Chickens today, they don't know they're born.

[dinosaw]

Came across this little bit about one mans chicken keeping during the war to supplement his egg rations. Sawdust in with the mash, a hen house made from oil drums, what would our flocks think. The bit about chickens starts five paragraphs down if your interested in that sort of thing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/02/a8435702.shtml

 

[rick]

That's a really good read! Amazing how much is different and how much is the same re the concerns of chicken keepers down the ages. You would have thought, though, with all that bone meal going through the grinder that the eggs would be unbreakable and shell grit supplements not needed!

 

[Marigold]

What a wonderful article. I can remember my family keeping eggs in a bucket of silica solution during the 1940s, but I don't know where we got enough to give a surplus as we didn't keep hens. We did have cousins who lived out in a village, in a cottage with water from a well across the road, no gas or electricity, and a privy round the back whose contents fertilised the vegetable garden. Auntie Phoebe would boil up a big pot of potatoes from the garden in a cauldron over the fire on her range, and then stir in 'chicken meal' which I suppose was a similar stuff to what's 'mentioned in the article. She would then chuck it all out on the ground in the garden, boiling hot straight from the pot, and the fowls would fight to get at it, they must have had tin crops I think.
Auntie Phoebe would sometimes give us an oven-ready chicken, which was a real treat as you couldn't just go and buy one in the shops. I remember we once had a visiting missionary to lunch, after he'd given a sermon at church on Sunday. I disgraced myself by being so hungry that I got stuck in to my beautiful plateful of chicken, roast potatoes and vegetables, then realised everybody else was sitting there looking at their plates and waiting for him to say grace. Very embarrassing!
Anyone else remember dried egg? Having grown up on it, I thought it tasted really nice, but I bet it was horrible really.

 

[dinosaw]

I disgraced myself by being so hungry that I got stuck in to my beautiful plateful of chicken, roast potatoes and vegetables, then realised everybody else was sitting there looking at their plates and waiting for him to say grace.

There speaks a woman after my own heart.

 

[rick]

You've just reminded me that my dad used to often say how, for various misdemeanours that usually involved air guns, catapults, rampant bulls and the college glass-house, he would be sent to bed without any supper and would sneak out to the coop to get a raw egg. Have tried a raw egg in a cup with a splash of vinegar and pepper - actually very nice. "Just like oysters" he would say.

 

[Margaid]

Fascinating history - I loved the tale of them wandering around in the dark holding a coat belt!

I used to stay with my grandmother and we would go visiting her cousins and other relatives. One of them kept chickens and we sat down one lunchtime to eat a plain boiled fowl, boiled potatoes which I loathed, and maybe a vegetable - I can't remember. One of the birds was making a terrible racket outside the kitchen window and when my grandmother asked about the noise Aunty May replied "Oh it's doing that because we've got its mate here on the table". You can imagine what that did to the appetite of a 6 year old townie but of course we were expected to clear our plates!

 

[LadyA]

That was a really interesting read - thank you! I'm always fascinated by how things were done in time gone by (Social History?), and really enjoyed the "Farm" series - Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm etc. which I've still got on dvd, as I've never had a tv.
John Seymour's Self Sufficiency book also has plans for home-made, pretty basic chicken coops, including one that would be temporary, made from battens, wire and plastic sacks!

I remember mum & dad telling me about my grandmother preserving buckets of eggs in water-glass. She didn't keep hens, but would buy them in Spring & Summer, when they were plentiful & cheap, and preserve them for Winter, when they were much more scarce, and the price was much higher. No hybrid layers in those days!

 

[Marigold]

I remember mum & dad telling me about my grandmother preserving buckets of eggs in water-glass. She didn't keep hens, but would buy them in Spring & Summer, when they were plentiful & cheap, and preserve them for Winter, when they were much more scarce, and the price was much higher. No hybrid layers in those days!

That's probably how my family got their surplus eggs, I suppose. Maybe i should get an egg bucket - my 5 girls are producing far more than we can eat, even my 6+ year-old little CLB, who is The Boss, - mainly for the benefit of the neighbours.

 

[bigyetiman]

My grandparents did that with excess as well. A lovely article thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[dinosaw]

Lady A, have you seen the Tales from the Green Valley?, it was the first of the series they did (and the best I think), it was what first peaked my interest in having a smallholding and keeping chickens. All 12 episodes are on youtube, again if anyone is interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRj1YYnsBGk

Good to see another person who has a copy of John Seymours book. Some pretty wild ideas in it like using gunpowder or gelignite to blast out stubborn boulders in your field!!! 07

 

[dinosaw]

Really glad people enjoyed reading it, was in two minds as to whether to post it to be honest as you never know whether what interests you will put other people to sleep.

 

[RichmondHens]

I want to build a compost loo like John Seymour's .......

 

[LadyA]

Lady A, have you seen the Tales from the Green Valley?, it was the first of the series they did (and the best I think), it was what first peaked my interest in having a smallholding and keeping chickens. All 12 episodes are on youtube, again if anyone is interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRj1YYnsBGk

Good to see another person who has a copy of John Seymours book. Some pretty wild ideas in it like using gunpowder or gelignite to blast out stubborn boulders in your field!!! 07

Yes Tales from the Green Valley was the first one we got. My late husband loved nature, wildlife & travel documentaries and also loved these series. I did buy the "Victorian Save-All" book that Ruth Goodman uses in the Victorian Farm series too - there are some mind-boggling things in there!

Some years ago, I bought a couple of fascinating - and quite useful - cookbooks. They contain recipes, hints & tips etc., put out by the Ministry of Food during the War, produced by Marguerite Patten. It discusses the Ration, and there are all sorts of hints for stretching your rations. One is called "We'll Eat Again" and the other is "The Victory Cookbook".

 

[LadyA]

I want to build a compost loo like John Seymour's .......

I want one of those things he built that used methane - was it to heat the house, or to make power or something? Ages since I really looked at the book!