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 five hens and two 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 then down to a total of seven 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 (one of those is old and is not laying), and two left from the brood we hatched.
So we needed more eggs, which meant we needed more chickens. In late March, I picked up six baby chicks at Tractor Supply and started 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 attacking Angela multiple times. 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 to 6 eggs per day, with more coming as more 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.
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 families regularly accepting 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 the 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.
Why did we want chickens again???
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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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Too many eggs? I have nothing but envy. A dozen eggs translates to angel food cake for the egg white and pudding from scratch from the yoks. Your choice on the flavor or half and half. How about quiche? It’s a great way to clean out the fridge. A decent quiche takes around eight eggs. Vegetarian quiche with spinach (fresh or frozen, diced onion, cheddar cheese, either finely chopped jalapeno or canned diced green chilis (drained), a bit of salt and piecrust. If you like, I will share my mother’s sour cream pound cake recipe. That cake does all the labor from the chickens proud.
Hi Billye,
We’re always happy to get another recipe. Share away. I haven’t made a good pound cake in some time.
Make Eggnog with lots of rum in it, then you won’t care how many eggs you have.
Good Idea!
And thus, the Angel Food cake was created! (The yolks make great homemade mayo.) Good brownies also use a lot of eggs, too, but are much more decadent. Quiche or Frittatas are another way to use up a lot of eggs and they keep well, refrigerated, for a few days. Then there’s the egg conditioning rinse for hair–though I’ve never tried it.
Joel had a great idea donating some to the local food bank. We have a few local egg farmers who do the same thing.
You’re truly blessed to have such an abundance of eggs. Perfect little protein packages; egg-cellent hard-boiled as a satisfying snack.
Good luck!
if I get free eggs it’s not too much to ask for egg cartons. Just a way to say thank you
With 4 children we used up our egg supply from our 6-10 chickens and I often dropped of fresh eggs at the local food bank. Friends that saved egg cartons would trade us a carton of eggs for 12 empty cartons. I was working an insurance investigation at the time and was on the Board of the local Chamber of Commerce so I had more than enough cartons. With 10 of our 20 acres planted in alfalfa we also raised white turkeys. The turkeys would line up, each taking a row and work down the field, make a turn that would make a drill team envious and come back. We never had to spray for bugs but we did have to butcher the turkeys early or they got so heavy their legs would splinter.
You know Joel, I was hoping that free-ranging our chickens would help keep the bugs down in our garden beds. Instead it resulted in leaves getting eaten, roots getting scratched bare, and seedlings getting completely scratched out of the ground. I’ve had to bird-net our beds al the way to the ground to keep the chickens out because they did too much damage. Between the insect pests, rabbits, the chickens (not really a problem anymore) and the deer, I’m close to quitting vegetable gardening.