As we strive to have a sustainable home, we want to use the most of our farm raised animals. Today that means using fat from our pigs to render lard.

When we take our pork to be processed we let the butcher know we would like to keep the fat. The fat comes back to us in slabs. To turn those slabs into a usable product I use a slow cooker. It’s so simple, I should have started rendering lard years ago.

Lard

fat from a pig that is rendered and clarified for use in cooking.

STEP 1

Cut the cold slab(s) into small chunks. This is the most difficult part of the entire process. Maybe if you have good knives, you will have an easier time than I do using our crappy one. The smaller the chunks the better.

To keep the fat from sticking, pour about a 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of a slow cooker. Then, toss in the fat chunks.

STEP 2

I turn the slow cooker on high, at least for the first little bit.

You know you are on your way to rendered lard when the fat changes from it’s lovely pinkish color to a horrid creamish color.

As the fat heats up, liquid escapes the chunks and starts filling the slow cooker. This is the good stuff.

STEP 3

Using cheesecloth and a funnel, I carefully strain the liquid fat into a jar.

I pour the first bit of liquid about an hour and a half into the cooking.

I turn the slow cooker to low, and let it render some more. Then, when there’s more liquid I strain that.

I typically repeat this process three times.

*Please note – the fat will not render completely out. There will still be some chunks remaining.

STEP 4

After the liquid cools, I place a lid on the jar and put it in the fridge. Here it turns into the soft, solid, white stuff we refer to as lard.

It can be used in cooking, baking, suet, or soap making.

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Our second hatch of 2017 resulted in Easter Egger, Oliver Egger, White Leghorn, and Delaware chicks.

DEVELOPING

Candling an egg on Day 5. This egg looks good. You can see the embryo in the middle surrounded by blood vessels. You can also see the air cell at the top of the egg.

Both our egg turners have quit working. So, I set these eggs right in the incubator and turned them by hand.

HATCHING

One egg pipped!

CHICKS!

I adore this one. It has a unique pattern for our flock.

White Leghorns

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This first hatch batch of 2017 was in preparation for the Spring Poultry Homesteading Faire.

In the past, many people at the Faire have shown interest in Marans. Currently, we do not have a Marans rooster. So, instead I focused on Olive Eggers. I also hatched White Leghorns and Delaware chicks.

Love this! Farm Girl asked if instead of reading to me she could read to the eggs. “Yes! Yes, of course you can!”

THE EGGS IN LOCKDOWN

WHITE LEGHORN

DELAWARE

I banded the Delaware’s to identify them from the White Leghorns. A word of caution if you use bands: watch them carefully and remove them before they get too tight on the chicken.

OLIVE EGGERS

Many of our Olive Eggers hatch looking quite similar to our Black Copper Marans – makes sense since many are crossed with Marans hens.

The egg tooth is easy to see on this dark friend.

I adore this fluffy little fella. He/she even has feathered shanks. Most of our chicks that have feathered shanks are black, so this one is unique.

This hatch many chicks do not have feathered shanks.

But, some do.

Another successful hatch of cutie patooties.

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It has been a couple years, but I finally made it back to be an Oregon Poultry Swap vendor. OPS has grown a lot over the years and are now known for more than just poultry. It makes for a fun event.

There was, of course, many chickens and other poultry for sale. Also rabbits and pigs. Plants, honey, homemade soap, and craft items, too.

There was a seed swap, activities for kids, and lots of education information.

RIDGETOP FARM & GARDEN BOOTH

I brought week old Olive Egger, White Leghorn, and Delaware chicks, as well as a few pullets. I was surprised how quickly the pullets sold.

I also brought goat milk soap, hatching eggs, and hand designed canvas totes.

Rusty Rooster

Rusty Rooster greeted everyone at the entrance and biosecurity area.

The Faire

A few tables set up with a ton of education material. I loved that!

After I got all set up, I had a few minutes before the Faire opened to the public. I got a breakfast sandwich from the vendor doing food. So good! I don’t remember the price, but it was reasonable for the huge, delicious sandwich.

Of course we couldn’t leave the Faire empty handed. I found a few chicks from a couple different breeders. Farm Girl was my helper for the day. She picked out a rabbit, that she named Thumper.

END OF A GOOD, BUT LONG, DAY

After a very long day of driving, setting up, tearing down and being a vendor, we came home to unknown sheep and goat friends near our goat pen. Thankfully, with a bit of grain I was easily able to catch them. Then, drive around and hope to find the owners. Which, I did.

Another successful event in the books. Time to register for the next one.

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We have had Black Copper Marans for a few years. They are not my favorite breed. However, they do have a place in our flock.

We breed our Marans based on the French standard, as well as the APA, which means they have feathered shanks and toes.

Coloring

COMB, FACE, EAR LOBES, & WATTLES: bright red
EYES: reddish bay
BEAK: dark horn
BODY, TAIL, & WINGS: black
HACKLE: copper
SHANKS & TOES: slate – lighter on cocks than hens; bottom of feet are pinkish white; feathers are black

Cocks should have copper on the head, hackle, and saddle feathers.

Left: This is a pretty hen with some copper hackle coloring.
Right: This lady is missing copper in her hackle feathers and should not be used for breeding. She still lays a beautifully dark egg, though.

Feathered Shanks

Chicks

About a week and a half old:

A little over 2 weeks:

About 4 weeks:

Hens

They are quite content spending the day foraging.

I’m not going to beat around the bush – Marans are not my favorite chicken breed. They aren’t real friendly, and they get irritated easily. You make one little change to their living environment and they quit laying for what seems like forever.

The two ladies in this photo are broody. In our experience, Black Copper Marans make horrible mothers. I won’t allow them to sit on eggs anymore. Unfortunately, they go broody fairly often during the warm weather months. We break them of it, which then ticks them off, making their egg laying inconsistent.

Even when they aren’t ticked off, they aren’t great layers.

She has a lovely RBF:

Eggs

Marans Eggs. The gorgeous Marans eggs.

The sole reason I have these beautiful, but bitchy, birds is for their dark brown egg.

You will notice these egg photos all have a dark brown egg. However, the darkness varies. The dark brown color can be different based on a few factors including the genetics of the bird and the time of year the egg was laid. Also, the lighting while taking the photos can alter the the appearance of the egg in photographs.

I love the addition of the dark brown egg to our egg basket, or in this case, egg bowl.

The inside of the velvety chocolate brown Marans egg is white?! Yep.

A Marans eggshell is white. The brown pigment is added to the outer shell during the laying process. Since this layer is “painted” on it can sometimes be scratched off, like in the middle egg in the photo below.

Marans Eggs in Paris

While in Paris a couple years ago, we wondered across an outdoor market. Primarily they seemed to be selling birds and flowers. It didn’t take me long to spy Marans hatching eggs for sale. I love that we saw those – combining the love of our farm and our love of traveling.

While Marans are not my favorite breed since they are temperamental and not great layers, I do have an appreciation for their uniqueness. They will be on our farm for quite some time, I’m sure.

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Most birds and reptiles have an egg tooth, which is an essential part in the hatching process. On birds, it is small, sharp, and sits at the tip of the upper beak.

The egg tooth is the cream colored pointy object at the end of the beak of this chick:

While chicks are developing they need oxygen. Since egg shells are porous, chicks receive oxygen through the pores. As hatching day nears, though, the chick gets too large for oxygen to flow well. It is then that chicks use their egg tooth to break into the air cell inside the egg to get more oxygen.

There is a limited amount of oxygen available in the air cell, so soon they use the egg tooth to pip a small hole in the outer shell. Then they rotate and unzip the egg shell.

In the cracked part of the shell the beak and egg tooth are visible in this photo:

White Leghorn chick pushing itself out of the unzipped egg shell.

This Easter Egger is resting after a long day.

This 2 day old chick still has its egg tooth, but within the next day or two it will fall off.

HAPPY HATCHING!

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Marans are a heavy, dual purpose bird. They are generally raised for their dark brown egg, but also make a good meat bird.

Marans are named after a port town in France. Over the centuries local birds were bred with birds brought from seaman coming to port. The modern Marans breed began development in the 1800’s and was adopted into the French standard in 1931. Black Copper Marans were accepted into the American Poultry Association standard in 2011.

The French standard has nine recognized color varieties:
Silver Cuckoo
Golden Cuckoo
Black
Black Copper
Birchen
Wheaten
Black-tailed Buff
White
Columbian

As of 2017, The American Poultry Association has 3 recognized color:
Black Copper
Wheaten
White

Of these recognized varieties, we have had two. Plus two varieties not in the standards. The information on this page is based on my knowledge of the varieties we have raised.

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White leghorns are another of my favorite birds to have on our farm. They are a basic, no nonsense bird. They rarely cause any trouble. They eat. They lay eggs.

They are on the flighty side, so aren’t the best choice for a pet chicken. But, as part of our barnyard flock they are perfect.

Our birds are not American Poultry Association show quality birds. They are, however, fabulous backyard birds for egg laying & meat purposes.

Chicks

White leghorns are the super cute, pale yellow, fluffy chicks that you can’t resist at the feed store.

Coloring

Comb, face, & wattles: bright red
Eyes: reddish bay
Ear lobes: white
Beak: yellow
Shanks & toes: yellow

Hens

These two are enjoying a refreshing summer drink from our pond.

White leghorns are good foragers.

Of course, they also like kitchen scraps.

Roosters

We have pretty good luck with well behaved roosters on our farm. This guy, however, is on my shit list. He has attacked me.

Outside of his bad attitude, I think he’s quite a handsome fella.

Eggs

The #1 reason to have White Leghorns in your flock is their large, white egg. They are great egg layers, producing 4 or 5 eggs each week. They are such great layers that they are the breed commercial egg producers use for a typical carton of eggs sold to grocery stores.

White Leghorn Bonus

On a personal note – an added bonus the white leghorn has going for it is that it originated from Tuscany, Italy. Swoon! I love to travel. I have made it to Italy once… but not to the Tuscany area. It is a part of the world that is on my must-see bucket list. Maybe I need to go there to do chicken research…

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Candling chicken eggs is an exciting part of the incubating process. I don’t always candle them, but I usually do.

Candling the egg gives you a glimpse at what’s happening inside.

When I use an incubator to hatch eggs, I typically candle them a couple times within the 21 developing days. I don’t bother candling them until at least day 4 because I can’t see anything before then. And, I don’t candle after day 18 because the eggs are in lock down.

Most often if a broody hen is sitting on eggs I don’t candle them. I leave the broody to tend her eggs. The exception is if I think her eggs aren’t good. Before taking them away I will candle them.

MY CANDLING METHOD

My incubators came with candling tools, so I use those. But, I’ve also had success with a flashlight. I go in a dark room, hold the candling tool to the egg, and inspect the egg.

DAYS 1-7

The first couple days there is little to see when candling. Usually on days 3 or 4 is when the veins just become visible. By day 6 those veins should really be easy to see.

DAYS 8-14

The embryo starts to grow & fill its shell, but still has room to wiggle around. Often you can see the shadow of the embryo moving inside the shell. It’s absolutely great to see.

DAYS 15-21

Days 15 – 18 the chick is filling most of the egg. When candling, nearly the entire egg is black except where the air cell is.
Do not candle the eggs past Day 18, as they need to be in lock down and not disturbed.

EGGS THAT AREN’T DEVELOPING CORRECTLY

Sometimes the eggs don’t develop into a hatched chick.

Left: This egg is clear – meaning it never started developing. It’s possible that it was never fertilized. If I think an egg is clear, I leave it in the incubator and check it again a couple days later. If it’s still clear, I take it out.

Right: This egg has a blood ring. For some reason, the embryo started developing, then quit. This one gets taken out of the incubator.

Some hatches I candle more than is recommended. Some hatches I candle 2 or 3 times & some hatches don’t get candled at all.

It is recommended to candle only 2 or 3 times within the 21 day period. That really is all that is necessary to check the development of the eggs. But, some hatches I’m more antsy and curious about what’s going on. So, I candle more often. Hands-on experience is how I learn best. Candling more versus candling less, hasn’t changed my hatch rate. Although, I could see how messing with the eggs more than necessary could be a bad idea. So, please use your best judgement when deciding how often to candle your eggs.

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The previous hatch did not go as expected. I wrote the company from where I ordered the eggs. Their policy is no refunds, etc. since they can’t control what happens with the eggs after they leave their farm. Understandable. I still wrote them, though. Number one, as a company I would want to know when things didn’t go as planned with one of my products. Number two, I was wondering if they had any tips on how to have a better outcome if I ever decided to order hatching eggs again.

I was pleasantly surprised when the company offered to send me a replacement batch, free of charge. I graciously accepted.

When the eggs arrived I let them rest a bit longer this time before placing them in the incubator. Then I placed the 19 shipped eggs and 2 eggs from our farm into the incubator.

Well… long story short. I didn’t have any better outcome this second time around.

Of the two eggs from our farm, within the first week I knew one wasn’t developing. I don’t even think it was fertile. So, I took that one out. I was left with one of our eggs. It hatched just fine.

Of the shipped eggs, not many even made it to lock down. One hatched. A Cream Legbar this time. The last time a Black Copper Marans hatched. So, at least I got one of each.

Cream Legbar at 5 days old. Pretty cute!

Cream Legbar & Olive Egger x BCM at 3 weeks.

Hatching eggs shipped across the country apparently isn’t going to work for me. It must work for some people. But, my experience was crummy. Out of 38 total eggs shipped, 2 hatched. Not good. Not good for me mentally, not good for my pocketbook and certainly not good for the chicks.

Live and learn, I suppose.

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