Sunday, December 28, 2014

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! 





Friday, December 12, 2014

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!