How to : Freezing raw eggs

I finally started taking all the eggs off my silkie hens at least twice a day! You cannot leave an egg in with silkies because it takes about 6 hours before one of them decides she's broody and she's gonna hatch that egg! *rolls eyes* I mean, sometimes a silkie hen will even decide to try to hatch the floor, but it's less likely for her to go broody if there are no eggs sitting in the coop.

Quite frankly I have had it with chicks this year! I just took the last 20 to auction and I do not want anymore. So I decided to start taking their eggs everyday and very quickly found myself with several dozen little silkie eggs.

Related reading: How often should you collect eggs?

I currently have nine silkie hens, so the eggs add up fast! I also have six Marans hens, so I really don't need this many eggs. At least not right now. I decided I better preserve some and what easier way to preserve fresh chicken eggs then by freezing them?

Easy to raise poultry (besides chickens)

I've been raising poultry since 2009 and through the years I have raised lots of different types of poultry. Some of these worked out really well and others not so much! When choosing other poultry to raise it's important to note how many eggs they will actually lay, because they're not all the same!

For instance most people think that a goose is a lot like a duck. I mean they're not wrong in certain aspects but if you're looking at egg laying, a goose only lays about 30 - 50 eggs each year whereas a duck can lay 300! That's a big difference, especially if you're raising them for eating eggs! 

Related reading: Comparing size and nutrition of different types of poultry eggs! Ducks, chickens, turkeys and more!

Now if you're raising them to hatch those eggs and sell the babies, then many goslings demand a higher price than ducklings so the goose might actually be a better choice.

Can you raise a chicken alone?

I've received several emails from readers lately asking if it's okay to raise a chicken by itself? Some of these chickens are being raised in the house as pets, but others are being raised outside in a coop by themselves. I have had a chicken inside my house form time to time and I have to say, it depends on the situation.

By nature chickens are flock animals. They do best in a group. When somebody asks me what the ideal flock size is I always say to have a minimum of five chickens in a flock. This is with or without a rooster.

Also when choosing flock size you'll want to look at how many eggs you need, but that doesn't really matter because they'll lay more in the summer and less in the winter and you'll never really get exactly what you need! Lol

How to clean a chicken coop

Today I had to clean out one of the chicken coops and it took me a little longer than I expected. I probably only do a deep cleaning about once a year, though I will dust down the spider webs and scoop up under the roosts more often. This was a serious cleaning today!

I use the deep litter method in my chicken coops, so it's really only a once a year clean out. Today was that day starting with the bedding and ending with a Shop-Vac. Here's the entire process.

How to choose a poultry incubator

I have been hatching my own eggs for about 12 years now and during that time I have used several different types of incubators in all different price levels. When you begin hatching eggs, choosing your incubator is very important. Most people decide purely based on price but I believe you should chose the style you prefer and then find one in your price range.

The cheapest incubator you can buy (that actually works well) is about $45 and it's a still air Styrofoam model that holds around 40 eggs. The most expensive incubator you can buy is a fully automatic cabinet model that costs around $2,500 and holds a little under 600 eggs! 

As you can see, there is a lot of room between these 2 styles and that's what we are going to discuss today. Lets talk about everything incubators: still air, forced air, hygrometers, thermometers, turners and hand turning.

Related reading: Learn about incubation & hatching, terms and definitions.