Hen farmer uses organic guidelines

    Laurie Roberts of rural Ainsworth has taken up a rather demanding hobby this year: caring for 38 chickens. Not only must Roberts care for the chickens, she must take pains to ensure they are fed a proper diet. Roberts raises the chickens according to cage-free and organic guidelines. That means the chickens are not given antibiotics and are fed a vegetarian diet. The feed comes from farms that are certified organic, which do not use chemicals.

    Roberts has begun to sell her hens? eggs at farmers markets in the area, including the one in Washington. She has seven different breeds of chickens, and she said she can tell them apart. Roberts learned that different breeds of chicken lay different colors of eggs, such as white, beige, brown, blue and green. She said she has received special requests for her green eggs, both because they are uncommon and because of the popularity of the Dr. Seuss book ?Green Eggs and Ham.?

    Her hens lie in nest boxes that are covered in a fiber that resembles straw. She said they have ample space to roam and are free to go in and out of their nests at any time. However, she said that because of natural predators, she keeps them inside overnight.

     ?There are possums, skunks, and stray dogs I have to worry about,? remarked Roberts.

    Roberts said she thought skunks are among the worst egg thieves in the animal kingdom.

    ?I do keep them in an enclosed chicken coop at night, which is open during the day,? she said. ?They go on the roof, and everyone has their spot and they lie in the same spot every night. When it gets dark, they come inside. They have to be home by sundown.?

    Roberts said she wants to give her chickens a better life than that given to chickens kept in battery cages. 

    ?They don?t get to do the things that a bird would be able to do,? she said. ?They?re just treated like a machine.?

    Roberts purchased her chickens in March, and has noticed that as the hens mature their eggs become larger. She said each hen lays about one egg every day.

For more, see our Oct. 8 print edition.