Organic Brown Eggs -- $5.00 per dozen
- Available on the front porch refrigerator.
- Self-serve on the honor system.
- Small change is available in the refrigerator. Please do not bring large bills. Please have the correct change (do NOT ring the doorbell).
- When the temperature is 32° or below, the eggs will freeze. Please call us when you get here and we will bring eggs out to you.
We price our eggs to cover only our direct costs. The only profit we derive from our chickens, in addition to the sheer pleasure of having them, is the food they provide our family and the superior nutrients/fertility they contribute to our garden from their litter. (Any price increases we impose will always be within the framework of that policy.)
PLEASE RECYCLE
We do not include the cost of cartons in our price, and we never will as long as customers continue to bring us their clean used cartons. Otherwise we will have to buy cartons and pass on the additional cost to our customers. (Please note that we are unable to use clear, 6-cavity or 18-cavity cartons.)
Questions? Call 440-935-5643.
ABOUT OUR CHICKENS
Our laying flock consists of about 35 hens, which is just about right for the size of their coup. This number produces the right amount of manure/litter for our large garden. Although we price our eggs to almost cover the cost of the certified organic feed required to produce them, our profit is in the litter, which translates to excellent crop production. Unhappy chickens have all sorts of problems. Laying hens are "edgy" by nature because their typical production has risen so dramatically - from 35 eggs/hen/year in the early 1800's to 270-300 eggs today, a full ovulation cycle nearly every day! Industrial egg producers "solve" the edginess problem by isolating each hen in her own individual cage - a cruel fate for such a social animal to spend her entire life in sunless isolation. We treat our animals with the respect due any being whose work feeds us. Clean food and water at all times, good ventilation, dry litter, and as much green-grass yard time as the yard will tolerate; all contribute to a happy flock. Isolation under these friendly conditions is not necessary. ORGANIC - NATURAL - FREE RANGE - PASTURE RAISED In order to use the term “organic” to describe a food product, the USDA standards must be complied with, period, even by small farms such as ours that are too small to be certified. Before certified organic feed became available “close-by” in 2003, we used commercial, non-organic feed, but without the usual medications/hormones/antibiotics. We did not represent our eggs then as “organic”. We now travel 144 miles, four times a year, to buy organic feed. The official USDA designation for locally grown, non-organic, non-medicated, hormone-free feed is "natural." Unfortunately, some sellers market these as "organic." If you ever need reassurance, ask for the farmer's contact information. Having access to the farmer is one major advantage to buying local. As for "free-range," there is no official standard for that term whatsoever. Our chickens are pasture-raised; they come and go as they please. |
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PASTURE MANAGEMENT
This portable electric fence allows us to move hens off a small pasture paddock onto fresh grass before it is too beat down to recover quickly. Timing is everything. Each move requires about 30-45 minutes every two or three days, depending on the condition of the pasture. Good pasture management allows us to keep our hens on grass for about five to six months per year, followed by a "recovery period" during which the pasture is re-seeded over the remaining turf. The hens spend those months in their winter yard, which is kept covered with clean straw. |
THE EGG-LAYING CALENDAR
We start each new flock in the spring. They do not start laying until late October, just about the time the old flock is producing near zero. They very quickly, in a matter of a few weeks, lay at about 2/3 their maximum rate. Over the winter months, they lay at a pretty steady maximum rate of about 75% to 80%, gradually tapering off from late spring throughout the summer and fall (see graph). We may occasionally have to limit quantities during that period. |