production."




The Welsummer chicken is "#3 and Is The Easiest!" according to Thomas Nelson. The following edited free write is my exercise in logic if I were to actually attempt to farm chickens.



A Long view for urban chicken farming for a family of 4. Start small and grow flock over a 5-year period. Build a coop that can hold 12-15 chickens. Buy 3 chickens in the spring of the first year to learn the routine of caring for them and conditioning yourself for the expenses that may occur throughout the year. Have all but three of the 12-15 brooding boxes closed off so each hen may establish a personal place of her own for the privacy of brooding and roosting.

If the breed truly averages 200 eggs per year per chicken, then the first year should produce 600 eggs on average. Comes to 2 eggs per day or almost 4 dozen per month. About 11 eggs per week. (Some days will see 3 eggs/day, and some will see 0 for the day. Learn what environment conditions make your hens happy, and production will be consistent.)

The first year is more for supplementing your egg buying from the store. Keep a record of store prices/dozen purchased and that is the savings per dozen eggs your hens give you minus the cost of feed and housing for the same time period. The expenses of starting will show the home grown eggs as costing way more at the beginning due to the cost of starting up (cost of chicken coop+cost of buying and shipping three chickens+cost of feed+any veteranary costs+cost of environmental control inside chicken coop throughout the year). By the end of the year, however the cost should even out. If you have kept accurate records, and the hens have lived up to their egg laying average reputation, your yearly egg expense will be supplemented by 200 eggs (a little over 16 dozen) per chicken or 48 dozen eggs in a 52 week time period divided by the cost of chicken feed, time and expense spent building and maintaining the living environment through the summer and winter and other expenses relating to growing livestock in your yard. Welsummer chickens are good at foraging so this could help with some savings in feed cost during the warmer period of the year and they are proven to be cold hardy. (Could also benefit the garden and help vegetable production through chicken waste compost as well as insect pest control.)

2nd year-buy three more hens. The original expense of a chicken coop occurred in the 1st year, so the added expense will be in feed and care for 6 chickens rather than 3. The routine of feed, egg collection and care should already be an established routine so the added numbers shouldn't be too disruptive. Open three more brooding boxes so the new hens can establish their personal place in the coop.

Year 2=1200 eggs=23 eggs every week (almost 2 dozen). You're very close to not having to buy eggs from the store. (Averages to more than 3 eggs/day) (1 egg per 3 of 4 family members/day)

3rd year=1800 eggs= 150 dozen eggs/year or 2 eggs short of 3 dozen eggs/week or 34 eggs/week= almost 5 eggs per day (someone in the family of 4 can have 2 eggs)

If all has gone smoothly over the last 3 years, You should have 9 chickens ranging from 1 year+ (3-6 months) old to 2+ years when adding the next three young hens to your 4th year flock. 12 laying hens = 2400 eggs per year (give or take). That equals an average of 200 eggs per month or 2 eggs short of 4 dozen (46) eggs per week and 6.5 eggs per day or 13 eggs every 2 days. Obviously, by this time, your back yard chicken project has become a side hustle with implications of paying for all its overhead as well as supplementing your income, and you are no longer buying mass produced, commercially grown, store bought eggs.

For food safety reasons and state and federal guidelines, annual livestock inspections and regulations just increased your overhead costs if you choose to make this a side hustle for selling your eggs to the general community. Otherwise, excess eggs can be gifted to family and friends at no cost to them. Note, it is wise to have annual livestock inspections by a reputable veterinarian and eggs tested periodically for bacterial contaminations even for your own personal and private consumption.

5th spring add 3 or more hens if you plan to make eggs a side hustle to supplement your income. Like all businesses, hiring a bookkeeper/ accountant to keep your income records accurate for taxes is advisable.

If you wish to forgo said side hustle, and only wish to maintain a bit over self-production of eggs, then in the 5th spring, purchase three more young hens as normal, to maintain consistent egg production numbers (young hens lay more consistently than older hens) and process (kill and butcher) the older hens (first season hens) for the freezer to maintain 10 to 12 hens in the coop. I say 10 because there may be 1 or 2 other hens from other seasons that either don't produce or are socially problematic (aggressive toward the other hens) within the flock.

Usually, egg production will drop off significantly for the 4- and 5-year-old birds. So culling is part of the farming process. Since this 5-year schedule has already established the purchasing habits of young first year hens, you have established yourself as a market for a grower or growers who will anticipate your order. Keeping your purchases local also establishes you as an important part of the local rural community. Maybe, sometime during the coming years something will happen where more than 3 hens need to be purchased (predator loss or disease or natural disaster), an established seller who knows you and wishes to keep your business will work with you more than say someone who has interest in only selling commercial quantity rather than urban farm quality and quantities. It is also in your best interest to stay with a grower who has consistently supplied you with viable and healthy hens.

So, as a private grower to meet personal family group egg consumption demands and/or as a side hustle to supplement family income, the five-year plan allows an inexperienced urban chicken farmer and potentially naive farm business entrepreneur to learn the necessary skills to be successful without breaking their bank.


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