From Hen to Carton

To start 2015 off on a fresh foot, I decided to buy one hundred brand spankin' new egg cartons! They look and feel so crisp and clean. My customers are excellent recyclers, too, so I know they will be around for a while. I often get questions from customers about the steps I take to get eggs from hen to carton, so here you go!

I recently created a new egg handling station downstairs. Eggs were starting to take over the kitchen! I bring in a basket of two to three dozen fresh eggs a day. The first step is to polish up any eggs that may be dirty. Most of my eggs are not washed but when it's muddy outside the hens often track it into the nesting boxes and step on already laid eggs. I prefer not to wash our eggs so they stay fresh longer. Washing removes the "bloom" - the natural coating that seals the eggshell pores. If I do need to clean them, I use an All Natural Egg Cleaner.  It contains a blend of all-natural enzymes that safely and gently remove stains.

GRADE A!

See the little crack? Time for omelets!

The next step is candling.
Candling an egg involves shining a bright light through it to look for any defects in the shell or problems with the yolk. (Candling is often done by people monitoring the embryonic development of eggs in an incubator.) Sometimes I spy small defects in the shell that I would not see even with my new bifocals! Shells with cracks, wrinkles or other flaws that make them less than Grade A end up in our family refrigerator.

27 ounces - right on the line between large and extra large

This cute little rooster scale is to weigh the eggs.  Cartons packaged here at the Golden Egg contain a variety of sizes (and colors). The dozen usually averages out to be in the large range overall.
After all of these steps, the cartons are placed in the refrigerator at 45 degrees or lower. They are marked with the packing date to ensure customers get the freshest eggs.
I am grateful to have so many customers that value local eggs raised the old fashioned way.
I look forward to some exciting new endeavors for 2015! 

Welcome to the Golden Egg

I have had the good fortune to meet a lot of local folks who are committed to knowing where their food comes from and supporting local farmers. People ask, "How are your chickens raised?" Here is an illustrated answer!

The chickens (about sixty of them) are housed in two different coops. They are fed organic layer feed from a local grain mill. They are allowed outdoors from sun up to sun down. I currently gather between two and three dozen eggs a day. I candle, clean and package them daily.

The hens love these mild days and are out fertilizing the orchard. These girls scratch all over the garden. And the pasture. And the ditch. They are becoming a popular site along HWY 1. *No crossing the road allowed!

The chickens are producing well. They need about 14 hours of "daylight" to stimulate egg production. There is a light on a timer in both coops that pops on at 3 a.m. I don't heat the coops. Their body heat and the breakdown of the litter on the floor generates enough heat to keep them safe.  I give them a bit of scratch (cracked, rolled, or whole grains such as corn, barley, oats, or wheat) in the late afternoon to provide more calories to generate a bit of heat as well. As the sun goes down, they naturally wander back to their coops and hop up onto the roosting bars for bedtime. At that point I close their little door (called a "pop hole") and bid them good night!

September Days

Months ago these little rogue sunflowers popped up all over the garden - remnants from the sunflower teepee the girls planted when we first moved to the farm.  I transplanted them near the coop to provide some beauty and a little shade for the hens. They have become towering behemoths we had to strap to the fence. Today I decided to harvest some seed heads the wild birds hadn't already feasted on to share with the chickens and goats.  The hens were pretty interested and walked right up to investigate. 






The goats, on the other hand,  all jumped onto my lap and began to eat my shirt. And my watch. Then Luna decided to explore the tire I had planted in their pen. The tire was a birthday gift from Natalie. She sweetly pulled out of the ditch for me.  What more could a goat keeper ask for?!

Coop Tour 2014

The demand for farm fresh eggs has been so great we decided we needed more chickens! The first step in that direction was building a place for them to live. We modified a plan for a 10' x 12' shed to include some windows and a door we found at ReStore. We built fence posts from 2x4 scraps to create paddocks around the coop we can rotate the hens through. Finally, we purchased thirty young white rock hens just starting to lay.
The pullets (young hens) are learning where to lay their eggs and where to roost. They are laying some beautiful little eggs!  We hope to continue to supply eggs to our loyal customers and expand to farmer's markets or CSAs. Take a look at the tour and tell us what you think!

Spring Has Sprung!

Lately, there has been lots of new life at the farm. One animal our family recently fell in love with is a little painted turtle. This reptile is the most widespread native turtle of North America. But we love him because of his incredible cuteness.

Mom found him on the side of the road during her bike ride. She stopped to pick the little guy up, and ended up biking 6 miles home with a turtle in her hand. We decided that he would be happiest in our marsh, so that's our turtle's new home.

Female Oriole

Another new creature on the farm is the Baltimore Oriole that has been visiting our hummingbird feeder and feasting on orange slices we set out.  Something unique about Orioles are their nests. They make a kind of hanging basket, so when the wind blows, their chicks don't fall.

 Our Shiitake mushroom

Recently, we purchased a mushroom log from Mushroom Mills at the Backyard Abundance Plant Sale. What is a mushroom log? A mushroom log is a log that is hand inoculated with mushroom spores. After soaking our log in water for 12 hours, we were instructed to lean it upright in a shady place, and it was supposed to fruit after about a week. Our log is producing Shiitake mushrooms.

What a difference two weeks makes!

All ten chicks frenetically eating!

Two weeks ago we brought home an assortment of chicks to replace the older layers we sold to a family to get their small flock going. We have had many different breeds of chickens, but for laying skills and a little variety, we decided to go with three breeds: California whites, Rhode Island Reds and black australorps. Twelve peeping chicks with straight little toes and lots of energy made their way home with us. Over the last two weeks, two of them have died. We have never lost a chick before and we can't find a reason now - we are chalking it up to bad genetics.

Look at the beautiful feathers on this RIR

We posted several photos of the day old chicks on Facebook, but they never made it to the blog. (Click the Facebook button to the right to see the original photos) Today we have photos for taken at about two weeks. Look how many feathers they have now! Chicks don't stay cute and fluffy for long. You can also start to see their little combs coming in. They will stay in their brooder in the basement under their heat lamp until they are fully feathered at about six weeks. Hopefully it will feel like spring then and they will be comfortable outdoors! Stay tuned for further adventures and see who gets to attend the Johnson County Fair in July. Or who lays the first egg!

Battling the winter weather

There have been too many days of bitter cold and north winds howling across the fields! The chickens have been good sports and continue to lay beautiful eggs in exchange for a little extra light and protein.
When frozen noses and frozen soil keep you inside, it frees up time to get involved in other creative projects!

Unfortunately one of my dear daughters was home with a cold. Fortunately she wasn't too under the weather to spend some time adding some new features to our blog! We are going to try our hand at adding a Pinterest site and Twitter account here at the Golden Egg. Join us!





Our youngest DIY queen has been hard at work~ she created some adorable Valentine's for her classmates.

Natalie with Angie J at Home Ec

She also attended the first half of a great class at Home Ec with Angie Jordan to learn how to knit a beautiful new hat.  Home Ec has a series of awesome projects coming up!  I hope we won't need those wool hats too much longer....





Mother Nature provides a chance to look to valuable indoor activities!  In that spirit, I had an opportunity to spend some time with Backyard Abundance as they assist community members on brainstorming ideas to develop an edible landscape in the Wetherby Park neighborhood.
These blustery days are also nice for doing some online shopping for their annual plant sale!

Today I'm off to the first Women, Land & Legacy event. I'm looking forward to connecting with other women who are caring for our land in Johnson County.  This Saturday is the Growing the Local Food Movement forum sponsored by the Johnson County Local Food Council. It's a chance to learn about and discuss farm conservation, edible landscapes, local food impacts and policies to support farmers in Johnson County.