Laying hens

Not all chickens lay eggs.

Our chickens that lay eggs are female chickens, we refer to female chickens as 'hens', which descend from a variety of breeds that provide eggs. There are chickens that do not lay eggs, such as specific breeds used generally for meat, and male chickens called roosters or cockerels, who do not lay eggs.

The breeds of chickens that we enjoy the most on our farm lay a variety of coloured eggs which we so enjoy, as do our clients. We don't dye the eggs, they naturally come out of a chicken butt the colour that they are. And yes, eggs come out of chicken's butts. We have a video of that somewhere but most people don't want to see it.

A few of our favourite breeds are Azure blue, Olive egger and Rhode island red. Chickens lay all sorts of shapes and sizes of eggs. Some of the shells have ridges, some are jumbo double yolkers, some are tiny and most are large or extra large.

Natural eggs, one tiny and one jumbo, side by side

Our chickens often enjoy pasture and also have free range and free run, or whatever all those stamps of approval call them. Essentially, they can go outside when they want to, during the day (not at night) and they have access to natural foraging of greens and bugs during the months those two things exist naturally outside. They always have plenty of food and water inside their coops at all times. They need to come inside to their nesting boxes to lay their eggs every day so they must have coop access at all times.

We use electric fence to prevent predators from sneaking into their pasture during the day but it's impossible to prevent all predation - hawks, owls and other birds of prey sometimes make a meal out of our girls and while it's disappointing, it's the circle of life.

They have a winter coop in the barn, to keep them warm and safe from the crazy snow, and access to the outdoors every day, save for a few of the coldest days of the winter that we close off their outdoor access for their own preservation. With really high winds in our area, it's imperative that we keep the coop draft free and keep our chickens dry. I could only imagine how bad wearing a wet feather coat was, especially if you have no way to dry off.

Our century barn on a beautiful summer evening, electric fence keeping the chicken pasture safe

Their summer coop is on pasture while our baby meat chicks take over inside the barn.

This year, we have 99 laying hens! It's such an exciting time of year when they all start to lay the most eggs you've ever seen in the spring. If you'd like to try our eggs for the first time, I have a promo code for you 'FARMFRESHEGGS' that will get you a complimentary sample dozen farm fresh eggs from our farm stand (pickup only). Only the first 10 people will be able to use it so get to it quick! We love providing freebies for our loyal blog followers. Stick around and hopefully there will be more to look forward to.

Enjoy the eggs,

The Farmer @ Livingstone Farm 1860