We’ve had backyard chickens for 8 years!  Not the same chickens, average lifespan is 5 years, but we’ve always had a flock of 5.  I have written about our chickens pretty extensively through my years of blogging but there are always a few more interesting tidbits to share…

We are one of the few countries that refrigerates eggs.

Travel almost anywhere in the world and you’ll find eggs sitting on the kitchen counter not in the fridge.  Why?  Large production egg farms wash eggs and U.S. law requires eggs to be refrigerated after washing.  Washing removes possible contaminants but also removes a protective layer called the bloom or cuticle.  According to this NY Times article on the topic, Japan is the only other major country that washes and refrigerates eggs while most European law forbids washing eggs.

From personal experience, eggs need to ‘mature’ for a bit on the counter.  This time allows the membrane inside the shell to harden, making the egg easier to work with.  Most eggs in the supermarket are 2 weeks old so the membrane has had enough time to harden.

Why are eggs different colors?

I’ve heard and seen all sorts of reactions to our green, brown, and blue eggs.  One youngster thought we had dyed the eggs 🙂  We’ve never had a chicken that lays white eggs.  Different breeds of chickens lay different color eggs and to the best of my knowledge a chicken always lays the same color egg.  Here’s a great listing (with pictures) of various chicken breeds with the color egg they lay.  Here’s another round up of egg colors if you’re really into looking at pictures of eggs.

What fascinates me is the process of how an egg is made inside a hen.  Here’s a post I wrote in 2013 on the question – Eggs Come From Where?

Backyard chickens won’t save you money but is that the point?

A few weeks ago at the grocery I saw a dozen eggs on sale for $0.39!  Obviously the store is willing to take a loss in the hopes you’ll spot some other items to purchase on the long walk to the back of the store.  In most stores a standard carton of eggs range between $1 and $2.  Then comes a confusing range of products labeled ‘cage free’ or ‘pasture raised.’  What’s the difference?  Here’s an excellent article with accurate descriptions for each type, which buzz words mean absolutely nothing, and what types of eggs are USDA regulated.

I worked through the math of ‘how much does an egg cost?’ in a previous post.  The longer we have chickens the lower the cost goes but I could never keep up commercial chicken farm.  We have chickens because they’re fun, productive pets!  We control what our chickens eat and that impacts the quality of eggs laid.  Having a connection to our food source also helps our girls to understand the work and effort that goes into putting breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the table.

Final Thought

While I was in Dominica last month we stopped by the local egg farm to see if they had eggs.  They lost 900 chickens in Hurricane Maria and are struggling to keep up with demand.  The farm lets the chickens roam free in an open piece of land, what the USDA would qualify as ‘pasture-raised.’  (I’m assuming their kids get to go egg hunting everyday?) You can read more of my info on Dominica HERE.

What’s my point?  Our backyard chickens give us a small connection to our food source and production in a fast food nation.  Dominica is just one of many countries in the world where small farmers bring their produce to the market and interact with consumers.  The farm to table movement is an interesting and important shift in how we purchase and consume food.  In fact CBS News reported the Department of Agriculture found that farmers under the age of 35 increased for only the second time in a century!  The CBS story features a young couple that left New York City in response to a Craigslist ad in WI.