New Laid Eggs

Do you have any idea how old most eggs are in the grocery stores? They may be many weeks old by the time they get to you.

You may have read about grading standards on eggs. But what they don't say, is that how firm the whites are, and how rounded the yolks are, is more an issue of age than it is of individual difference in the egg! The older an egg, the flatter the yolk and white become.

Homegrown eggs can last for 3-4 months in the fridge, without any significant deterioration in quality. Yeah, you sometimes get a bad one, but that is typically because one was overlooked on the collection rounds, not because it went bad abnormally.

Fresh eggs are free from hormones, free from medications which are often given to chickens (at least, they are if you choose unmedicated chicken feed), and generally more nutritious if you have let your chickens eat what they like to eat best - bugs, weeds, vegetable scraps, scratch grains, etc. Free range chickens, or even caged chickens fed a natural diet, yield eggs with darker yolks, and a higher nutrient content.

You can also have fertilized eggs if you like. The proteins in fertilized eggs are easier for some people to digest. It is illegal in most states to sell fertilized eggs for human consumption. So if you want that benefit, you need to raise your own, and keep a rooster or two around.

A further benefit is that you don't have to stick with chickens. You can raise layer ducks, quail, or even some kinds of pheasant, geese, guinea fowl, or other birds for eggs. In general, smaller eggs are more digestible than bigger ones, so if you have digestive problems, try guinea fowl, pheasant, or quail eggs.

You probably don't spend a lot on eggs anyway, so the savings per year is not likely to be more than a hundred dollars or so. But the health benefits can be more than worth it.

 

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