How I house, feed, and raise my chickens.
... and rooster in parsley sauce.
Hey friends. I hope you’re having a great weekend.
I went live on Instagram on Friday sharing a bit of my struggles with winter - it sounds like many of you sharing my sentiments. I try not to complain or dwell too much on what isn’t here yet (that is, Spring). But knowing what your goal is and knowing what you're feeling are often at odds. I know winter will end, I know I have plenty to be grateful for, and I know I am fine. But some days are easier than others to convince my feelings of those realities.
To counter the weight of my winter-woes, I’ve been really trying to intentionally spend plenty of time outside. Even though it’s rainy, cold, windy, snowy, and frankly, not very nice or inspiring at all. It probably wasn’t the prettiest time to go into the chicken coop to share it with the the internet (in fact, it’s probably the ugliest of all time), but I’ve never been one to think these things through too much.
I get lots of questions about raising chickens. Lots. And most of the time my answer is simply “Don’t worry about it.”.
There’s a lot you can fuss over if you want to, but you certainly don’t need to. Here on our farm, we keep it pretty dang simple.
In this week’s video, I’m sharing:
Why we don’t free range our chickens
What we do with roosters
How we get chicks each year
What we feed our chickens
What we do and don’t worry about
What chicken makes the best broth
… and a delicious poached rooster in parsley sauce dish (tip: serve it alongside roasted potatoes, a lemon-dressed spring salad, and a big ‘ol piece of bread).
You’ll notice that I cook my rooster in a really wonderful new MadeIn Copper Saucier pan. You can save 15% off your MadeIn purchase of $100 or more by using this link.
They’ve been kind enough to sponsor this video and I wanted to give them an extra shout-out here, not because they asked me to, but because they deserve it. I’ve been so wonderfully impressed with their quality products that they offer the world in a time of cheap and disposable. It’s just really exciting to see a company provide such a high quality product and really knock it out of the park.
Whether you have chickens or are hoping to get chickens, I hope you find the video encouraging. Keep it simple! Chickens are awesome.
Onward and upward,
Shaye
This winter has KICKED MY TAIL. I haven’t had the winter blues this bad in years. And then I best myself up for being depressed and it’s twice the madness. 🤪 So ready for Spring, for change, for progress, for warmth. You’re not alone!
Thank you for sharing! I recently switched to Bluebird Grains for our homeground grains as well as some for chickens after hearing about their regenerative practices and how they run their grain farm on Audible podcast series they put out! I started giving my chickens a blend of seeds and flax and some of their grain. I am able to feed them so much less quantity of grain because it seems the nutrients in the grain are much higher. They are in WInthrop WA. I as well wanted to grow my own grains but don't have that capacity at this point.