Eggs (and the lovely hens and roosters that make them)

Mike and I got our first chickens in the summer of 2002.  We maintained a flock of between six and eight hens at our old house and loved having fresh eggs.  We let them free range and they kept the bug population way down as well as giving us lovely eggs.

Our flock currently stands at about 40 hens and roosters.  Five came with us during the move, five are from a friend, and the rest are chicks we either got from the hatchery or hatched here on the farm.  We are very happy with our flock, we have four great roosters (you want around a 1:8-1:10 ratio) and are currently getting about 18 eggs/day from our hens.  Our chickens free range and we feed them an all natural vegetable feed with no antibiotics.  We also give them leftovers from the house since we are currently pig-less.  We use a little more than one and a half 50lb bags of feed per week (each chicken consumes roughly 1/4 lb per day, plus we let the 11 ducks and 4 geese eat a little as well).  Each bag of feed is roughly $12, so we spend about $18/week to feed our flock.  Right now we are getting about 8-10 dozen eggs per week, which if you do the math comes to about $1.90/dozen eggs in feed costs, which is way better than the price you pay for all natural free-range eggs in the local grocery.  Plus, there is NOTHING better than eggs that have been laid that day.  We sell several dozen/week to friends and eat the rest.

Here are some of the dishes we made with eggs this week:

• Hard Boiled Eggs and Egg Salad
• Ham and Swiss Quiche
• American Sponge Cake
• Cookies (three kinds that we cooked a few and froze the rest)
• Challah Bread
• Beignets
• Omelets
• Fried Eggs with Bacon and Home Fries
• Kasha Buckwheat

If you can, find a local farm and purchase some eggs.  When chickens are happy and have access to the outside, fresh air, water, and healthy grain they make the worlds best eggs.