'Egg Armageddon': Mass. voters passed animal welfare law

[Tall Timbers]

They can’t sell eggs…. So I guess chickens as pets will be a new trend…

Chickens make good pets. They're low maintenance. They'll eat anything you give them and can find their own food if you forget to feed them... and they pay dividends (eggs).

 

[Work4Peanuts]

It's actually not hard to raise a few chickens in the back yard. They will eat various kinds of "weeds" and grubs, worms, etc. (which are good for them and make a better quality egg). Farm stores sell chicken feed. It isn't terribly expensive (organic is more expensive). And you can buy an inexpensive grain sprouter and grow sprouts indoors to supply extra nourishment to them in winter. Here's a website that contains basic instructions on it: https://wholefully.com/how-to-start-raising-backyard-chickens-in-7-simple-steps/

People have been raising chickens for thousands of years. If it was terribly difficult, they wouldn't do it--as all humans are basically lazy. But they do like to eat. And you get the bonus of eating the hens once they are past their prime egg laying time. We get our eggs from a small, organic egg farmer near us and he offers chickens a couple of times a year, when he has the old hens slaughtered. Some of the best chicken you will ever eat--and, by all means, save the chicken fat for use in cooking. A lot of old farmer recipes call for using chicken fat. Some old farm wives say that the very best pie crust is made using a fifty-fifty mix of chicken fat and butter as shortening.

The biggest difficulty in raising chickens is that chickens are delicious and everything (I mean everything!) loves to eat chickens. We have built the chicken equivalent of Folsom Prison to keep the predators out, and we have still lost a chicken or two along the way.

 

[cheeky200386]

It's actually not hard to raise a few chickens in the back yard. They will eat various kinds of "weeds" and grubs, worms, etc. (which are good for them and make a better quality egg). Farm stores sell chicken feed. It isn't terribly expensive (organic is more expensive). And you can buy an inexpensive grain sprouter and grow sprouts indoors to supply extra nourishment to them in winter. Here's a website that contains basic instructions on it: https://wholefully.com/how-to-start-raising-backyard-chickens-in-7-simple-steps/

People have been raising chickens for thousands of years. If it was terribly difficult, they wouldn't do it--as all humans are basically lazy. But they do like to eat. And you get the bonus of eating the hens once they are past their prime egg laying time. We get our eggs from a small, organic egg farmer near us and he offers chickens a couple of times a year, when he has the old hens slaughtered. Some of the best chicken you will ever eat--and, by all means, save the chicken fat for use in cooking. A lot of old farmer recipes call for using chicken fat. Some old farm wives say that the very best pie crust is made using a fifty-fifty mix of chicken fat and butter as shortening.

It's tough in MA in the winters.

 

[Wings Like Eagles]

The biggest difficulty in raising chickens is that chickens are delicious and everything (I mean everything!) loves to eat chickens. We have built the chicken equivalent of Folsom Prison to keep the predators out, and we have still lost a chicken or two along the way.

Yes--the website I posted said that is the biggest problem. In her case, she said the neighborhood dogs were the worst. She shows pix of what they did to thwart them. Most chicken farmers understand that they might lose a small percentage of the flock to predators.

 

[Wings Like Eagles]

It's tough in MA in the winters.

That's why the coop must be insulated in cold winter places. It's more of a problem with immature chickens, than it is for those who have their full adult plumage which supplies very good insulation for them. The chickens will huddle together to keep warm, if it gets really cold, plus, you can set up a small electric heater in the coop for the really, really cold nights. Possibly a bigger problem is keeping the flock cool in places that have very hot summers. Our egg farmer friend lost about half of his flock during the VERY hot weather that we had in late spring. He has since made plans to have a splash pad for them, if it gets that hot again this year. Doesn't have to be a big deal--just a few patio stones with a trickle irrigation hose.

 

[cheeky200386]

That's why the coop must be insulated in cold winter places. It's more of a problem with immature chickens, than it is for those who have their full adult plumage which supplies very good insulation for them. The chickens will huddle together to keep warm, if it gets really cold, plus, you can set up a small electric heater in the coop for the really, really cold nights. Possibly a bigger problem is keeping the flock cool in places that have very hot summers. Our egg farmer friend lost about half of his flock during the VERY hot weather that we had in late spring. He has since made plans to have a splash pad for them, if it gets that hot again this year. Doesn't have to be a big deal--just a few patio stones with a trickle irrigation hose.

Good luck with that electric bill. Not reasonable for a lot of people.

 

[crunchymama]

I have pet chickens. So easy to take care of, fun entertainment, good eggs, eat scraps and bugs, fertilizer for the garden- wonderful pets. I love my chickens!

 

[Wings Like Eagles]

Good luck with that electric bill. Not reasonable for a lot of people.

Wouldn't use much electricity since you only need to keep the coop above freezing (probably only would happen on the coldest nights). I agree that apartment dwellers would not be able to keep chickens and also, some municipalities have zoning regulations against them. In the case of our egg-growing friend, he has just a couple of acres and he has a flock of about 50. He is a newly-retired school teacher and started growing the chickens because he was bored at home. There will probably be enough eggs to go around when the people who can grow them, do. We have a "virtual bulletin-board" at our church to connect people to others offering goods and services.

 

[Work4Peanuts]

Wings is right. Chickens, once they are mature, don't need a lot of heat during the winter. We live in a moderate area for winter, but this last winter when Texas was having a complete freeze, our area got down to what I consider Maine winter temperatures. The chickens were fine. Our coop is uninsulated and the only heat we had in there was from a waterer that kept the water heated above freezing. They just fluffed up and cuddled together. I was worried about them and checked on them every day, but it was kind of emergency for people in the area, let alone the animals. There really wasn't anything else we could do. They came through better than I was expecting.

 

[Wings Like Eagles]

Wings is right. Chickens, once they are mature, don't need a lot of heat during the winter. We live in a moderate area for winter, but this last winter when Texas was having a complete freeze, our area got down to what I consider Maine winter temperatures. The chickens were fine. Our coop is uninsulated and the only heat we had in there was from a waterer that kept the water heated above freezing. They just fluffed up and cuddled together. I was worried about them and checked on them every day, but it was kind of emergency for people in the area, let alone the animals. There really wasn't anything else we could do. They came through better than I was expecting.

Yes. All birds (including chickens) have high metabolisms. Excessive heat is actually more of a problem than excessive cold. That's why they don't raise chickens in Saudi Arabia.

 

[alisani]

That's why they don't raise chickens in Saudi Arabia.

Learn something new every day.

 

[crunchymama]

I'm not in a cold area- DFW- but my chickens struggle way more with 100*+ heat with humidity than they do during the cold- even the snowmaggedon of last year. The chickens were just fine in the temps and I didn't do anything special but rotate out the waterers so they could drink. My chickens even liked the snow.

 

[Wings Like Eagles]

I'm not in a cold area- DFW- but my chickens struggle way more with 100*+ heat with humidity than they do during the cold- even the snowmaggedon of last year. The chickens were just fine in the temps and I didn't do anything special but rotate out the waterers so they could drink. My chickens even liked the snow.

Yes--having access to water is critical for animals fighting the cold. They will go into bodyfat-burning mode and stay warm but the metabolic load from burning fat requires that they be able to flush metabolic wastes from their systems.

Interestingly, animals in the wild know where the springs that bubble up from underground caverns are--probably why our ancient ancestors chose to live in caves when they pushed into areas that had colder winters. Animals will instinctively eat snow--but doing so boosts their metabolism, so they prefer liquid water.

God created all of His creatures to live. The darkness of death is just an absence of His life and light in a creature and it is the result of sin entering the world. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans that all of Creation is groaning under the curse of death. It must break His heart that the innocents suffer from the contagion of sin having entered the world. I don't think that we have an appreciation this side of heaven, just how catastrophic that was. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." It kills, steals, and destroys.

Look at the destruction wrought by sin in just one family--that of King David. David's sin with Bathsheba had ever widening circles until it threatened the entire kingdom. David knew that the prophecy given by Jacob over Judah (see Genesis 49:8-10) applied to him as a descendant of Judah (2 Samuel 7:16-29). Satan, who knows Scripture better than any human, chose to attempt to tempt and destroy David, so that the Messiah would never be born. But God chose David, who had a great heart for God and the plan was not derailed. David repented and was forgiven, keeping the train on the track. Praise God--what a great salvation!

 

[Wings Like Eagles]

Learn something new every day.

That was a bit of a joke on my part. While chicken/egg production is not "normal" for the Arabians, they have always eaten chicken and eggs through trading for them. They do raise them now, but their domestic production falls far short of the Arabian demand so they must import them. It requires raising chickens during the cooler months and providing air conditioning to the coops.

 

[Tall Timbers]

I'm not in a cold area- DFW- but my chickens struggle way more with 100*+ heat with humidity than they do during the cold- even the snowmaggedon of last year. The chickens were just fine in the temps and I didn't do anything special but rotate out the waterers so they could drink. My chickens even liked the snow.

When it gets ultra hot and humid does their laying eggs slow down, speed up, or stay about the same?

 

[crunchymama]

When it gets ultra hot and humid does their laying eggs slow down, speed up, or stay about the same?

Egg laying slows down. They lay less when they're stressed.

 

[Aiyanna]

Well, I'm allergic to eggs, so I stay away from anything with very much egg in it. But limiting any kind of natural resource for food is problematic.
Funny (not really) how many of these kinds of people value the lives of eggs so much, but don't place that same value on the life of an unborn baby.......

Glad I don't live.... oh wait I do live in MA Florida is sounding more and more wonderful with each passing day. I love eggs and we easily go through a dozen in two days. They are just too tasty. We will be devastated if this happens.

My fiance and I are paying everything off here in Oregon and planning on getting married (probably a really quick, private one) and moving to Florida here as soon as we can. We've had enough.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

I named a few animals but always knew the difference between pets and animals for food.
I have to say “Spot” had some pretty good steaks though. He was a steer, the only steer that had a name and I was grown when I named him.

Spotted steaks???!

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

Wouldn't use much electricity since you only need to keep the coop above freezing (probably only would happen on the coldest nights). I agree that apartment dwellers would not be able to keep chickens and also, some municipalities have zoning regulations against them. In the case of our egg-growing friend, he has just a couple of acres and he has a flock of about 50. He is a newly-retired school teacher and started growing the chickens because he was bored at home. There will probably be enough eggs to go around when the people who can grow them, do. We have a "virtual bulletin-board" at our church to connect people to others offering goods and services.

Aside from municipal ordinances and housing/sanitation codes, homeowners' associations often prohibit livestock/farm animals, including chickens and goats. Sometimes the restriction is just no roosters, though. Rabbits are much quieter and can be kept indoors (and litterbox trained)

 

[Wings Like Eagles]

Aside from municipal ordinances and housing/sanitation codes, homeowners' associations often prohibit livestock/farm animals, including chickens and goats. Sometimes the restriction is just no roosters, though. Rabbits are much quieter and can be kept indoors (and litterbox trained)

I've eaten wild rabbit before but it is very, very lean and gamey--must be stewed to be palatable. I've never eaten domestic rabbit. When the U.S. government killed off the buffalo herds, the native-Americans were forced to eat wild rabbit and they experienced "rabbit starvation" because of the lack of fat. Pemmican was a survival food for them and it consisted of buffalo tallow (the fat packed around the kidneys of the animal), dried pulverized meat and typically, dried berries or sometimes another kind of dried plant food. It is difficult to survive without enough fat in the diet. But next to mother's milk, eggs are the most perfect food.