The ladies have been very busy laying away, that's 100 eggs above!
Chickens often slow down their laying during the winter. Less sunshine during the day effects production. Some choose to put lights in the coop and encourage more egg production. We choose to let them follow their natural body rhythms. Give their bodies a bit of a break. Might be hard work growing and laying an egg! However, I love to do a lot of baking of the winter, warm the house with some delightful baking scents drifting in the air. It's my favorite part about winter. Not snow, I don't love driving around in the snow at all!
So what's a baking enthusiast to do? Chickens slow egg production when my egg consumption goes up? Store them when you have them!
Here are some ice cube trays, and bags of eggs prepped for the freezer. I froze some in 3 packs, my most frequently used egg amount for favorite recipes. I also froze some scrambled eggs in amounts that my family would use for a scrambled egg breakfast. The eggs in trays once frozen I pop out and transfer to a freezer bag for more compact storage and to be able to reuse the trays.
The shells I crunch up a bit and serve back to the chickens. Eggs are a great source of bioavailable and easier digested calcium, which is important for the hens. Takes a lot PD calcium to keep shelling eggs.
Double yolker! From one of our leg horns.
I've stored eggs in waterglass for up to 8 months with very little deterioration in quality. The only thing you can't do with waterglass eggs is boil the. they explode.
We always used lights as feeding non-producing hens organic feed and no eggs for 6 months just doesn't make financial sense on a homestead. The hens always paid their way and we made sure they had the very best feed and conditions because as you said, laying eggs takes a lot out of a bird.
Great tips! I'll have to look up this waterglass method. No need to boil some eggs, I think!
Here's a post about when I did it the last time:
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@goldenoakfarm/eggs-into-waterglass-february-4-2020-goldenoakfarm
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That's a hell of a lot of eggs, that's awesome! I think it's great that you did what you needed with them to freeze them, I never even thought of that. We will have to keep that in mind if we ever get some chickens!
Glad you give the shells back to the hens, I didn't know they would eat it but that's good, gotta keep up their calcium!
Frozen eggs! Now that's something new. I can't wait for our new chicken to start laying eggs, real eggs, not the ones I generally buy at the supermarket. Gonna try freezing.