Comment by belorn
7 years ago
When you have 6-20 hens the issue is a bit different from several hundreds. The nesting box tends to be pretty clean and you put in fresh hay to encourage them to lay the eggs there rather than some hidden part of the yard (a constant risk, and spoiled eggs smells similar to that of a decomposing animal except it seems to continues forever).
They don't tend to poop when laying eggs and usually leave the nest imminently when done, being quite loud and signaling to the rest of the troop. Collecting a newly laid egg becomes a bit of routine, and I get a feeling so is the laying of an egg by the hens.
Working with animals you also do get a bit more used to chicken poop and just deal with it if an egg here and there is not perfectly clean. I tend to wash those before using them in cooking. It is pretty fair trade for getting: "free" eggs, insect management in the garden, weed removal, and naturally enjoyment of having social animals.
As you say, where the chickens lay is always scrupulously clean (--They keep it that way, moreso than us). The boxes are elevated and they go there just to lay (& tend to sleep nearby, but elsewhere). I've never had poo on the eggs: but even if there were, I'd pretty much ignore it.
My parents kept chickens when I was growing up and this is what I remember too, from all the times I was tasked with collecting eggs from the (elevated) boxes.
This. As long as the nest boxes have fresh hay in them and you keep track of any nests (and brooding hens) in the garden, then the eggs rarely need cleaning.
We had one hen who insisted on doing her business in the nest boxes and that obviously ruined the fun. The soup was really nice though. :D
How do you make chickens eat weeds, but not your crops (sorry, I know nothing about farming)?
Its mostly about the size. For rose bushes and berry bushes it is pretty simple. For other things, seeding are kept inside during winter (Swedish climate) so by the time they get planted they are big enough that the chicken leaves them alone. Some plants do need a mesh net like strawberries where the chickens will leave the plants alone but sometimes goes after the fruits. There is also large sized steel meshes for the exceptions where plants are large enough to not be eaten but so small or freshly planted that a chicken that is scratching the soil would ruin the plant.
(The context is our garden around the house, not a professional farm. Can't say anything if this could be used in a larger setting.)