Reasons to NOT refrigerate fresh eggs

Did that title just say to NOT refrigerate eggs? Isn't that unsanitary??? I'm also going to tell you not to wash them. Don't leave just yet- I'm not crazy, and have very good reasons for this advice!

Guess what? When I got back yard chickens, I learned something that I had literally never heard of before- NOT refrigerating eggs! For anyone living in the United States, this idea is shocking, but for the rest of the world, it is old news.

First, let me tell you why Americans DO refrigerate eggs. Eggs can carry salmonella, and storing eggs at room temperature is the best environment for it to multiply. But storing them at room temperature is not the source of the salmonella, just the growing environment. Where does it come from?

Salmonella is significantly more likely (as in, off the charts) to appear in eggs from: 

1. Large flocks of hens (thousands of them)

2. Unsanitary conditions (such as cages stacked on top of each other)

3. Close quarters (usually about 1 square foot of space per chicken)

As it turns out, most of the eggs produced in the United States meet all three of those conditions. Because the eggs are produced in such an unsanitary environment, the eggs go through a thorough washing and bleaching process before showing up at the grocery store. This seems like a good idea considering where the eggs came from...

The only problem is that chickens lay eggs with a natural protective coating that keeps bacteria out. When eggs are washed, this protective coating is removed, making the eggs more susceptible to entering pathogens. The solution? Store the eggs in a refrigerator where the bacteria is less likely to exist. 

It seems like every solution along this track only causes another problem. If we take things back to a simpler time, the problems solve themselves, which allows me to keep my eggs out on the counter with no worries.

The Alternative

If you are raising backyard chickens and are producing your own eggs, then you probably don't have thousands of chickens. My flock is currently ten chickens, and that is way more that enough for us. As a result of a small flock, they most likely have plenty of space to peck around without sitting in each others' poop and growing diseases all day. When they do lay eggs, you are able to pick them while they are nice and clean, still having the chickens protective coating on them. If they don't need to be washed, then they can be safely stored out on the counter for a MINIMUM of 21 days.

Why 21 days? When chickens lay eggs, they lay a large clutch and then sit on them to warm them in order to hatch them. From the first egg of the clutch being laid to the last before being sat on is usually around 21 days, which means eggs were designed to last at least that long in original condition. Eggs can last longer than that, but 21 days is the minimum. 

So why are eggs on the counter better than eggs in fridge? For me, fridge space is always a precious commodity, so having a little extra is great (especially if you are getting a couple hundred eggs each month), but there is more to it than that.

You may have seen baking recipes that call for room temperature eggs. Eggs at room temperature (and especially ones that have never been refrigerated) bond with the ingredients differently and form air pockets that expand during baking which make lighter and fluffier baked goods, especially breads. This also makes a big difference when whipping egg yolks to make a meringue- definitely fluffier with room temp eggs.

If for some reason you get a few eggs that are really gross (sometimes chickens are just not careful about where they poop) then I would definitely recommend washing them and putting them in the fridge. But other than that, fight the urge to do what you've been told to do all your life, and let those natural eggs stay natural!

So what do you think? Are you willing to take the challenge with your backyard eggs?

Egg Hunting: How to Tell the Age of an Egg

Every now and then our free range chickens will decide to lay eggs in places other than their nesting boxes, and the only way to find their new nest is to either have a full-blown egg hunt or to do a little spying on the hens. 

Recently our egg production has taken a drop since the days are getting shorter, one of our hens is broody, and a few others are molting. But when I only gathered one egg over three days with three hen still laying, I had a feeling that the ladies had new hiding place. My egg hunt turned up empty, but the spying did the trick when a hen emerged from the garden singing the egg song. Sure enough, deep in the bushes, I found the mother load!

Not only a few, but nine eggs all in a neat little pile!

I was glad to have the eggs, but now on to the real problem. How long had the eggs been there? Were these laid over the last few days or had it been building up over weeks? Fortunately there is a neat little trick to figure out the general age of the eggs and if they are still good.

The Water Test

This is a pretty simple test. Simply submerge the egg in about 6 inches of water in a clear container.

1 week old or less- the egg will lay on the bottom on its side

2 weeks old- the egg will lay on the bottom with the fat end beginning to stick up

3 weeks old- the egg will rest on the bottom standing with the fat end up

4 weeks old- the egg will float on the top of the water

Thankfully for us, it turned out that all of our eggs were less than a week old. Any egg that floats is a bad egg and definitely should not be eaten, but beyond that eating the eggs is up to your own judgment. Personally, one week outside is enough for me. Anything beyond that goes to the compost, but I know plenty of other people who will eat any egg that isn't floating.

If your hens are being mischievous, I hope you have a successful egg hunt!

10 Reasons to Get Backyard Chickens (and 4 reasons not to)

10 Reasons to Get Backyard Chickens

1. Eggs!

The most obvious reason to get backyard chickens is that you get delicious eggs! There is nothing like country eggs (although ours are in the middle of the city...) and your own free range eggs that you know are pure and healthy are a huge incentive for having chickens. The eggs are the reason that we started some backyard chickens to begin with, but we had no idea how many other great reasons to have chickens we would discover along the way.

2. Chickens are low maintenance.

If you are interested in exploring self-sufficient living, chickens are an easy "gateway" animal. You build them a coop, give them some food and water, and let them run around and lay eggs. Pretty simple!

3. You can have chickens almost anywhere.

Even in the middle of the city, there is room for a small coop with a few laying hens. They do not take up much space, and most cities allow them. We allow our chickens to free range in our fenced in backyard, so they literally take up no extra space than we already had. 

Okay, so I don't recommend you keep them in the house, but they will sneak in if you leave the back door open on a nice spring day!

4. Chickens have a great personality!

I had no idea how much I would fall in love with our chickens! They each have names, come when they are called, are super sweet (love to be petted and held) and are more like pets than farm animals. They each have their own quirky traits, and we love to go in the backyard to just hang out with them in the evenings, laughing at their crazy antics.

The chickens were very curious about our new bunnies, and when the rabbit would hop, all the chickens would jump in the air, flap their wings, and squawk!

5. Chickens will replace your bug man.

If your chickens free range, they will keep your yard free of many unwanted pests. My chickens eat all kinds of bugs, and I have even seen them eating small garden snakes on several occasions. The chickens know to wait outside of the vegetable garden gate when I am in there because I will bring them all of the caterpillars I find on my plants. Less mosquitoes, love bugs, june bugs, caterpillars, and snakes? Fine with me!

Brandy Jr, my "gardening chicken", waiting outside the gate to the vegetable garden for me to bring her some caterpillars.

Brandy Jr. eating a big grub!

6. Chickens are natural weed and feed for your lawn.

You will not have to mow the grass as often. Living in Louisiana, our mowing season is usually from March through October (sometimes longer), and it is an every week thing unless you want your yard to look like a jungle. But now that we have chickens free ranging in the back yard, we cut that area half as often as the front! And for some reason, they like the weeds the best, so they go around eating the weeds first and naturally fertilizing the grass as they go. Now if only I could find an animal that does laundry and dishes!

7. Chickens are inexpensive.

So far this year we have spent $70 on chicken feed for our flock of seven laying hens, and we have gathered 68 dozen eggs! That is just about $1 for every dozen of fresh, free range chicken eggs. Anyone who has bought these at a farmer's market knows that $6/doz is a common price, so it is definitely worth it on the financial side! I'm not including the price of the coop or the chickens in this but even if I did include all of the start up costs (that we will benefit from for years to come), it still comes out to less that $4/doz.

Our first egg! What a day!

8. Chickens make a great garbage disposal.

I hate wasting food, but sometimes the leftovers just don't get eaten in time or the produce from your garden is half eaten by a caterpillar. I used to cringe as I threw away food, but now I smile as I toss it to the chickens, knowing that it will soon become eggs! My chickens eat anything and everything- bread, rice, vegetables, meat, yogurt, oatmeal, scraps that I throw in the compost pile- you name it! We have gotten into the habit of scraping our plates into a bowl to set out for the chickens, and they love it. Never waste food again!

9. Chickens can also be a source of home grown meat.

I understand that it is a big step to go from having laying hens to raising meat chickens, but once you get started, you may find it easier that you think. We stumbled upon this stage of backyard farming on accident when we ended up with five roosters in what was supposed to be a flock of hens. We obviously couldn't keep roosters in the city so we figured out how to turn them into gumbo. We were not disappointed :) Besides, organic chicken meat in the grocery store is expensive!

Did you say MEAT?!

10. Chickens are a stress reliever.

I'm not sure how to explain it, but there is something so calming and pastoral about sitting on the swing in the backyard watching the chickens peck around in the grass after a long day at work. Computer screens, emails, board meetings, and to do lists melt away as you reconnect with something REAL, something tangible. It lets your mind go back to something simple- life creating food that sustains life. Every now and then it helps to put the technology down and remember how the world works.

4 Reasons NOT to Get Backyard Chickens

1. They ruin gardens.

They like to dig, fling dirt and mulch everywhere, and uproot plants for fun. For people who love to garden like me, chickens and gardening do not mix. I finally solved this problem by fencing in the area of my yard that was for me (the gardens and patio) and the area that was for the chickens. Every now and then a chicken will get into the people part of the yard and trample down all of my tulips and I have to threaten to have chicken for dinner, but it works out well for the most part.

2. They can be loud.

There are lots of variables here- certain varieties are louder than others, some chickens simply have a loud personality, and sometimes chickens are loud in certain circumstances, such as when they are hungry, bored, annoyed at the neighbor's cat, etc. Also, they like to sing the egg song every time they lay an egg, or anytime any of them lay an egg. But you know, as long as it means eggs, I let it slide.

3. Chickens die, and that is very sad.

We have lost many chickens to neighbor's dogs, chicken hawks, and gape worm. You will become attached to certain chickens, and when you lose one of your favorites, it is very hard. The atmosphere of the whole flock can change. Be prepared to lose a few.

This was one of our favorites, Oreo, keeping my husband company while he had the flu. Our neighbor's dog got into our yard a few weeks later, and we lost her.

4. You have to find someone to feed them if you go on vacation.

Like most animals, they need someone to check in on them. While most people will dog sit, which is a pretty big responsibility, they feel a little strange about chicken sitting, even though it only requires filling up a feeder once a day and gathering the eggs.

Needless to say, for us the pros far outweigh the cons, and we love having chickens. I can't imagine our yard without them! Do you have any other reasons to add?

Delightful little garden surprise

One of the things that I love most about playing in the garden is the delightful little unexpected surprises that come my way, sometimes even out of a former "mistake". Our shed has been settling unevenly and the doors no longer close all the way. The project is not at the top of the list, so it has stayed that way for several months.

This morning when I went in to get chicken wire (to fix an issue with the chickens' great escape- a story for another day...) a little red bird flew out of the shed just inches away from where I was reaching. I looked inside the roll of chicken wire and didn't see anything, but as I pulled it out, I saw that the birds had built a nest just beneath in the cover of the weed eater of all places!

Here is the nest all cozy in the top to the weedeater.

A closer look at this little bird's handiwork. 

When I peeked inside, guess what??? Five tiny speckled eggs! I hope the mother doesn't feel too intruded upon to finished her egg hatching. What a fun day in the garden!

There are little miracles all around us every day if we stop to take the time to appreciate them :)

To read the rest of the story, click here.