If you’ve ever stopped by the farm to buy eggs, you’ve probably seen the sign that says, “Organic-fed Eggs.” Why do we use that phrasing when we feed our chickens Organic Feed and they free range on an organic property?
Becoming Certified Organic is a huge process. We fully plan to apply for certified status in the very near future, but we haven’t done so yet. The people who do apply for and are approved for certified organic farms have done a lot to get there, so if I slapped a label on my eggs that said “Organic eggs” I would feel like I’m taking away from someone who’s already done the work. I know how hard it is to follow organic practices. I don’t want to be that person.
You can check out all of the information on becoming certified organic on the Provincial website.
As for our chickens and eggs, we feed them Certified Organic feed from InSeason Farm in Abbotsford. They free range on our property that hasn’t been touched or sprayed with anything for decades. When we bought it I was told they hadn’t used a single pesticide in over 60 years, so it seems unlikely it has ever been sprayed.
These chickens have amazing lives, with daily dust baths and a cute and clean coop to roost in. They literally go everywhere on our property, sometimes even trying to get in the house or sun bathing on the porch. We don’t eat our chickens either. I don’t feel as though heritage chickens are for eating, and although the roosters create a huge noise issue, we live with it. We do on occasion we re-home roosters for breeding, but that’s it.
That’s why we say our eggs are from Organic-fed hens and aren’t certified-organic.
I wrote this post a year ago on my other blog, but thought it could use a re-up here.
By now almost everyone in British Columbia has heard about Molly, the SPCA pig that was adopted from the Cowichan & District branch. She was seized as part of cruelty investigation, and adopted out in January.
Long story short, they ate her less than a month later. I haven’t seen the video but some people commented that these people were busted after showing pics of them seasoning her meat on Snapchat. He’s since apologized. Apparently people aren’t into his apology, because I just saw it all over the US news.
This story bothers me on every level I have, especially since I too adopted an SPCA pig from the Cowichan & District branch. In fact, I adopted three.
How I came to adopt an SPCA pig
I have a farm in the Fraser Valley. We’ve lived here for almost three years and over that time I’ve adopted miniature donkeys, pygmy goats, alpacas, llamas, sheep, and many, many chickens. I say adopted because they are part of my family now. I’m not great at this farming thing yet, and so far my the only thing I’ve been absolutely sure of is that I won’t eat my animal family. That means that any animal that comes onto this property stays here until they die. I’ll eat their eggs but I won’t carve them up for dinner.
I received a text message from a friend who knew about a bunch of pot belly pigs on the island who needed a home. I’m a complete sucker for SPCA animals. I’ve adopted a set of ducks and geese from them that are still wandering the farm, and after I did some research on the pigs I decided I was up for the challenge.
The three of them arrived in dog carriers via ferry. My dad and I picked them up in Horseshoe Bay and brought them home, and you’ve never seen a happier set of piggies. I put them in a pen with a small shed full of straw and they went nuts eating and digging. We named them Kevin Bacon, John Hamm, and Moo. Moo was named in honor of a pig that used to hang out on the road side near my kid’s school.
Now I wouldn’t say that having pot belly pigs isn’t challenging. It is. They like to root their way under fences and head off on adventures. The first few times I followed them out in the field to make sure they were OK, and they did head down the driveway more than once. I have been the neighborhood entertainment several times as I ran across the road, all because Moo and Kevin decided the ditch across the street must be full of goodies.
These guys are not aggressive. If anything they are scared of people. Moo is the most sociable, and he loves belly rubs and to have his ears scratched. Kevin is slightly skittish, but I can pet him now, and John likes to eat carrots from my hand but he won’t let me pet him. He’ll come around.
I’m not going to say much about the people who ate their pig except that they clearly had no idea how to care for one or what her behavior would be like, and it would surprise me if a pig born from the same litter as Moo and the boys was aggressive and tried to ram into their window like they said she did. I wasn’t there and I can’t say, but if my guys were running into the window it’s because they want carrots, and they always wag their tails and wander off happy when they get them.
My husband suggested I share some positivity by showing you my piggies, so here’s some pictures of them over the past few months. I’d take pics of them today but it’s cold and raining, and they don’t want to come out of the straw.
I love these guys, and I’m grateful to the BC SPCA for rescuing animals and giving us the opportunity to give them good lives.
You can follow the journey of Moo, Kevin, and John via my Instagram profile RedwoodCreekFarm.
Moo gets a belly rubThe pigs go on an adventureMoo’s Christmas
We sell rainbow eggs. That means that each dozen you buy has a variety of colors inside. We have blue, bright blue, green, grey, brown, and dark brown eggs. The reason we have all of these pretty colors is because we picked our chickens specifically for the color of egg they will lay.
When I first started out with chickens 3 years ago I had a few Silkies and a Leghorn rooster named Little Jerry. Jerry was a crazy rooster who got really possessive of his girls and their eggs, so he’d chase us around the farmyard anytime we went near them. He really hated my daughter’s bright red boots for some reason.
Silkies lay white eggs and they tend to be on the small side, so while I loved them because they were cute, I was already on a mission to get my rainbow dozen.
Over the next year we added Americaunas (blue eggs), Cream Breasted Legbars (also blue eggs), Black Copper Maran (dark brown), and Olive eggers (green eggs). With a mix of roosters in the yard and a few other hens thrown into the mix, I have my rainbow eggs.
Every dozen of eggs I sell has as many colors as I can put in. I honestly never just toss eggs in a carton and put them out for sale. I really think about making rainbow eggs for everyone who picks up a dozen. That might be why I can put 10 dozen out for sale at 9 am and they’re all gone by 10 am.
What you get really depends on who’s laying eggs that day, who’s sitting on eggs that day, and who didn’t hide their eggs that day. I’ve found eggs all over the yard, and although you’d think it would be fun to find them, it’s really not. Chickens are devious creatures.
You can find our organic-fed rainbow eggs in our shop.
I bought an active bee colony last September from some lovely people who were moving out of the country. I always thought about getting into bees, but I knew there was a lot I needed to know before I did. When the opportunity presented itself via a Facebook ad I weighed my pros and cons, decided fall was as safe a time to start as any, and jumped in feet first.
Over the winter the I did a lot of reading, watched a ton of Youtube videos, and signed up for the online provincial beekeeping course. By the time spring hit I was as prepared as I ever would be to take a look inside that hive. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t terrified; I w as just prepared and terrified all at once.
There were a few things I did take away from the online beekeeping course, and they would be really helpful for beginner beekeepers who are cracking the lid of that hive for the first time. These are just simple ways to get your feet wet when you’re a beginner beekeeper.
Reverse your two brood boxes
According to honeybeesuite, an amazing online resource, and my instructor for the beginner beekeepers course, rotating your two main brood boxes might be a good idea. I say might because my instructor online said yes, and honeybeesuite said she no longer does it.
One argument for reversing is that it forces the bees into the bottom box. According to Rusty at honeybeesuite, her bees will move down into the bottom box all on their own anyway.
Like everything with beekeeping, you have to take all of the advice thrown at you and make your own call. I reversed my boxes this year, but I might not next year.
Find your Queen, or don’t
I’ll testify to the fact that this is incredibly difficult. I searched through all of the frames and I didn’t see her. I know she must be there because there was capped and uncapped brood all over the place, but I didn’t actually spot her when I was searching. In my defense I was pretty freaked out by all of the bees flying around, and I did end up getting stung twice.
If you get stung, my mom recommends rubbing the sting with a raw onion. I thought she was crazy, but it really does work.
The alternate to finding your queen is…just don’t. If you can see she’s active and laying on the frames, there’s no real reason to disturb your bees by spending all that time to find her.
That’s just my opinion, but I like to leave my bees to do their thing as much as I can.
Don’t pull honey
If you left all of your honey in the hive so your bees would have food for the winter, don’t feel as though any leftovers are fair game yet. Early spring is too early to pull honey, especially if your trees and flowers aren’t blooming yet.
Wait until you know there is nectar for your bees and you won’t feel guilty for being a honey robber.
I’m definitely one of the many beginner beekeepers just finding their way this spring, so if you have tips you’d like to share, feel free to share them here.
