Chickens, Ducks & Geese... Oh My!!!

Chickens, Ducks, and Geese… Oh My!!!

Hi Everyone!

We’ve had some interest lately in what we feed our chickens, their environment, and how they are treated.  So I wanted to make things simple for all and address these questions in today’s blog post!

To begin, we label our chicken eggs “farm fresh,” “cage free,” and “free range (or pasture raised).”   What does that mean?

All these egg labels can be confusing sometimes… or intimidating!  And they are different depending on if you’re talking about grocery store eggs or local farm eggs.  Let me tell you… there is a lot of biased, make-you-feel-bad-about-buying-eggs-from-a-grocery-store information out there! 

But I’d like to give you a brief low-down on why we label our eggs the way we do!

Farm Fresh…

For eggs you buy at the grocery store, this probably actually means nothing.  Just a hook to get you reeled into buying the $1 more carton.  Some say it has no substance whatsoever to the quality of the eggs.

For Rush Acres Farm?  This is what we do!

We literally walk out to the roost, hand-pick the sometimes still warm eggs from the nests multiple times a day, wash them so there’s no unsightly, lingering excrement attached, and carton them up for you to enjoy. 

You can’t get much more farm fresh unless you raise your own chickens!

Cage Free…

“Cage free” can be a little controversial. 

Speaking of commercial sellers, it can mean that the chickens are yes, “technically are not in cages” but still housed in cramped living quarters.  Not exactly the most humane, but technically…

But for us… it means they are not in cages at all and given ample area inside and outside their roost to run free to their hearts’ content.

Free Range…

To be precise, “free range” means the chickens are free to walk around in the wild.  If you were to buy grocery store eggs, this means the chickens are “cage free” and are given limited access to sunlight and outside areas.

For our chickens… no, we do not let them completely roam free.  Why?  Because there are predators, and we want to protect them from the evil raccoons and coyotes that roam the woods. 

This is why we have a fence around their yard. 

Do we call our eggs “free range?”  Heck yeah we do! 

You could also call them “pasture raised” as they spend most of their time outdoors.  They are free to go inside if they want to, but we also lead them inside at night for their own protection.

Here’s what our chicken yard looks like. 

And here’s the chicken house… We put them inside the house each night for their protection.

Our chickens’ diet consists of four things…

1. Homegrown Layer Pellets--- This blend offers the balanced nutrition that laying chickens require

2. Purina Scratch Grains--- We use Scratch Grains as a supplement for our adult chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys.  This blend encourages natural pecking and feeding instincts.

3. Table Scraps--- We also give our chickens table scraps. 

4. Bugs & Worms--- This is fairly self-explanatory… it’s what they naturally do and we don’t want to stop them!

What about our ducks, geese, and turkeys? 

They get Purina Game Bird Feed and the Purina Scratch Grains, as well as foraging for bugs and worms and table scraps.

Here’s what their enclosure looks like…

We house our ducks and geese at night in a double fenced area for added protection.

So there you have it!  If there are any other questions, we welcome them and enjoy educating the community.

Next time you’re in the area, stop by for a dozen or two… $2.00 per dozen!