We warmly welcome 2026, longing for peace, hope and joy in the New Year. May you and yours all be well.
It has been a while since I've written a blog post, there is always too much to do. This past year we've welcomed several new chickens, all given to us because a new flock was in the owner's future. We don't judge here, and we treat all birds the same, whether they still have laying in their future or not.
This year we've dealt with unexpected costs: an Easter Egger came to us with likely a preexisting foot infection that became a bone infection. We learned a lot about chicken anesthesia for surgery and how the most effective antibiotics depend on good relationships with falconers. We are so grateful there are caring veterinarians who dedicate their practice to treating all birds and who don't distinguish between a backyard chicken and an expensive parrot. Two surgeries were quite expensive but we now have a wealth of knowledge on treating foot infections that we hopefully can share with others to help spare them the costs and chicken discomfort.
We also are offering palliative care to an ex-battery hen, an Isa Brown who was dumped and clearly has a defect in her shell creating gland. She is the friendliest hen but we have to continually trick her body into not making eggs, and she is currently in congestive heart failure, something very common with breeds
whose sole purpose is to lay as many eggs as possible. She is so social and sweet, it breaks our hearts to know she likely won't have the life span as our heritage breeds.
This year seems to be starting early- our neighbors felled their huge Tree of Heaven resulting in a drastic increase of light in our backyard. While it does make the birds more vulnerable to predators from above, it also means we need to work harder to make the egg production roll out very gradual. Remember that birds are born with a finite number of eggs, we believe that with good health and care which includes a longer off season birds will stay healthier and lay eggs longer. The warm December has tripped our ducks up, they are already pairing up and making dress rehearsal nests. We expect to have duck eggs for sale by the end of the month.
One of my favorite aspects about eating our eggs is eating one after a 2 month break. The taste is just spectacular. I had barely any seasoning. I'm attaching a recipe for scrambled eggs by Gordon Ramsay that was an absolute game changer for me in how I prepared eggs. If you haven't seen it, watch and enjoy!
For now I am keeping duck eggs listed as out of stock. Chicken eggs show up as out of stock, but if you make an order (please limit to two during this time) I can usually fill it within 3 days. I'll send you a message with an estimated fill date. For duck eggs I won't have enough in stock until the end of January at the earliest.
I am working with a friend of mine who lives in Milwaukie and raises quail and do have quail eggs available through him. I will list them as in stock.
Thank you to everyone for your support of Ogden Fresh Farms. We are proud of the care our flock gets and always strive to honor their efforts and existence with the best care. We wish you the very best for a wonderful 2026.
