Backyard eggsplosion
Workshop to feed growing interest in chicken-raising
By RICHIE DAVIS
Recorder Staff
The Recorder Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Greenfield, Massachusetts
HATFIELD - Pam Raymond and David Turner have plenty of mouths to feed on their 8.5-acre farm. But this Saturday, they're inviting some human visitors in as well, as part of a series for other people interested in raising backyard chickens.
"There's a huge amount of interest," said Raymond, whose Plain Road farm will play host to a threehour workshop, from 9 a.m. to noon, organized by Northeast Organic Farming Association/ Massachusetts Chapter. The organization is sponsoring the workshops around the state for the second consecutive year, recognizing that the flock of people trying their hand at raising backyard poultry is burgeoning. The workshops - which will also include a June 25 session at Sharon Gensler and Pru Smith's Wildbrowse Farm in Wendell - will cover how to raise chickens for eggs or meat. The sessions will try to include information useful to beginner and seasoned producers alike, say organizers.
"Whenever there's a lot of new people coming into a new husbandry practice like this, there can be a bit of a learning curve to climb," said Ben Grosscup, NOFA-Mass. education events coordinator. "The workshops we sponsor emphasize raising poultry in a way that is healthy for the birds and for the people eating their eggs and meat."
Greenfield Farmers Cooperative Exchange reports a steady increase in spring orders for chicks over the past years: from 800 in 2009 to 1,800 last year and 2,000 in this year's first spring order.
"We see young farmers who are doing it for fresh eggs and to teach their children about where food comes from," said store manager Jeffrey Budine. In addition to seeing more orders for more chicks over the past three or four years, he said, the store is also selling a larger selection of hen houses - although people just starting out usually try converting a shed to save money. And they buy more shavings and other supplies, especially feed.
Raymond, who has chronic lyme disease, and Turner, who has end stage liver disease, started their farm as a primary strategy for treating themselves.
"I raise my own chickens because by doing so I can raise food in a cleaner way and with better nutrition," said Raymond, a member of the Pioneer Valley Backyard Chicken Association.
Most people Raymond knows with chickens only keep hens, and primarily as pets, said Raymond.
With 50 broilers and 17 laying hens, plus 50 more broilers that belong to a friend, the couple feed their layers raw milk from Upinngil Farm as well as ground pollock that Turner gets on fishing trips, as well as organic alfalfa mash and whey from Raymond's cheese making, as a way to boost protein and Omega-3 fatty acid and beta carotene. Raymond also plants Swiss chard, mesclun and other greens specifically for the chickens and tosses them a squash now and then.
"They adore tearing them to shreds," says Raymond, who had pet chickens as a child but only started raising them with her husband for meat in 2008.
The main problem that people just starting out run into, Raymond says, is having cages that are either too small, not sturdy enough, predator-proof or aren't built with weather considerations in mind.
"The problems come when it gets cold and when it snows," she says. Toes can get frostbite on their feet and their combs can freeze. Their coop is partially insulated and has a heat lamp.
"Most chickens don't like to go out in snow and many won't leave the coop if there's snow. If the coop is too small, you start to get a pecking order."
She allows her broilers to go out to pasture, but they aren't considered "free-range," because they need of protection from potential predators.
On the Web: www.pioneervalleybackyardchickenassociation.weebly.com
Greenfield Farmers Cooperative Exchange reports a steady increase in spring orders for chicks over the past years: from 800 in 2009 to 1,800 last year and 2,000 in this year's first spring order.
The workshops will cover how to raise chickens for eggs or meat. The sessions will try to include information useful to beginner and seasoned producers alike.
This page was last modified on April 25, 2011 at 9:59:13 AM.
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