Eating with Dr. Seuss

by Cari Tan

Eating green eggs and ham might seem like fiction, but your family can make it a reality! Araucanas are chickens from South America that actually lay green eggs, but you don’t have to travel to South America to enjoy raising them. Raising chickens with your kids can be a great activity for the whole family to do together, in your own backyard. Read on to find out how you can raise chickens, whether they lay green eggs or not.

Living Space

Chickens are relatively easy to care for, requiring about the same attention as dogs. The most important first step is to find out what the ordinances are where you live about keeping chickens. Many cities now allow for laying chickens to be kept in back yards, but they typically have a limit to how many chickens are allowed. Usually, roosters are not allowed within city limits, and despite ordinances, you will probably have to get your neighbors to sign a petition saying it is alright for you to keep chickens.

Coops are the next big issue. It is important that your coop be secure. Cougars, wolves, coyotes, raccoons, weasels, and owls are all predators for chickens. These are mainly a problem during the nighttime, so your chickens should be mostly safe outside during the day.

Eggs

One common question is whether there are baby chicks inside the eggs. Unless you have a rooster, the answer will be “No.” Hens will lay about an egg a day whether there is a rooster around or not. This is because chicken eggs get fertilized through the eggshell. The shell is permeable, which is why you can see through the shell if you hold it up to the light, and also why bad eggs will float (they have lost water though the shell).

Many people also don’t know that when a chicken lays an egg it has a natural preservative on it, and can actually keep unrefrigerated for a couple of weeks before it goes bad. After you collect the eggs from the chickens and before you use them, just wash them gently with a little bit of hot water with just a small amount of soap in the water and scrub them gently. Once you’ve cleaned them, you should store them in the refrigerator.

If your chickens have access to the outdoors where they can forage for their own food (bugs and plants) and if you feed your chickens produce scraps, you will notice that your egg yolks will be a deep yellow or orange color. This is because your chickens’ diet is richer in beta-carotene than most eggs you can buy at the store. You will also notice that your eggs taste a lot better. They are also more nutritious for you, because the chickens had more nutrients in their diet that they will pass on to you in their eggs.

While it is true that on average a hen will lay one egg every 30 hours, production will go down in winter when the days get shorter. Laying hens are typically good layers for about five years (laying an egg every 30 hours). After that, their production goes down and they can live several more years. They can still make good pets after they have stopped laying.

I have worked on a couple of different farms in California and Minnesota where I helped with growing produce and caring for animals such as sheep, goats, ducks, pigs, beef cattle, and laying hens. The farms I worked at were also educational facilities, and I taught school children about how to grow, process, and enjoy food. The kids enjoyed learning about where food comes from and how food decisions can affect the environment, but most of them enjoyed spending time with the chickens best of all. Many kids enjoyed just sitting with the birds, watching them, and holding them.

If you do decide to raise chickens with your kids, you are in for a wonderful experience to share with your family that your kids will never forget. You can learn invaluable lessons about growing food and caring for animals—not to mention the benefit of all those delicious eggs you can eat together. Whatever you do, have fun with your family.