I'm in love with the Buckeye Chicken. I now have been working with them going on three years, first came the hatch of just roosters, then the hunt for hens, two years in length, but the reward has arrived. . .
. . . eggs, eggs, and more eggs!
This breed it truly an american breed, created by Mrs. Nellie Metcalf of Warren, Ohio, the only woman to create and develop a breed in the US. What I fell in love with was not only the friendliness of the fowl, their love of free ranging, and the flock interaction, but their hardiness to cold and hot weather. It was Mrs. Metcalf's sensibility, she wanted eggs all year round in extreme heat and extreme cold.
The hens are just now coming onto their first birthday. They started laying eggs in the fall, 17 hens producing 6 to eight eggs a day, very manageable for our family. I have left the light natural and had fun feeding them different vegetables and watching the color of the shell to see if any changes occurred.
Kale and carrots definitely produce a darker shell and brighter yoke. It's been an easy adventure, until solstice passed and the light started to increase. I just do not know what happened, except I think Mother Nature has entered in and I am now getting a dozen eggs or more each morning, oh my, in the extreme cold none the less. I will need to line up a few more families for the eggs this spring and develop a more extensive eggs recipe list to go to if this abundance continues.
New recipes wanted. . .
~ Deb
