Red Roost Farm

Life has been busy and I’ll be out for the next two weeks. See you my chickens…at least they are in good hands

What she said 😊

Please support local farmers! We see our chickens as more than a commodity, we care for them like pets!

Now for some more info on grocery store terms for eggs.

Caged eggs come from hens who live in short cages (basically a foot tall, if that) and have less space than a single sheet of paper to “live” in. Their beaks are trimmed to prevent pecking, and they are culled at the moment they start to have a decrease in laying production.

If it doesn’t claim to be the cage free, pasture raised, etc, safe to say that it is a cage egg. Same with “all natural”, “farm fresh”, or “no antibiotics”. None of those mean anything past that.

Arsenic is natural (just saying), fresh can be up to 2 weeks, and antibiotics have been banned for years in commercial flocks.

Like the photo shows, cage free is what is in this image. No cages, but nearly the same space they would’ve had with a cage.

Free range has no requirements, so it could be a doggy door at one end to a patch of grass and they can slap the “free range” label on it.

Pasture raised is more ethical. However, this still has no requirements and they can be packed into an pasture.

With all that said, this is not a anti-egg post, this is about putting your money towards humane and ethical places.

Best option for you, the farmer, and most importantly, the hens, is to buy local.
Farmers and chicken owners who genuinely care for their birds, and give them tons of space to roam. It’s not hard to find eggs from hens who live on hundreds of square feet per chicken, if not more.

Photo credits to Michelle Parsley’s post

Up for discussion!!
12 BCM chicks, straight run
10 sage eggers, straight run - potential frizzle, Blue/Black/Splash
10 Coturnix quails

NPIP certified in North Durham.

Getting so crowdwd!! This incubator included Opal/Split/cream Legbar and BCM. Both already hatched more than 60% and still more pipping.

The second incubator already had 100% hatched from fertilized eggs.
I’m very happy with my hatch rate and incubator!!

Sadly none of my OE from my breeding pen eggs are fertilized, which is curious because they were fertilized for my last hatch. 🤨 oh well

Little baby quails 🥰🥰

On lock down. Cross fingers I have good hatch. some project breeds including
Splash frizzle sage egger (BBS)
And
Lavender mottled sage egger

Hmmm… to get or not to get… it’s an arm and a leg for 6 chicks 😭😭 BUT!!!!

As of today I have been broken on eggs. I will not be offering hatching eggs anymore. Let me explain. I started selling Marans hatching eggs many years ago from my line of Black Copper Marans. I always listed the unpredictability of shipped eggs. Also I do believe Marans are harder to hatch due to the thicker internal membrane. Even with that said I still have customers whom want to risk it. So I only pack eggs no older than 2 day past lay. I use custom foam egg shippers and have the eggs held for pickup to reduce travel trauma. I feel I do everything I can. Majority of egg customers are happy a few I don’t hear anything because maybe they didn’t have a good hatch or have a busy life and don’t need to report back to me. Some do report back but are super understanding.

Then there are these customers:

The ones who lay the guilt, tries to use kids, family, broken car or cat…anything to get any type of sympathy item possible.

The aggressive one who insults me, goes to social platforms and belittles my character and business or calls me a thief.

I can avoid all this negative energy and hatch so many more chicks if I don’t offer eggs. I want all haply cusotmers and if I can’t promise success why offer the risk. I hope everyone can respect my choice and I look forward to helping you all achieve your poultry dreams with 🐥🐥 💕 I’m a really nice person I promise, eggs make me cranky 😝

Frizzle Mottled Lavender and Black English Orpington, anyone? 🥰

Yesterday collection throw me a nice new color. BCM with the heavy bloom.

Our vacation is coming to an end. Back to the real world and hope to have time to recharge again.

Today is the opposit day. I found the biggest duck egg (poor girl) and the smallest chicken egg. Normal size chicken egg for size.