From shell color to label claims and how to peel farm fresh hard boiled eggs - all your egg questions are answered here! And maybe some you didn’t even know you wanted to ask. :)
Are brown eggs more nutritious than white eggs?
Nope! Shell color doesn’t matter, what’s inside the egg is the same. What does matter is how the hen that laid the egg was raised and fed!
Our flock has a mix of all different breeds that lay lots of egg colors including chocolately brown eggs, brown eggs with speckles, a sort of pink egg, a few that lay blue and green eggs, and we do have quite a few white egg layers right now too.
Our hens live on pasture in a giant moveable hoop house, year-round. They are supplemented with a local non-GMO feed to make sure they have the right balance of nutrition.
This gives them lots of access to pasture, sunlight and fresh air while protecting them from predators. It also keeps them from destroying our garden, pooping on our porch, and laying eggs in weird spots all over the farm.
What do all the label claims on egg cartons mean?
Just like with buying chickens for meat (here’s a blog post I wrote about that), you’ll see so many label claims on grocery store egg cartons. I’ll do a whole blog post about egg label claims someday, but here’s what you need to know:
Cage Free = chickens raised in crowded confinement barns but outside of cages.
Free-Range = chickens raised in confinement barns with “access to the outdoors”, which is usually a small fenced lot without forage. They ARE NOT out roaming about in pastures foraging like the name implies.
Organic = chickens raised in confinement barns and given “access to the outdoors” like free-range birds. They are not raised on pasture, they are not foraging, the only difference is they are fed an organic feed.
Vegetarian Fed = chickens are not vegetarians, they’re omnivores. Vegetarian fed chickens were not likely to have access to the outdoors since they might eat a bug and not be vegetarians anymore.
Pasture-Raised = this could be anything unless you know your farmer and how the chickens are being raised! There is no regulation of this term, so grocery store eggs labeled as pasture-raised are typically living in free-range style confinement barns with limited outdoor access.
True pasture-raised eggs are from hens rotated around the farm on pasture in moveable shelters.
How long will farm fresh eggs last?
Fresh eggs will last a month or more in the refrigerator. I recommend having them eaten within a month or so for the best quality, but they’re still safe to eat beyond that.
Do eggs need to be refrigerated?
Once eggs have been washed or refrigerated, they do need to remain refrigerated. We wash our eggs and have them refrigerated before sending them home with you, so they will need to be stored in your refrigerator.
How do you peel farm fresh hard boiled eggs?
There are lots of tips and tricks for peeling fresh from the farm eggs without mangling them, but what I’ve had the best success with is using eggs that are at least a week or two old.
I’ve also had good luck with this method:
Bring your eggs, enough cool water to cover them, and about 2 tablespoons of sugar to a rolling boil.
Once it’s reached boiling, turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let sit for 10 minutes.
After the 10 minutes is up, drain off the hot water and place the eggs into an ice water bath to chill quickly. It also helps if you shake the eggs around in the pan or give them a quick tap to break the shells a bit before placing them in the ice bath.
Are eggs healthy for me? I’ve heard they increase cholesterol levels.
That’s been proven to be false. The biggest culprits with increased cholesterol levels are carbs, sugar and processed foods. Eggs are an amazing source of protein, vitamins and minerals - especially truly pasture-raised eggs!
Always consult your doctor, but I also highly recommend doing some reading about the health benefits of animal proteins and dangers of some of the “heart healthy” diets.
Why is your egg supply always low in Winter?
How many eggs a chicken lays is related to the hours of sunlight they’re experiencing.
During times of the year when the days are getting shorter, their egg laying naturally slows down. After the Winter solstice when days start to get a little longer, they kick the egg laying into high gear again.
Chickens will also slow down laying when the weather is super hot, super cold, or they’re stressed for any reason.
Commercial egg operations will use artificial light in Winter to trick the birds into laying more eggs. We choose not to do that. This allows the hen to live a longer, productive egg laying life.
Why are the yolks of some eggs more orange than others? Are orange egg yolks more nutritious?
Vibrant orange yolks are associated with pasture-raised chickens, but it’s important to know that many commercially available feeds include things like marigold extract which give the yolks an artificially orange color. So no, orange yolk does not always = nutrient dense egg.
True pasture-raised eggs will usually have orange yolks, but will also likely show some color variation throughout the year depending on the season, what the birds are foraging for, and there’s even some variation between individual birds.
Our feed does not include marigold or anything else that artificially creates bright orange yolks, the color comes from whatever they’re foraging for!
Are you worried about Avian Influenza?
Not really. It’s mainly a concern in barns with large populations of birds. It has been detected in backyard flocks, but it’s not common.
If you have chickens at home and come to visit our farm, please let us know. We will limit contact with our chickens or take extra precautions, just to be proactive about any possible spread of the virus.
We will continue monitoring the situation and the health of our chickens, but otherwise we’re continuing business as usual here. If anything changes, we’ll let you know!
What chicken questions didn’t I answer?
Did any of this chicken knowledge surprise you?
If you ever have questions about farming, food, or anything we do here please feel free to leave a comment below or reach out via email. We love being a resource for you!
~ Dana
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