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March 4th, 2019 : Chicken Forest
Remember Anchiornis and Archaeopteryx? Probably not since they died before even I was born... 152 million years ago.
They were the roots of bird family we know as Chickens.
Massimo Rapella would like to roll back a bit of that descendancy.
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Shortly after relocating, Rapella and his wife started keeping a few chickens to provide eggs for their own consumption. But soon enough they noticed some unexpected behavior from their flock. “Our chickens liked roaming around the nearby woods,” Rapella explains. “So I encouraged them to venture out and lay eggs in the wild.” Soon, they started to display some of the behaviors of their ancestors. Red jungle fowls are omnivorous foragers. They feast on leaves and bugs they find in the forest. So do Rapella’s chickens. “They eat whatever they find in the undergrowth,” he explains. “Mostly chestnuts, leaves, worms, and ants.” |
| A few months later, Rapella saw that the birds looked healthier—with shiny feathers and bright-colored wattles—and that their eggs had a fuller taste. “I started wondering if I could take on more chickens and create an ‘Alpine egg’ to sell in local markets,” he says. Today, he sells his uovo di selva, or egg of the woods, to about 400 direct consumers and 40 restaurants. |
| Rapella’s chickens lay eggs almost every day, like any domesticated chicken, but they do so in the woods. “They like natural nests offered by tree roots or branches,” he says. “Usually when you spot a cranny with some leaves, you know there could be eggs.” Once a hen finds her favorite nesting spot, she goes back to it for each subsequent laying, making Rapella’s egg-hunting easier. Together with two employees, he gathers an estimated 1,000 eggs every morning. |
| While he once lost the occasional chicken, now he relies on a double fence and two trained Maremma sheepdogs to keep badgers, martens (a weasel-like carnivore), foxes, and buzzards at bay. |
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Griff Monday Mar 4 07:26 AM
Clever marketing.
glatt Monday Mar 4 07:30 AM
Free range for realz
Glinda Monday Mar 4 11:29 AM
A thousand eggs a day?!? Holy cow!
The only problem I foresee is that some of those eggs could go undiscovered for weeks - or months. 
Happy Monkey Monday Mar 4 11:33 AM
Looks like there are roosters. Undiscovered eggs may just become more chickens.
Glinda Monday Mar 4 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Happy Monkey
Looks like there are roosters. Undiscovered eggs may just become more chickens.
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I suppose, when he finds a hen sitting on eggs, he brings her and the eggs into a coop of some type, so she can hatch her eggs safely. I sure would.
Gravdigr Monday Mar 4 01:15 PM
Could ya keep that up for 2100 chickens?
Gravdigr Monday Mar 4 02:16 PM
Can't see the forest for the trees chickens.
Gravdigr Monday Mar 4 02:17 PM
| Ya got the rooster, ya got the hen...Who's doing the chicken? |
Glinda Monday Mar 4 02:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Gravdigr
Could ya keep that up for 2100 chickens?
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Happy Monkey Monday Mar 4 02:30 PM
Set up an Easter-themed gift shop at the entrance, have kids hunt for eggs, redeemable for tickets towards prizes.
glatt Monday Mar 4 02:39 PM
I was reading in the business section on Friday that in the US, egg consumption is at record levels. Hasn't been this high since the 40s or 50s.
Glinda Monday Mar 4 04:18 PM
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Originally Posted by glatt
I was reading in the business section on Friday that in the US, egg consumption is at record levels. Hasn't been this high since the 40s or 50s.
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Around here, people are finally starting to figure out that fresh farm eggs are much tastier and healthier than massive egg factory eggs. Believe it or not, I could sell my eggs in Portland at the Saturday Market for $7 or $8 a dozen, or at the Vancouver WA farmers market, for $6 or $7 per dozen.
That is, if I was interested in all the BS that traveling to and selling at the markets entails. NOT.
Instead, I get together with a little collection of locals every Wednesday at nearby breakfast joints and they buy everything I have. I sell regular/large dozens for $3 and jumbos for $4. The birds are finally paying for their own keep, I get a free breakfast every week, and I get out of the house to interact with actual human beings for an hour or two. Win-win-win!
Oddly enough, I very rarely eat eggs, only because they mean money in my pocket. The other day, though, I ate four small hard-boiled eggs and it was GLORIOUS!
Glinda Monday Mar 4 04:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Happy Monkey
Set up an Easter-themed gift shop at the entrance, have kids hunt for eggs, redeemable for tickets towards prizes.
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Gravdigr Monday Mar 4 10:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Glinda
The other day, though, I ate four small hard-boiled eggs and it was GLORIOUS!
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My thing is deviled eggs. Sadly, I've eaten them by the plateful.
Now I want deviled eggs.
xoxoxoBruce Monday Mar 4 11:10 PM
He said the hens pick a spot and tend to keep laying eggs in that same spot. What wasn't clear is if the same spot will be used by more than one bird.
I'd guess yes seeing the size of the clutch in a couple pictures because I doubt they would go long between sweeps.
Clodfobble Monday Mar 4 11:13 PM
I pay about $10/dozen for duck eggs, and we go through about 3 dozen per month (mostly baking, plus the occasional crustless quiche.) I'm just happy they carry them at the huge Asian food store now, instead of me having to drive 30 minutes out of town to get them from the lady with the ducks.
xoxoxoBruce Monday Mar 4 11:36 PM
Obviously you should get a few ducks, for free eggs, and something to keep you busy in your spare time. 
Undertoad Monday Mar 4 11:39 PM
A horse-sized duck?
Clodfobble Monday Mar 4 11:53 PM
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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
Obviously you should get a few ducks, for free eggs, and something to keep you busy in your spare time. [emoji38]2:
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xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Mar 5 12:01 AM
Yeah, my grandfather had ducks and turkeys free ranging in the yard, they used to terrorize me when I was little.
Oh, and duck and goose poop is natures WD-40.
You could cut your sleep down to one hour a day. 
Griff Tuesday Mar 5 07:19 AM
I eat an egg every morning. My girls have started laying again so we're about to have an egg avalanche here. They don't have a fence so I guess we've got super-alpine eggs?
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Mar 5 09:34 AM
Super Appalachian or Super Pocono maybe. Hope they'll be gobbling the ticks in the spring.
Clodfobble Tuesday Mar 5 11:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Griff
I eat an egg every morning. My girls have started laying again so we're about to have an egg avalanche here. They don't have a fence so I guess we've got super-alpine eggs?
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Glinda Tuesday Mar 5 02:00 PM
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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
He said the hens pick a spot and tend to keep laying eggs in that same spot. What wasn't clear is if the same spot will be used by more than one bird.
I'd guess yes seeing the size of the clutch in a couple pictures because I doubt they would go long between sweeps. |
It's a chicken thang.
Flint Tuesday Mar 5 02:26 PM
be careful around these things
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Chicken Attack
What happens when you attack a chicken in Skyrim?
Gravdigr Tuesday Mar 5 03:58 PM
I played some game that had chickens roaming in the towns ya came to. I was killing the fuckers, because it was free food, and it made your health meter grow.
Later in the game, I came across two ginormous fucking chickens that took one look at me, attacked me, and killed me plumb to death. This happened a few times, then I played the game without killing any chickens. When I reached the ginormous chickens they took one look at me and treated me like I didn't exist.
I canNOT remember the name of that game.
Flint Tuesday Mar 5 04:33 PM
Apparently chickens are pretty popular in video games.
Is it one of these?
What’s Up With Chickens and Video Games?
Fowl Play: Chickens in Video Games
Gravdigr Tuesday Mar 5 05:40 PM
It wasn't a chicken video game. It was some quest-type game that just had chickens in the occasional town. The chickens were a minute part of the game and played no role in it. Other than the great chicken gods killing the shit outta ya.
Gravdigr Tuesday Mar 5 05:43 PM
Thank you, Mr. Flint.
It was Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I liked that game pretty much.
I read your post wrong. And incompletely.
Flint Tuesday Mar 5 05:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Gravdigr
It wasn't a chicken video game.
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...
...
...
c h i c k e n ?
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Originally Posted by Gravdigr
Thank you, Mr. Flint.
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BigV Tuesday Mar 5 08:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Undertoad
A horse-sized duck?
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xoxoxoBruce Wednesday Mar 6 12:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Clodfobble
Please note for future reference: if you, Griff, begin any sentence with "my girls," I am going to initially assume you mean your daughters, which may render the second half of your sentence confusing at best and horrifying at worst.
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He usually uses that expression referring to some combination of the three females in the house. To be fair, he has called his hens girls, but it's not nearly as often.
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Originally Posted by Glinda
Chickens like to lay their eggs where eggs have already been laid. Presumably, the hens figure that if one bird already laid an egg here, it must be a pretty safe place. There are 12 nesting boxes in my coop. Invariably, at least half of those boxes will be empty, and I'll find 2-5 eggs in one or two of the boxes. This means that some hens will wait in line to use one nesting box, instead of using an empty one whenever they want.
It's a chicken thang. |
Griff Wednesday Mar 6 07:25 AM
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Originally Posted by Clodfobble
Please note for future reference: if you, Griff, begin any sentence with "my girls," I am going to initially assume you mean your daughters, which may render the second half of your sentence confusing at best and horrifying at worst.
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Super Appalachian eggs kinda sounds to me like coal tailings with a free mercury surprise, not sure about Poconos seems citified.
xoxoxoBruce Wednesday Mar 6 07:53 AM
Catskills has been done to death, so how about South of the Border? You know, make them sound quasi-legal, forbidden fruit. Or something classy like
Griff's Hillwilliam Embryos?
BigV Wednesday Mar 6 11:07 AM
Ugh.
No embryos, please.
Grifftopia Wild Gamete Preserve
Private Guided Hunter/Gatherer Expeditions
Available Daily
By Appointment Only
Griff Wednesday Mar 6 12:03 PM
Hmmm... this is helpful
xoxoxoBruce Thursday Mar 7 05:39 PM
V he's looking for a name for the eggs not the estate. That's firmly Grifftopia. 
Gravdigr Friday Mar 8 02:13 PM
Put hair on 'em and call 'em Griff's Huevos.
Whut?
Clodfobble Saturday Mar 9 01:13 PM
Evolved velociraptors
xoxoxoBruce Sunday Mar 10 04:03 AM
Sure, look what they did to Newman.
Gravdigr Sunday Mar 10 12:02 PM
Those were body-shaming hateraptors.
SPUCK Monday Mar 18 11:02 PM
We had chickens for years but they brought pound for pound the same number of rats to the scene.
Besides the rats it was really annoying that they laid only for about 6 months the first year 5 months the next 4 the next 2 the next. Freeloaders! I sent them all over to my buddies for dinner one afternoon and they never came back. Musta liked it there?
But, the rats stayed..
xoxoxoBruce Monday Mar 18 11:54 PM
Did you have a rooster to prod them? The chickens not the rats.
Glinda Tuesday Mar 19 12:11 AM
Try Just One Bite rat bait. Works like a charm. Found a BIG dead Norway rat near the coop today - flung him down the hill behind the house and called it good. If another predator finds and eats its nasty carcass, so much the better. #unapologetic #survivalofthefittest
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Mar 19 12:49 AM
It's not personal, strictly business... but it feels sooo good. 
Glinda Tuesday Mar 19 06:16 AM
Exactly. 
Gravdigr Tuesday Mar 19 11:54 AM
Just The Punchline...
...big motherfuckers with COCKs this long!!
SPUCK Thursday Mar 21 01:40 AM
Galinda!! You're not sposed to do that.. Because then a raptor comes to scavenge the rat and dies then the bob cat eats the raptor etc etc. They're called untargeted victims.
clyde1MB Friday Jan 31 10:10 PM
xoxoxoBruce, I don't know your preference about choosing a house for your chickens, but here I've got the best chicken coop article I could find on the web. It's all about different models and options as well. Trixie Pet Products is the coolest variant in the ratio of price and quality. It has removing sliding trays for easy cleanup, which is pretty important for us.
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