Eggs for Sale

When we got our chickens we never thought about what we would do with our excess eggs. For a while we gave away our overage to friends and neighbors though sometime a little reluctantly on their part. It was funny the responses we got from people who had never been given free range eggs straight from the chicken. One younger friend was concerned that they wouldn't be safe. She felt the "store bought" eggs had to be healthier and free of disease. Worried that they weren't government approved she never did ask me for more eggs.

My yuppie neighbor took my offer of eggs but quizzed me on how to prepare them. "Do you just cook them like regular eggs?" she asked. It seemed like people around me could not grasp the idea that eggs start out somewhere before they hit the refrigerated section of Wal-Mart. It was becoming a chore sometimes just to hand out free eggs.

A health conscious co-worker started asking for some of our free range eggs but after the first dozen he was insistent that he pay me a fair price. I hadn't even considered selling my extras but realized a few bucks here and there to help out with rising feed costs might be reasonable. He was happy to get healthy free range eggs, I was happy to have the extras go to someone who appreciated the value of really fresh eggs. Win-win situation all around.

Shortly after that several senior ladies in a nearby retirement development started calling asking for eggs. These women had been raised in the country and in a time when more people kept chickens for eggs. They were thrilled to get my eggs and each had a story that started, "when I was a young girl..." and "back on our farm.." Each one remembered how great farm fresh eggs were and they even started saving empty cartons for me. I quickly learned that it is futile to argue with eighty year old women to just take the eggs for free. We eventually agreed that market price was fair.

Now I have more people interested in buying eggs than I can keep up with. If I were living in an area that would permit me to increase my flock I could actually make a small side business out of this. While it is sad that some have been brainwashed to believe that safe and healthy food cannot come from your own backyard, thankfully I have been lucky to find that segment that finds value in a freshly laid free range egg.

Momma Wannabees

On this Mother's Day I felt a tinge of sadness for my hens. Raising chickens in an urban area restricts me from keeping roosters on my land. So each day my hens labor steadfastly to lay an egg in an effort to bring forth new chicks just as nature intended. And yet despite their best efforts all this work is in vain at least from the hens viewpoint. While my family enjoys the results of their industrious work the hen is doomed to repeat their daily effort like a scene out of the movie, "Groundhog Day".

My sadness is short lived though as I recall the hen who stuck her head in a wide mouth mason jar my son had left on the grass while catching bugs. Poor thing lacked the grey matter to back its head out of the jar and ended up stuck there for over an hour. Yes, poultry are definitely not the smartest animals by far. For chickens ignorance truly is bliss. Thankfully, they will never know that they have missed what has become my greatest experience- motherhood. Happy Mother's Day to all.

Eggs for Onions

This week I made my first real barter of homestead goods when I traded a coworker some onions from their garden for some of my free range eggs. Both my coworker and I are relatively new to homesteading and this is the first time either of us has made a barter trade of homegrown items. He was able to start his garden earlier than I so he had onions ready to go. I have had my chickens laying now for almost a year and he just started with some chicks this month. They won't be laying for a few months yet. It was satisfying to be able to trade the fruits of our labor and everyone gained in the bargain.