Egg salad and fried egg sandwiches, brownies, several batches of chocolate chip cookies, and lots of pancakes: Since our chickens started laying on June 28, we have collected 37 eggs — and for the last 11 days straight we’ve gotten at least two each day.
It took a few weeks of fits and starts for the laying to become regular, and I don’t know when we might expect to start getting an egg a day from each of our four chickens (I think it took Bailey, our Rhode Island Red and first layer at least two weeks to become consistent). There was a stretch of five days in early July when our chickens laid no eggs that coincided with the first days of letting them range, so we kept them in the coop until we could determine that our pullets weren’t secreting eggs throughout the yard (They’ve only done this with one egg, left just outside the entrance to the coop).
But, despite not being up to full production, what we do get keeps us in eggs — excellent eggs. What I initially took for tiny practice eggs turned out to be just eggs — our chickens lay in several sizes, from a tiny, just bigger than an olive variety, to the large eggs typical of a supermarket (though these arrive less often, and occasionally double yolked). The eggs come in various shades of tan-brown. Regardless of size, the quality is high, with firm, vibrant yellow-orange yolks so potent they color the pancakes we cook. Definitely Grade AAA, a ranking that has little to do with size, though I always thought it did since at the market it seems to correspond with gargantuan eggs.
The biggest difference between our homegrown eggs and the store-bought kind is in shell strength: It takes a good, forceful smack to crack them enough to pry open. This quality is essential since our birds continue to empty their nest boxes of all bedding so that they lay on bare wood. The eggs end up dropping several inches and hit hard — but they all end up whole. We’ve only lost one egg this past month, a large one I suspect Kate (the Dominique) of pecking open and eating.
The upkeep for our flock has become a bit more sustainable as the ranging allows much of their diet to come from the yard. I’ve noticed a 25 percent reduction in their feed consumption … so in just four months the chickens have been able to meet and surpass my own eating-from-the-yard objective. Perhaps we should consider bugs and grass as a bridge to 15 percent of our annual calories. Perhaps. Another perk to the free-ranging pecking is that the chickens take their waste with them and distribute it as fertilizer throughout the yard (and less beneficially on the porch), rather than concentrating it all in their coop, which means fewer cleanings. And we get these funny personalities clucking around.
Lots of positives, but most of all good eggs, made fresh daily 50 feet out the back door.
Magnificent! You really aren’t what I would call a novice anymore. Have you considered putting in patio containers? You can get a virtually daily supply of salad greens from a cubic foot of soil. Look up square foot gardening, it really is phenomenal what is possible. With 3 or 4 square foot gardens going under the patio, you’ll never hunger for salad.
How difficult it was to crack open a truly fresh egg really surprised us too with our first hens. The membrane inside the shell weakens as eggs age, and you never get a truly fresh egg from a supermarket. That membrane is part of why it’s so tough to bust open fresh eggs. In addition to coloring your pancakes, we also noticed that home-grown eggs also seem much more flavorful. Our first omelet had a remarkably eggy flavor (and color). Now, once you’re swimming in eggs as your girls go into regular production, I recommend making Creme Brulee
You can use a LOT of eggs at once that way, and it makes a really divine dessert!
I love Creme Brulee, and Amy and I have a brulee torch so…what are we waiting for?
Also, I’m sort of awesome at kitchen fires, which is essentially what creme brulee is, right? I’m in.
@Amy: Ah, yes. That’s why we hid the brulee torch.