More PostsBy John on July 6, 2011 By John on June 25, 2011 By John on June 13, 2011 By John on June 9, 2011 By John on June 6, 2011
 Anyone who is contemplating getting into the backyard chicken movement needs to answer this inevitable question: what are you going to do when they stop laying eggs? The precise moment when this needs to be answered is as fixed as the tides; a hen is most productive in the first year of her life and her lay rate declines 20% a year like clockwork. By the time a hen is 3 years old she might be laying 2-3 eggs per week instead of 4-5, by 5 years she is laying one egg per week and is eating just as much feed as she has consumed since year one. Chickens easily live 8 to 10 years. Do you let them live out their lives regardless (lots of people do) or do you consign them to the fate of most chickens for the past 8,000 years: they become food. In our town we’re allowed up to 10 chickens, if I kept non-productive hens alive it would prevent me from getting 10 new ones. (read more…)
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 When Phyllis and I married we received a Braun juicer as a wedding gift. We used it a few times but eventually it found its way to the back of the appliance closet where it sat … (read more…) |
 I have always had a soft spot in my heart for chipmunks. Sure, they are rodents, but so are squirrels and rabbits, and with their brown and white fur and dorsal racing stripes, they are, in … (read more…) |
 I’ve been quite remiss and lazy in my posting since the summer turned hot. In fact, I’ve been lazy with just about everything. During spring, the garden is the excuse to get outside into the … (read more…) |
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 In part 1 of this series I described my experience with Gro Solar, a national solar power installer, and how, in the final analyis, I decided that solar power was not a … (read more…) |
 When I planted Apache blackberries three seasons ago I thought the only thing that I needed to worry about were the deer eating the succulent primocane shoots and the birds stealing the … (read more…) |
For years I’ve entertained the notion of installing a photo voltaic (PV) solar energy system at mediaOrganic. So every couple of years I invite an industry … (read more…) |
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Anyone who is contemplating getting into the backyard chicken movement needs to answer this inevitable question: what are you going to do when they stop laying eggs? The precise moment when this needs to be answered is as fixed as the tides; a hen is most productive in the first year of her life and her lay rate declines 20% a year like clockwork. By the time a hen is 3 years old she might be laying 2-3 eggs per week instead of 4-5, by 5 years she is laying one egg per week and is eating just as much feed as she has consumed since year one. Chickens easily live 8 to 10 years. Do you let them live out their lives regardless (lots of people do) or do you consign them to the fate of most chickens for the past 8,000 years: they become food. In our town we’re allowed up to 10 chickens, if I kept non-productive hens alive it would prevent me from getting 10 new ones. (read more…)
