The primary use, though, for chickens is to produce eggs. In this next – and final – installment in my series on Raising Chickens, I’ll tell you what I know about using the eggs from your laying flock.
Most chickens raised for egg production are heavy layers. The breed used in commercial laying farms is usually White Leghorn. White Leghorns lay a large, white egg. American homesteaders raising chickens for eggs usually seem to prefer chickens that lay brown eggs or colored eggs, like the Araucana.
A healthy laying hen will begin laying eggs at about 6 months of age, and will lay almost every day. They slack off some in the wintertime, when the shorter daylight hours signal their body to not lay eggs. Some chicken farmers overcome this down-time by putting a light in the hen house to keep the hens laying right through the winter. I have not noticed any bad effect to the chickens by doing this, and whether or not your put a light in the hen house through the winter is a personal choice.
Each year after the first laying season, you can expect about a 20 percent drop in production, until most people put their hen in the stew pot when she’s 3 years old… after her third laying season. If you opt for higher production by getting one of the heavy-laying hybrids, generally referred to as “sex-link” chickens, don’t expect them to hatch you any chicks. The urge to “go broody” (set eggs to hatch them) is bred right out of them, and if you want to hatch chicks you have to do it yourself, with an incubator.
To keep your eggs clean, be sure to keep lots of hay or straw in the nests. This cushions the egg to prevent breakage, allows the liquid from any eggs that do break to drain away so it doesn’t stain the other eggs, and keeps dirt from the hens’ feet from piling up in the nest and getting on the egg shells. Hens will inevitably scuff around and knock the straw out of the nest, so add a little every couple of weeks or so.
Gather eggs daily, so you don’t accidentally get any rotten eggs. Usually, your hens will lay in the morning, so check after 10 a.m., and then again in the evening before dark. Any eggs that are left in the nest on days when the temperature drops below freezing run a risk of freezing and cracking. They’re still okay to cook, but they will not have very good quality or appearance.
A fresh egg will have an upright, deep-yellow yolk, and the white will be thick and clear. If either of these is runny when it hits the pan, it is not fresh.
People often question whether there is any difference between free-range eggs and eggs from a “factory farm” that supplies the grocery store. Government statistics say no, there is no difference. But other studies say there is a significant difference in nutritional quality.
Studies done by the USDA and the egg industry in the United States show no difference in the nutritional value of the two types of eggs, but they are looking only at the strength of the egg shell and the levels of protein and fat in the egg itself. No difference there.
But studies done by other groups show a considerable difference, if you look at other characteristics of the egg, such as levels of cholesterol, fatty acids, and vitamins.
According to the Wikipedia entry on free-range eggs:
Studies suggest the nutritional content of eggs from hens that forage daily on a grass range is superior to that of eggs produced by conventional means. These studies report higher levels of omega 3 and vitamins A and E, and lower levels of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and omega 6.
The first time I realized “yard eggs” had more value than just their good taste was back in the late nineties, when I was still an active blood donor. The bloodmobile would post a report online after I donated blood – which included my cholesterol level. I had been checking it there for several years when I saw a sharp dip in the level of cholesterol in my blood!
I laughed out loud – our family of 6 was at that time eating 18 eggs a day from our free-ranging flock of chickens. With scrambled for breakfast, deviled eggs at lunch, and cornbread with eggs in it for supper, we were consuming an average of 3 eggs each per day, every day. Yet my cholesterol level was the lowest it had ever been! Those beautiful fresh eggs – with the bright orange yolk that stood up in the pan and the firm whites that did not run – were healthy for me and my family!
The bright orange yolk of a free-range egg simply means the hen that laid the egg is freely eating plants that contain carotenoids – which mammals (including human beings) cannot synthesize naturally, but must obtain from their diet. Carotenoids protect the eyes, boost the immune system, and improve resistance to cancer and the effects of aging.
Yes, free-range eggs are better than factory-farm eggs.
A chicken’s very first egg is likely to be small, but the eggs she lays will quickly grow to “large” or “extra-large” size, and sometimes she will present you with the gold standard in egg-laying: a “double-yolk.” A double-yolk is obviously bigger than usual, and sometimes it will have a discernible ridge around it, like two eggs are joined together. And that’s exactly what it is – a set of twins. When you crack the egg, it will have two yolks inside.
Other variations from the norm include soft-shelled eggs, which is when the shell simply did not form all the way and instead is the texture of a rough-skinned balloon. Some eggs will have a tiny spot of blood clinging to the yolk. None of these unusual characteristics will make the egg bad to eat. Bad to sell? Maybe. Some people don’t like double-yolk eggs, while others will pay extra for them. A lot of people don’t like to eat eggs with a blood spot. And the soft-shelled eggs would be difficult to transport without accidentally breaking them. But they are all okay to eat.
Unwashed fresh eggs will keep for up to 3 weeks without refrigeration. In the refrigerator, they keep for up to 6 weeks. If you wash eggs, however, that may reduce their shelf life. Eggs fresh from the hen have an invisible coating that preserves the quality of the egg. This is God’s way of keeping the egg good as a hen builds her nest. She may only lay 4-6 eggs a week, but she may hatch twice that many. An egg laid today stays good while it waits, and the hen lays another egg tomorrow, and another egg the next day, then maybe skips a day and lays another egg the day after. When she has her nest full of eggs, she will stop laying and start setting, and she will set for 21 days, until the chicks start to hatch out. That’s why the eggs stay good – if they are not washed – for 3 weeks.
I don’t think washing with water will remove that coating, but please don’t use soap. An egg as it proceeds from the hen is completely sanitary, because it comes out of a different place from her feces. If it is laid in a clean nest full of clean straw, the egg will be clean and will not need to be washed. If, however, a hen climbs in the nest with muddy feet and the eggs become soiled, wash them with water that is warmer than the egg itself. The heat from the water will cause the material inside the egg to swell, pushing against the inside of the shell and preventing any bacteria from entering through the shell pores.
There is a trick to boiling fresh eggs. If you have ever tried to peel a boiled egg and had it turn into a mess of shell with chunks of egg clinging to it, you were trying to peel a fresh egg. Store-bought eggs usually are a couple of weeks old by the time you cook them, and they boil and peel just fine, but a fresh egg will cling to the shell and be hard to peel.
That said, there is a way to do it. I have to credit my online friend, “bbkaren," with this tip.
When you want to boil some of your farm-fresh egg, that were in the hen this morning, you have to super-boil them! Bring a full pot of water to a boil. Once it’s boiling, gently lower each of your eggs into the water with a spoon. Look at the clock. Calculate 15 MINUTES. Meanwhile, prepare a sink or large bowl with ice water. Pour enough cold water into the bowl to completely cover the eggs when they’re put in it, and add ice cubes. When the 15 minutes is up, fish your eggs out of the boiling water and immediately plunge them into the ice water. Swish them around in there and let them cool until they no longer feel warm to the touch. Take them out of the water and dry them off. If you refrigerate them for later use, be sure to return them to room temperature before peeling.
If you follow these directions, your farm-fresh eggs should peel just fine.
NOTE: This ends my series on raising chickens. If you have read every installment of the “Chickens” series in my blog, you should have enough working knowledge to get you started raising a flock of homestead chickens. Later this week, I will post a YouTube video taking you on a tour of my hen house and letting you see my flock of chickens. Check back here for a link to that video in a day or 2. ~ G.F.