Upcycling with a twist: food scraps become eggs 🥚

Hey everyone,

I’m submitting this for the challenge.
https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/forum/topic/209568/community-challenge-reste-verwerten-upcycling-5-10-einkaufsguthaben

The idea

Two years ago, I got chickens and quails—simply so that our food scraps (kids leave a lot of them) wouldn’t end up in the trash. Whatever we have left over (of course no mold, nothing spoiled, etc.) becomes a treat for the chickens … and in the end, fresh eggs. 

Setup

An insulated chicken coop (bought from cipcip.lv—not an ad), plus a run, sand bath, and safe nighttime areas against predators - just below the ground 2 layers of steel mesh. In winter, a separate power supply runs for heat—around here, temperatures down to –25 °C are fairly common now and then, so they need a little support.

Harvest & fun

• Egg spectrum from white to cream to slightly brownish, greenish, silver/gray—plus the typical little quail speckles. Some look like ready-made Easter eggs all on their own. 
  
• Record so far: ~110 g - one egg (at the beginning there were often double yolks).
  
• The chickens also thank us with compost - as fertilizer for the vegetable bed.
  

Benefits

• The most important thing... Less food waste, more appreciation.
  
• Fresh eggs every day, where you can see where they come from.
  
• Natural fertilizer. 
  
• Good mood included—chickens sunbathing are better than Netflix. 😄
  

Drawbacks (real)

• Daily responsibility: feeding, water, keeping everything clean.
  
• Winter work: de-icing water, ventilating & keeping things warm at the same time.
  
• Costs & planning: coop, feed, fence—and if needed (hasn’t happened yet), vacation cover has to be arranged.
  
• Safety: foxes, martens, eagles (or similar) & co. are creative, so build the enclosure really tight (new lesson learned). Recently someone (a fox?) just slaughtered 6 chickens 😢💔 - half of the grown ones.
  

Pictures

This is what upcycling looks like at our place. 🌱 I’d rather leave out pictures of food scraps 😄 


Best wishes
Natalija

@Natalija:
Thanks for the lovely post. Such a shame about the chickens the fox got.