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GOOD EGGS: Family Part of Growing Trend

May 13, 2009 - WEST GARDINER -- Joking about why a chicken would cross the road isn't so funny in this household.

If one did that, Laura and Keith Peckham, of West Gardiner, would have to launch a search.

The Peckhams, along with their children, Karlton, 15, and Victoria, 12, began raising chickens three years ago. Today they have 17 chickens, 10 ducks, three geese and are rarely without fresh eggs.

"I just like chickens," Laura Peckham said. "I liked the idea of having a few chickens running around. It was that, and wanting our own eggs. The taste was different, and knowing what (factory farm) animals were eating and what we in turn would be ingesting (was motivation)."

According to the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association in Unity, families like the Peckhams are part of a growing trend. Strings of nation-wide food contaminations and a desire for naturally grown, fresh foods has spurred an increasing number of Mainers to skip supermarket aisles and to invest in rearing their own livestock or vegetables.

"I think the most important part for anybody is to really think about the impact they have when they make their food," said MOFGA executive director Russell Libby. "They could support local farmers who are doing a responsible job, or they can spend their money on anonymous food -- the kind of food that you don't really know anything about how it's raised or how the animals lived.

"I think that's where a demand for organic is coming from: People want to avoid some of the issues that come with the industrial food system."

What the Peckhams have learned about chickens' lifestyles in the last three years has been intriguing.

Right before hatching, baby chickens absorb what remains of the yolk. That gives the chick enough nutrition to go for about three days without eating or drinking. It's during this time young chicks are shipped to their new owners. When the chickens do begin eating, it's important they eat a variety of food, as too much of any one thing affects the taste of the eggs.

Unlike many animals, chickens see colors. They peck at just about anything, eating grass, bugs, worms, butterflies, frogs, mice -- even baby turtles. They also consume vegetable scraps, layer pellets and crack corn -- something the Peckham's chickens eat more of in the winter months when the four acres of grazing space is covered in snow.

Chickens molt every year, losing their feathers either in large patches or gradually when the hours of daily sunlight begin to dwindle. Depending upon the age and breed, a molting chicken might look haggard.

A chicken owner's daily routine includes letting the chickens out in the morning, making sure they have enough water, collecting eggs, putting the chickens in their coop at dusk and giving them food for the night. It's important to be diligent about picking up eggs -- especially in the heat of summer -- as the Peckhams collect anywhere from eight or nine chicken eggs a day and five duck eggs.

The Peckham's chickens, though, are past their prime egg-laying years. Younger chickens would produce more, Laura Peckham said.

At this point, though, egg production isn't the family's main concern.

It wasn't long after the first batch of chickens arrived that the family grew attached the birds. Karlton grew so fond of the first batch of chickens, he requested books about chickens for Christmas, Laura Peckham said.

"We like animals in general, but for me, it's a bird you can sit with and be close to and interact with," Laura Peckham said. "Yet they're roaming around outside in your yard and they're pretty. They don't have to be kept inside. I enjoy seeing them walking around."

"Plus," Keith Peckham added. "They're fun to have."

BY SADA REED
Staff Writer
Kennebec Journal 5/10/09


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