The chickens must be extremely sensitive to light. Even though the days have been dark and dreary since the New Year, several hens have started to lay. If I didn't have a calendar, I could use chickens to tell me when the solstice was past and the spring around the corner!
For the last week, I've been getting three or four eggs a day. I now have enough so that I don't need to calculate my menus based on how many eggs needed; I can assume there will be enough eggs in the fridge for whatever I choose. I will very soon have enough to begin trading again!
Actually, I have an egg debt left over from last year. My trade partner the Kale Fairy decided, late in the season, after she'd already given me a full CSA share of organic veggies, that she didn't want a butchered baby goat after all (which was what we had bargained). So I gave her eggs and goat cheese as long as they lasted, but by late October those things pretty much dry up and I hadn't nearly worked off my egg-debt. So I think for several weeks my egg surplus is spoken for.
However, by the time the farmer's market opens in May, I ought to have eggs galore!
That's so great. How long do they stay fresh? Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteeggs last a surprisingly long time - about a month in the refrigerator.
ReplyDeleteHi Aimee,
ReplyDeleteI've been following your blog a few posts now. I'm not Anonymous anymore.
I am looking forward to getting eggs again. I put a light in the chicken coop the day after Christmas, but adding gradually so it doesn't shock them. Not sure if it really would, but it really is more natural probably to let them go with the natural light patterns & their own body rhythms accordingly. I just miss those eggs!
To bake I use 1 T of ground flax seed to 3 water as an egg replacer. This way I can still make big batches of chocolate, peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
I give mine about a month after molting then I put a light in the hen house by Christmas I was getting 9 eggs a day. It doesnt have to be a nautral light or a high wattage light. I use a 40 watt bulb. Then I open it up to get light from the south...
ReplyDeleteCool I didn't know about flax as an egg replacer, nor that 40watts was enough light! But does anyone know if you are shortening the egg laying life of the hens? I mean are there just so many eggs and you can have them fast or slow, or doyou actually get more eggs total with lights?
ReplyDeleteGood for you with all the eggs! We are getting one egg a week. ha ha ha. In 3 years of keeping chicken ...this is the 1st time we have no eggs in the winter.
ReplyDelete