Last year was a bad year for our chickens.

Early in the year, we had hens killed by dogs, dragged off by racoons, and literally just disappear without a trace. Then Randy, our beloved rooster – a huge bird who was sweet and gentle with both the hens and people – was taken out by a hawk (or something else with wings and a beak).  We were left with just three hens, only two of which were still laying.

So, since chickens can remain fertile (and so will the eggs they lay) for up to a month after mating, we began collecting eggs from the small flock we had left. We incubated 12 eggs, and hatched 7 chicks. From that brood, we wound up with 5 hens and 2 roosters. One of the roosters and a hen wandered off and never came back after a day of free-ranging, leaving only Benedict as King of the roost. We were now down to a total of 7 hens. Over time, one hen got sick and had to be put down. Others just disappeared. We quit free-ranging our birds after we lost another two. We were down to only two of the original flock we purchased from our neighbors when we first started chicken-farming, and two left from the brood we hatched – and one of those is old and not laying.

So we needed more eggs, which meant we needed more chickens. In late March, I picked up six baby chicks at Tractor Supply and got to raising them. Four of those have turned out to be hens, while two are roosters. That’s good, since I needed a replacement rooster after Benedict’s execution for being mean to Angela. So, in case you haven’t been keeping up with the poultry math, that brings us to EIGHT hens and two roosters. Right now Angela and I are getting 5 – 6 eggs per day, with more coming as the young hens mature and start laying … soon.

An interesting fact about eggs. When young chickens start to lay, their eggs are much smaller than regular eggs.

Anyway, five eggs a day (soon to be seven) is where the problem arises. There are only two of us, and we don’t eat seven eggs a day – or even FIVE eggs a day. I mean, we wanted to save money on eggs, but DANG! At only 5 eggs/day, that’s 35 eggs a week! And it will be 49 eggs a week when all the hens are laying.

Our neighbors can only eat so many eggs. And right now, we have two who regularly accept free eggs from us. But both of those are two-person households. I still don’t think the demand will keep up with supply.

We’ve had several well-meaning folks on social media share egg-based recipes with Angela. But again, we can only EAT so many eggs. Seriously, you can get tired of egg-based foods pretty quick. And just because you use 6 eggs on a quiche doesn’t mean it’s all getting eaten that day. A man can only absorb so much quiche for every meal. I’ve resorted to cracking a fresh raw egg on each of our dog’s dinners each night. They seem to appreciate it. But the eggs keep piling up.

That causes another problem.

We don’t refrigerate our eggs. It’s kind of an unwritten rule of homesteading – “Don’t refrigerate them eggs.” Chicken eggs, if left unwashed, can stay safe to eat at room temperature for 2-4 weeks. So, to keep track of how long any  particular egg has been in the basket, we date the eggs when we collect them from the coop.

I’m considering bringing free eggs to church each week to give away – you know, spread the blessings. But then, that means I need to go and buy a bunch of egg cartons to transport them in. Then they’re really not free anymore, are they? At least they aren’t for me. Our neighbors who accept eggs from us know to save the cartons and we re-use them. But I’m not sure how kosher it would be for me to ask folks at church to bring back the egg cartons when they’re done with them. That’s kind of an extra burden and could result in people no longer accepting my free eggs.

Wait… Why did we want chickens again???

• Grandma Badly Broke Her Femur + 2 More Chickens (POOF!) Disappeared!
• Randy the Rooster Pulls Another Prank – 03 2025
• R.I.P. Randy the Rooster – by Brian Whiddon, Managing Editor – 05 2025
• We Traded a Dozen Eggs for Heater Repair! – 01 2025
• 7 Chicks from 12 Incubated Eggs! – by Brian Whiddon, Managing Editor – 06 2025

Brian Whiddon is the Managing Editor of WritersWeekly.com and the Operations Manager at BookLocker.com. An Army vet and former police officer, Brian is the author of Blue Lives Matter: The Heart behind the Badge. He's an avid sailor, having lived and worked aboard his 36-foot sailboat, the “Floggin’ Molly” for 9 years after finding her abandoned in a boat yard and re-building her himself. Now, in northern Georgia, when not working on WritersWeekly and BookLocker, he divides his off-time between hiking, hunting, and farming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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