Chicken By Products / My Ah-ha! Moment

I'm so excited... I just have to share.  I've been making stock in my crock pot for awhile now, using a whole chicken carcass after roasting it and eating what we want.  This time, I boiled eggs in the stock .....and cooked the stock too long...the result ... EVEN THE BONES are able to be crushed with my fingers and fed back to the birds.  THIS BRINGS THE WORDS, CHICKEN-BY-PRODUCTS, TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL!   And it brought me to an "ah-ha!" moment.  Here is my story:

 Three original chicken "pets" have grown to 7 birds that have brought so much joy into my life, adding - -  Chicken-by-products.  Here are just a few of them:

Chickens filled my empty nest with something to take care of after our children were grown and gone.

Our son-in-law built me a chicken coop that is just right for our hot climate because it has plenty of airflow.  Then he and two other sons-in-law and a daughter's boyfriend hoisted it over our fence.  I had to ask my neighbor for permission to bring a coop through his yard.  I would have loved to see the look on his face when  he saw it happening!  (Thanks Rudy!)  I know Jim wasn't pleased to see it come in...oops!

Then I got busy making it look cute!  This is a creative work in progress.  One of my favorite things is the sign made by my grandson, pictured here with five of my hens. He used a magnifying glass and the hot Arizona sun!

Lucy (in the planter) showing four of her sisters how to enjoy (destroy) the basil

The mirror is real,  The hearts were added in Picnik

Needing more space, I extended the run and added two new chickens.  This required a temporary home, so I fixed up a rabbit hutch that my daughter found on Craigslist.  And of course, I decorated it too.  My children used to play house in these Oleander shrubs.  

Here is the "ugly duckling" before.

Here it is after some fixing up and decorating.

My third attempt at curtains was a success

Eggs.

Wonderful eggs!


 --the main by-product of my new hobby.

  Pictures of eggs

 Is another by-product

    Joy...

Is yet another.

And good, fresh, healthy food is yet another...
   

Fresh Eggs are delicious.   Here is a meal I served to a vegetarian friend for dinner: 6 eggs, cracked but not broken into a casserole ...3/4 cu half and half poured over the top ...then a can of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, (some crumbled bacon when not serving vegetarians.) shredded cheese and fresh basil.  Baked at 350 until set.   YUM!

Another by-product: I recycle what the hens don't eat into compost.  They contribute droppings.  I use the kitchen scraps, dryer lint, coffee grounds, grass clippings and eggshells to make great dirt!  and the dirt makes great flowers.

FRIENDS are a by-product of chickens.  I have met some new friends on Facebook who share my crazy chicken love.  Many of them frequent the Fresh Eggs Daily  page. (https://www.facebook.com/FreshEggsDaily)

FED is where I submitted this photo that won a 2012 calendar for our wall!

So here is the point:

The cycle of life... 

We feed the chickens the things we don't eat...the chickens eat the plants we grow, provide the eggs that we eat; we add the shells to the compost that enriches the dirt that we make with the plants that we compost that enriches the soil where we grow the plants to eat and feed to the chickens who make droppings and eggshells ...

You get the picture?

One more thing:  I have more eggs than we can eat, so I share them with our neighbors.

And the cycle goes on! 

and on... Remember when I started this story, it was about turning a chicken (not one of mine!) into stock, boiled eggs, dog food, and mush that the chickens eat?  The discovery of even finding a way to use the bones was an "ah ha!" moment -- I just had to share!

And the cycle goes on:

and on

and on

and on

and on

and on...

and on

and on

 Smile ;-)

and even Jim got used to the idea!

Up next...

Decoupage the coop walls!