Chickens are useful on the farm for many reasons. We have a flock of egg laying barnyard chickens that roam the farm devouring insects that plague the Arkansas Ozarks. Because of the insect protein added to their diet the eggs that are produced are rich, flavorful and have dark orange yolks. The chickens are also great for cleaning up the scraps from the farm kitchen so we have vary little waste.
We also grow our own meat chickens. The Cornish Cross are the breed of choice to process. We order the chicks and raise them for 8-12 weeks feeding them non GMO feed. The meat is tender and delicious. It is good to know we are feeding our family healthy food that has been grown right here on the farm. We plan to build a chicken tractor and get a chicken plucking machine so we can raise more of the broilers for our customers.
We keep an average of 45 laying hens. The different varieties provide us eggs of many colors. Our customers appreciate the multi colors, and often comment how pretty they are.
The hens have their favorite nest box to lay their eggs in. Sometimes more than one hen wants to use the nest at once. We often leave them in their chicken run and coop until late morning so that they will lay the eggs in the nest and not hide them out where we cannot find them.