Put An Egg On It - Cookbook Review

I recently had the pleasure of previewing a new cookbook by Lara Ferroni aptly named Put An Egg On It. With a flock of backyard chickens, a cookbook like this can certainly come in handy when you’re trying to find uses for all of your beautiful eggs.

In a nutshell, I like this book. The pictures are beautiful and the recipes inspire you to go beyond the pale and add eggs to dishes you normally would not. In fairness, as a busy mom with after-school activities, sports, numerous pets and a flock of chickens, some of these recipes were a little too involved for me. With finicky eaters in my house, there would be tears at the table if I tried some of the more fancy feasts.

What I liked the best, is that interspersed among fancy recipes, were easy recipes that appeal to palettes that think chicken nuggets are a delicacy. For instance, the grilled cheese and egg sandwich was a hit at my house as well as the hot dog with scrambled eggs and hot sauce. I’ve tried the breakfast bowl recipes and they are easy and yummy.

I LOVED the introduction and egg basics sections of this book. For one, Ferroni’s pictures included not only white eggs but green and brown too. Personally, this more accurately reflects my egg selections. And two, the egg basics section is comprehensive and informative. Overall, this is a great book to have in your kitchen arsenal. The pictures and recipes are inspiring for those of us who are always looking for creative uses for our backyard eggs!

A Summer of Chicken Predators

Our chicken coop is no stranger to predators. We’re always on the lookout and it’s been a while since anything bad occurred. According to Murphy’s Law, we started having problems with a raccoon a few days before leaving on vacation. But, while we were gone, our chicken sitters humanely dispatched that problem and no chickens were harmed.

Then we came home one day to find a pile of feathers on our hillside and a chicken dead in our swimming pool. This was disturbing because we’ve had our pool for three years with no incident. For our chicken to get into the pool, she would have to work hard to fly in there.

A few nights after this, I went to close the coop and do my usual headcount. We were missing one! I searched all over but it got so dark that I had to give up and hope she decided to roost out for the night. In the morning, I found a pile of feathers right next to our fence. I knew she wouldn’t be coming home; but had to wonder, what had gotten our hen.

The next day it was hot, so in the afternoon my kids and I checked on the chickens. We noticed our rooster, Roopert and his favorite hen had gotten out of the fence and were under our screened-in porch. This happens a lot since Roopert has a mind of his own.

We were back inside no more than five minutes and we heard a horrible squawking from Roopert. We rushed outside and there he was; where we’d left him, minus his favorite hen.
As we secured the chickens and did a headcount, I noticed a pile of feathers just down from where Roopert had been standing.

Since this last kill was under our porch and the pile of feathers was the same, I quickly ruled out an avian predator. After a little research, I found out we had a fox preying on our chickens. They are stealthy animals and ours had probably been stalking our chickens for weeks. They often leave little evidence other than a pile of feathers.

Once we had the big picture, it was easy to see what had happened at our pool; a hen escaped an attack only to land wrongly in the water. But, why was this happening now. What was different? We had recently had some yard work done and our front gate was down. None of these attacks took place in our yard proper and our chickens often roam freely outside the fences. I think the deciding factor was that our fox was emboldened since our dog wasn’t in the yard as much because her fence was gone. So we quickly replaced our gate, our dog returned to her watch post and there were no more attacks.

After the recent disappearance of Broody Brood, we’re now down to 17 chickens, thanks to our summer, and fall, of predators.  I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for a strong finish to the fall season!

New Feather Fixer Feed Helps Chicken Molt

Our two-year-old Red Sex Link “Broody Brood” had an extremely difficult molt in late summer. She went from full-feathered one day to nearly naked overnight. And, I’m not kidding. It looked like a chicken exploded in our backyard. (I had to do a head count to make sure no one was missing!)
Her “nakedness” attracted the ire of the rest of the flock. She was getting picked on, her comb and wattle stopped being a healthy red. She needed help!

Broody Brood, a two-year-old Red Sex Link, recovering from her hard molt.

My chickens don’t usually have such dramatic molts, so I resorted to some TLC for Broody Brood. I fed her separately from the flock. I even scrambled some of my chicken eggs and fed them to the flock. After all, they are the best nutrition in the neighborhood. But Broody Brood continued her molt and looked terrible. Then I stumbled upon Nutrena’s Feather Fixer feed. The bag said that Feather Fixer is designed to help your hens; and roosters, get through their molt quicker and help prevent mites.

According to the bag, this food can be fed year-round, or just during a molt. Nutrena says it provides:

• Optimal protein and energy levels for chickens regrowing feathers, Organic trace minerals to support feather regrowth and eggshell strength, Prebiotics and probiotics to support proper digestion and nutrient absorption,
• A blend of nutrients to naturally support the immune system,
• Mite-fighter technology to prevent mites,
• A natural source of greens and

With all those listed benefits, I had to give it a try. When I opened the bag, I was worried at first. The food is in pellets and my chickens normally hate pellets. But, to my amazement, they couldn’t get enough. We haven’t been using it long, but Broody Brood is looking better by the day. Her newly emerging feathers are coming in fast. They’re shiny and soft. She’s also picking up some weight, her comb and wattle are getting redder and she’s got a lot more energy. As a bonus, a few of my other hens who had bare backs from the roosters are also starting to look better. So far, I’m thinking this is a food I’m definitely going to feed during molting periods, and also mix in throughout the year.

Integrated Systems Post is Excellent

This is a great blog post written by Joel Salatin for the BackYard Chicken blog for Murray McMurray Hatchery. He makes some excellent points about the health benefits of raising backyard chickens, the segregation of today's food and farming systems and the way to get rid of commercialized chicken production.

Click below to follow the link to Joel's post...

Integrated Systems by Joel Salatin

Vintage Kraft Pex Chicken Feed Sign

The vibrant colors caught my eye first, the chicken shape caught my eye second and the logo from Kraft “I got the Milk Bank Boost from Pex” sealed the deal. I haggled a little then purchased my first vintage sign and wouldn’t you know it; the subject matter is chickens.

Let me back up a little; my kids and I love to watch “American Pickers,” a show on the History channel about finding “rusty gold” in the backyards of America and reselling it. From the show, I know that vintage signs and advertising are a huge decorating trend. But, I’ve never purchased one before. Until this year, when I saw my sign sitting on the ground at the World’s Longest Yard Sale; an annual phenomenon in August that runs 690 miles from Michigan to Alabama.

I am not normally a yard sale shopper but this is one I just can’t miss; it’s a hoot! So I took my sign home and did a little research. It turns out my sign is one of three metal signs made for the Kraft Foods Agricultural Division in Chicago, in the late 1950s to 1960s. They were produced by the Stout Sign Company out of St. Louis, Missouri. It’s interesting because farm signs were a staple for salesman back in the day. Without computers and technology, these signs were an early form of calling cards. I was lucky enough to find a copy of The National Future Farmer magazine from the Future Farmers of America dated October/November 1963 where they had an advertisement that explained Milk-Bank Booster feeds. 

These feeds were made with milk by-products and rounded out with other vital nutrients. According to the ad, these feeds produced faster more economical gains, better health, and resistance to stress and better productivity. They did all this by adding the extra nutrition of milk by-products to the ration and by unlocking more nutrition from the other elements of the ration. “Milk-Bank Feed Boosters are storehouses or banks for the key nutrients of milk: lactalbumin protein, milk sugar, vitamins, minerals and important growth factors – elements not found in ordinary grain rations, pasture or roughage.”

I think my sign is a cool connection to the American agricultural past; and it will look great on my kitchen wall!

Wildlife Wednesdays: Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth

A few weeks ago I went into my yard to find my potted grapes decimated and some caterpillars happily munching on the few scraps of leaves that were left. The caterpillars looked so much like tomato hornworms that I put them in a container with some leftover tomatoes with the intention of showing my kids when they got home from summer camp.

But all through the day, it kept bothering me; the caterpillars were smaller than tomato hornworms and what were they doing eating grape leaves? A little research later and I had my answer; they were not tomato hornworms, they were Virginia creeper sphinx moth caterpillars (Darapsa Myron). It turns out they LOVE grape leaves!

So my kids and I set our caterpillars up in our butterfly keeper and fed them leaves until they turned into cocoons. About two weeks later, out popped our beautiful moths. What a cool find and what a cool summer science activity for my kids. And, by the way, my grape plant is getting new leaves.

Book Review - Chickens in Five Minutes a Day

I think it's safe to say the folks at Murray McMurray Hatchery, one of the largest hatcheries in the United States, know a thing or two about how to raise chickens. They've been in the business of selling chicks for 95 years and have just transferred those years of knowledge to the backyard chicken owner in a new book; Chickens in Five Minutes a Day.

I recently had a chance to preview this book and found it to be a wonderful resource; one that I'm glad to have added to my personal library. The premise of the book is that, providing your zoning laws will allow it, most everyone can easily have a flock of backyard chickens.

The book gives a well thought-out look at what raising chickens involves. It's comprehensive in covering everything from what to expect, to picking out breeds, setting up a coop, raising your chicks and day-to-day management of your flock.

What I liked best was the emphasis on planning and how much easier, more efficient and rewarding this can make owning chickens. Personally, I think planning is something many folks miss in the rush of picking out cute chicks and beginning to raise them. I like how planning is laced into every facet of the book from picking out breeds to the best coop for your backyard and everything in between.

With my own flock, planning what breeds to purchase has always been the fun part. And, if done correctly, really sets you up for success. Intentionally, my flocks are hardy and productive as well as beautiful. I like to try new breeds but always do my research ahead of time.

However, I could have used this book when locating my first coop. We are not blessed with flat land here and poorly located our coop at the top of a small hill in our backyard. While it drains well, multiple walks up the hill each day have left us with an incline that won't grow grass and becomes dangerous in wet weather. Needless to say, we're putting up a new coop this spring!

So, regardless of whether you're a novice or a veteran, there's something for everyone in this well-thought out book. I'm going to put some of this advice to work in my new coop and am looking forward to having more time to enjoy my chickens.