An egg is an egg is an egg. Isn't it?
I don't think so. I think how the chickens are raised has a lot to do with the quality of the eggs produced.
I have never been on an industrial egg farm, but I have heard many stories of them being crowded, stinky and unappealing. Even an article written in 2016, Most U.S. Egg Producers Are Now Choosing Cage-Free Houses (wgbh.org), discusses the change to cage-free systems where the chickens are moving around in a large facility.
* photo from the article linked above.
Even if the cage-free systems are better than the previous method, it still doesn't seem like this would be the life that a chicken would choose to live if given other options.
We chose to go a different route on our small farm. We want the chickens to live their chicken lives in the most chicken-like manner possible.
Meet our laying hens.
Our laying hens are a mixture of breeds. We have Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Saphire Gems, Easter Eggers, Orpingtons and a couple of mixed breeds that have resulted from allowing the broody hens to hatch out a couple of chicks.
We have raised some of the chickens as day-old chicks from hatcheries. We have obtained some chickens from friends that needed to give their chickens a new home. We have hatched out a few of our own eggs. We have also obtained a few chickens from the bigger farm stores when they were older and on sale. Each time, we integrated the new chickens into the current flock we took measures to ensure a smooth transition.
The laying hens have a mobile coop that we call the Chibbet.
Inside the coop, the chickens have bars for overnight roosting.
There are nesting boxes filled with wood shavings.
There is a door for them to enter and leave at will during the day. We will close them up at night if we suspect a predator or if we plan to move them the next day.
The laying hens are rotated to fresh ground at least once a week. The timing will depend on local rainfall and the ground conditions. They love being put onto new pasture and will often ignore the supplemental feed being provided to them.
The outer fencing is an electric netting fence that protects them from ground predators and prevents them from straying too far from their home.
During the coldest months of the year, the chickens are housed in our greenhouse on a deep bedding system of mulch, old hay, etc. This setup allows them to be better protected from the elements, prevents the water from freezing and eliminates the rotational method during the time of the year that they cannot find a lot to forage on the ground.
In addition to the food that the chickens obtain by foraging and treats from household food scraps, we provide them a homemade mixture of feed that we have found to be superior to the available premixed versions. Our mixture contains:
- 1 part whole wheat
- 1 part whole oats
- 1 part whole corn
- 1/3 part peas or soybean meal. We try to use peas to provide the necessary protein but occasionally, we cannot obtain them and must use soybean meal for this purpose.
- small amount of molasses
- Flax seed for additional protein if needed.
The chickens also get free-will access to minerals. This is a mixture of Fertrell Poultry Nutri-Balancer, oyster shell pieces and granite grit. The Nutri-Balancer works to maintain the overall health of the chickens. The oyster shells are used to provide additional calcium for optimum egg production. The granite grit is given to the chickens to store in their gizzards for digestion since chickens do not have teeth.
We utilize a fountain-style waterer to provide fresh, clean water without having to lug buckets of water daily. This has worked well for us. We occasionally add a splash of apple cider vinegar to their water for additional health benefits.
We feel that by providing our chickens with the best possible living conditions that they will in turn provide us with superior quality eggs. We get a mixture of colors and sizes each day.
Our eggs are collected daily. When we prepare them for the cartons, we handwash them in a mixture of mild soap and water only. The especially dirty eggs are cracked open over dog food as a treat for our dogs. They show a much healthier fur coat from this addition to their diet.
After washing, the eggs are stored in our refrigerator until eaten or sold. We have been selling eggs individually and at the farmer's market but now we are offering this option to our online customers.
Farm Fresh Eggs – PJ's Projects & Growing Roots Farm (pjsprojects.com)
You can pick up your eggs directly on the farm.
Local delivery is a possibility but not guaranteed. Contact us if you are interested in this option.