A lot has been happening during the past few weeks on our little farm! Here are the highlights:
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• ​Bees. After our only top bar hive failed to survive the winter, we made a difficult decision to give beekeeping a break for the year. Then, we were pleasantly surprised when we were contacted by a local apiary to house some of their beehives on our property. The 24 NUCs were delivered today, and are nestled in the back corner of our property. Even though they aren't our bees, it is nice to know that we will still have plenty of honeybees pollinating our flowers and veggies this year, as well as the most local honey possible!

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• Ducks. The 8-week-old Pekin drakes were processed for meat last Friday. We decided to keep three female ducks as egg layers, but they won't actually start laying eggs until July or August. We are also brooding a handful of 2-week old female ducks to keep as layers.

• Geese. We successfully hatched 6 goslings from the incubator, and they are already 3 weeks old. We moved them out on pasture and they are happily mowing the lawn for us. The 4 goslings mow more grass in the same shelter as 25 chicks! We also have 2 more eggs in the incubator scheduled to hatch late next week. Also, Mama Goose FINALLY decided to go broody yesterday and she is setting on a clutch of eggs. We haven't checked, but there should be 6-7 eggs under her.

• Layer Chickens. Due to the late winter this year, the layers had to spend a few extra weeks in their winter coop. But they have finally been moved outside and are happily munching on grass and weeds, digging up worms, and chasing bugs. Yesterday, we also had at least one chicken decide to go broody (on the same day Anastasia the Goose went broody). We should have lots of baby birds wandering around in 3-4 weeks!

• Meat ​Chickens. The meat chickens are in the brooder and should be ready to be moved outside on Monday. These birds will be ready to be processed in late June. This is the only batch of meat chickens we plan to raise this year.

• ​Quail. We added quail to our bird mix a few weeks ago. Right now we are just eating the eggs, but once we are able to move them out of the garage and house them on pasture, we will have eggs available for purchase. At some point we will also have quail available to purchase for meat.

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• Turkeys. We will be raising traditional broad-breasted turkeys this year instead of heritage breeds (unless specifically requested). We will order the turkeys around Memorial Day, so there is still time to place an order.

Several important updates are included in this post. Please read in its entirety.

We are doing things a little differently this year. Due to a new summer commitment for our family (travel baseball), we only plan to raise one batch each of ducks, chickens, turkeys, and possibly geese. For some reason, it is difficult to find someone willing to take care of our birds twice a day, everyday, for no pay, while we are gone. ;) We are committed to raising our birds in as healthy a manner as possible, which includes moving their shelters once or twice a day, as well as constantly checking on feed & water, but we don't make enough profit to actually  pay someone to help us accomplish that goal.

Therefore, we have sketched out a tentative schedule for the season that works around our schedule and limits total processing days for us. We have a limited number of shelters available for raising birds, and as soon as we reach that number of orders (on a first-come, first-served basis), we will be sold out for the year. So make sure to figure in how many birds you would like for an entire year as well as your freezer/storage capacity when placing your order(s). To reserve your birds, please fill out the appropriate form(s) on our Sales page or call us to place order and then mail us this form.

Sales Page order forms:

• Ducks
• Chickens
• Turkeys

Obviously, these dates are subject to change based on a variety of factors, including the availability of chicks/poults, weather, and the growth rate of the birds. We hope to notify customers a couple weeks in advance of the final processing date. This year, we would like customers to pick up on the afternoon of their processing date, directly from our farm. We are limited in storage capacity and prefer to hand over possession of the fresh bird to you as quickly as possible.

TURKEYS
In addition, we are asking for a small deposit if reserving Thanksgiving turkeys. Our 8-year old son (who refers to himself as Turkey Boy) is in charge of about half of the turkeys we raise. He pays for the poults and the feed and takes care of them every day. Last year was a work-in-progress since the whole turkey thing was new to us, but now we have an idea of how long it will take heritage breed turkeys to grow out and we have a better understanding of how to process the turkeys. We will only raise turkeys for people who pay a $20 deposit, and customers will have a choice to buy heritage breed or the standard (white) turkeys. Heritage breed turkey poults are more expensive and take significantly longer to grow to a marketable size, hence the price difference.

SOUP CHICKENS
If we get a broody hen this spring or decide to buy straight-run layer chicks, we will have a limited availability of "soup chickens," which are essentially the grown-out cockerels (roosters). Since the cockerels will likely be 4-5 months old at processing, the meat will be a bit tough, but full of flavor, and will tenderize if cooked long and slow (like how you would cook chuck roast). Also, cockerels have large drumsticks but little breast meat. These soup chickens are a great choice for making flavorful, pastured chicken broth. Please indicate in the survey below if you would have any interest in soup chickens and we will contact you if/when available.

GEESE/QUAIL/DUCK EGGS
We are also hoping to hatch out a handful of goslings this spring. While the geese have finally started mating, *we have not received a first egg yet. Also, goose eggs are notoriously difficult to incubate, so even if/when we get eggs, we aren't sure if we'll have successful hatches. If we do, we will either grow out the goslings to sell as a traditional Christmas goose, or we will simply sell the goslings to people wanting to raise their own geese. We are also contemplating adding quail and/or laying ducks to the farm. Please indicate on the survey below if you have any interest in geese or quail for meat or duck/quail eggs.

*UPDATE: We found our first 2 goose eggs about an hour after writing this blog post!

Feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns about these changes.

When I first noticed that we had two hens go broody this week, my first thought was, "Oh crap." The last thing that our little farm needs right now is more chicks. As I write this, I don't even know how many chickens are on our property. I have been afraid to do the math because the number might frighten me a little, but for the sake of this post I will go ahead and add them up. 

After a recent egg-eating issue we are down to 24 laying hens and 1 rooster. We added the 13 largest chicks to their coop (8 from our first incubator hatch and 5 purchased Cuckoo Marans pullets). Then we have 38 younger chicks in the winter coop (23 from our second incubator hatch, 5 purchased Welsummer chicks, and 10 chicks hatched by our first broody hen, Mama Sally). That adds up to 76 chickens of the laying variety, and when combined with the *84 Cornish Cross (meat) birds, totals 160 chickens on our little 2 acres!

As much as we didn't want to add any additional chicks to this mix, we really didn't want to discourage the broodiness trait. When we first got chickens, we promised ourselves that we would allow them to eat and behave... well, like chickens. At least as much as is practical. 

Then, the solution became obvious. One of my favorite principles in permaculture is that "the problem is the solution." In this case, we decided to move some turkey eggs out of our home incubator and under the broody hens. Initially I slid the eggs under my favorite hen, Mama Sally, as she is a proven broody and mama. It appears that she is taking turns sitting on the eggs with the other (unnamed) Black Star hen. 

I was a bit nervous leaving our precious turkey eggs with the hens since only 8 of 19 eggs appeared to be fertile, but I decided that we are more likely to screw up the incubation than the hens. We are still fairly new to chickens and had never heard of hens taking turns sitting on the same clutch of eggs, but it seems to be working out okay. I don't really worry about the eggs ever being left unattended, because either both hens are squished together, sitting on the same clutch of eggs, or the "off-duty" hen is anxiously pacing outside, awaiting her turn. If everything works out, we should have a few turkey poults running around with two chicken mamas later in the week. We will keep you posted!

*We still have some pastured chickens available. They will be processed on Thursday, July 9. If interested, click here.

- Diana

Hello everyone, I know you all are still reeling from the Eggsperiment and its surprising findings. Okay, so maybe it was not that epic, but as we speak, egg prices continue to rise and backyard flocks continue to be protected (seemingly) from the flu epidemic. I say that is a success so far and our $4 a dozen eggs, which are the best around, don't seem so expensive now.

While we are lacking pictures on this one, I'll give you a little tour around the farm departments to see what is going on. UPDATE: PICTURES ADDED

Animals - well we bought three pigs - Mike, Todd and Emma - who are residing on a friend's farm. As a boarding agreement, they will get one of the pigs. We just could not put the infrastructure in place to make it work this year. They are doing well and doing what pigs do!  

Also, we are in the turkey business.  We have partnered with our oldest son, Xander, to raise turkeys. At this time we have six poults (i.e. turkey chicks) that are getting bigger every day. We got them out of the brooder and hope to get them on pasture soon. We had two casualties thus far, which is a learning lesson for all, especially Xander. Also, we are hoping we get a few to hatch out the of incubator as we took a gamble on some discounted eggs from a local hatchery. Fingers crossed.

On to chickens, the core of our operation. Egg production is down a bit, likely due to temperatures and feed restrictions. We are still getting 15+ eggs a day. We caught one egg eater and sent her to Stewpot University. We believe we still have another, but just have to catch her. We also had the flock turn on one of their own and beat her to submission. She is out of the flock and recovering, but will likely need another home after she recovers. There are thirteen birds waiting to graduate to the big leagues as they are getting acclimated to the flock in a temporary home in the fence. Eight of these are our first hatchlings, which we have an affinity to for sure. Blackbeard is a particularly handsome fella, but not sure how Charlie will like the competition. The other five are Cuckoo Maran pullets that we purchased to add some color to our egg rainbow. Of the thirteen, we have at least 3 cockerels and possibly 5. 

In the winter coop, we are growing out our second hatchlings. This group consists of 23 incubator chicks, 10 chicks from Momma Sally and 5 Welsummer chicks we purchased, again for color in the egg rainbow. They are still adjusting to the winter coop, but are loving getting out side to be chickens.

We are five weeks into our second batch of meat birds and are looking to have 80+ meat birds ready the second week of July. Hit the SALES button in the upper right corner to order. We sold out of our first batch, which left our freezer a bit bare. We had quite a bit of attrition in our first batch--from 60 to 43 birds--and we haven't quite figured out what occurred.  This batch is doing MUCH better--from 90 to 84 birds--and none lost since put on pasture. Rock on! We will be doing one more batch to finish the third week of September. Let us know if you want to fill up the freezer with delicious chicken before the snow flies.

Apiary
Lots of disappointment here, but also some hope. Really only one hive survived the winter and it is the feral swarm we caught last year. They are doing well and we actually gambled and split them last weekend to get back to two hives. Why only two? Well the two packages of bees we drove all the way to Jackson, MI to pick up did not work out. The first absconded after only a few days and due to illness in our house, we missed their swarm. The other packaged did not thrive and left that hive as well. It is possible the queen did not make it or they did not accept her. We did collect some honey following winter. We are really thinking of getting a mentor to assist us with this.

Front Square Foot Garden
Peas are getting picked, radishes are weird this year, garlic scapes have been plucked, asparagus was delicious, and strawberries are in full flush. Beans are growing and things are looking good overall. Diana just harvested some herbs and has them drying in the house in numerous bunches.

Back Garden (new addition!)
This one has been a work in progress. THE CLAY HERE IS RIDICULOUS! Last year we let it go, seeded it with cowpea, daikon radish, clover and various other things and ran the chickens on it. Afterward, we covered it in degraded hardwood mulch. We tarped it over winter (see the Mark Bernstein post) and it worked great! However, there was no significant change in soil structure. I got out the broadfork, A.K.A. The Wolverine, and went to town on the rows aerating them. This loosened the soil and we planted in the 30 inch rows, similar to Jean Martin Fortier, the Market Gardener.  

Thus far, weeds are coming up, but slowly. The plants are beginning to get over transplant shock and direct seedings are growing well.  A sprinkling of worm castings and drip irrigation line were the final touches. I am adding old paper feed bags in the rows and covering them with mulch to block weeds. This carbonaceous weedblock should break down and add to the garden structure. I plan to add some humic acid to get soil biology going and then play with other amendments (i.e. epsom salt, more mulch, etc.). We are taking a no-till approach to the back garden and will focus our soil structure adjustments on using The Wolverine.

As far as what we have planted you ask? Well we have too many tomatoes for sure, but they are in. Copious amounts of peppers, two types of zucchini, patty pan squash, two types of bush beans, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, dill, basil and also fennel. I have went hot and heavy on the squash this year. The pumpkin/melon patch should provide great pumpkins for the kids to carve and possibly sell, as well as watermelon and two types of cantaloupes. Then comes the random plantings. I have winter squash and other "viney" things all over the place. Using some of the edges of our property, I have planted a number of varieties to try: butternut, acorn, Sibley squash, long pie pumpkins and some others that I cannot remember the names. I'm sure if there is a bounty of squash, you will see pics in the fall.

Finally, we tried some potato towers.  While I don't intend on building them up, I made three fenced in mounds with straw and some soil and am trying to see if this works to make a good harvest of potatoes. It is an experiment, but we shall see.

Quite a bit going on as you can see. More chicken processing is happening in the near future as batch two comes to a close. Yes, we do process our own chickens. That is another blog post. Let's just say that Diana plays a mean chicken carcass trombone. Until next time everybody!

Trevor

So ends The EGGSperiment.  The comparisons are done and we have some notable findings:
1. Prettiest - Dandelion Hills
2. Cheapest - Standard Eggs
3. Best Color Yolks - Dandelion Hills
4. Biggest Yolks - Dandelion Hills
5. Thickest Yolks - Dandelion Hills
6. Most Transparent provider - Dandelion Hills
7. Happiest Chickens - Dandelion Hills
8. Best Over Easy Egg - Dandelion Hills
9. Freshest Egg - Dandelion Hills
10. Most Nutritious Egg - Dandelion Hills

Some of these are subjective, but I think that overall Dandelion Hills Eggs are better in most, if not all categories. Ok, so we aren't the cheapest. That is okay, because our product is better. A solid second place in most categories are the Free Range Eggs. They would be the ones I would buy next in line if I needed to purchase eggs at a store. Bust of The EGGSperiment - organic eggs. Not impressed at all!

I realize that not everyone can come get our eggs, but if interested let us know and we can get you on the list for some pronto. However, if you are outside of our zone, then I recommend finding someone that is raising hens similar to us or just stick with farm fresh eggs. If you see someone selling eggs at their house, go take a look around. If you like what you see, then buy from them. Eggs in stores are a perishable good, while eggs from farms could be better described as calorie storage vessels, considering you may get over a month of time from a fresh egg, especially if they are unwashed. I saw a Facebook post earlier in the week where a lady packaged up two dozen of her eggs for camping. No cooler needed. This is very handy and we have done the same. As long as an egg has never been washed or refrigerated, feel free to keep them at room temperature until use. Wash before use and enjoy!

So why $4.00 a dozen? Because they are worth it. Plus, we are in this to pay for our operation and our eggs. This is not just a hobby for us. Organic feed is expensive and don't forget that we spent hundreds of dollars on feed before we even got an egg. Plus, we are feeding Charlie the Rooster, who does a great job of protecting his ladies. Also, he had a 95% fertilization success rate from the eggs we chose for incubation. One rooster + 26 laying hens = well you do the math!  Other expenses that are necessary for a good operation include calcium grit so they can have "teeth" in their gizzard, materials for dustbaths, the money spent on the coop, electronet fencing, time costs, costs of the original chickens when purchased as chicks, watering methods, fodder feed and seed. All this goes into good eggs and happy hens. So keep that in mind when hesitating to pay for something that is of good quality in the food realm. Time, care, humane treatment, and good infrastructure all cost money and time and need to be reimbursed. If a person cares for animals and cares to be profitable, they will have to charge more than CAFO producers to be profitable.  

Final Note: I just heard that egg prices in some areas have increased due to the Avian Flu outbreak at CAFO egg houses. Standard eggs prices are increasing to $3.00 a dozen. Think of us if you are on the way to the grocery store for eggs. We are only a dollar more and way better. Come on out and we will introduce you to the girls that do all the work

Enjoy these final pics of the end of The EGGSperiment and the mess that I made.

Trevor

In case you missed the rest of the EGGSperiment series:
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-one
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-two
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-three
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-four

Okay, so this is all I got. While a blind taste test would have been better, this process may have to be in the sequel - The EGGSperiment 2: Oral Fixation . . . maybe I need to rethink the subtitle. I needed a picture for this post and posted the scrambled egg bonanza that The EGGSperiment created. More on this in the Epic Conclusion! 

Anyway, this post will not be going how I would have liked as I uploaded my videos to Vimeo, but Weebly does not play with Vimeo from my limited attention span. So I will be linking to the Vimeo videos and you will have to click and watch yourself. Also, something ate my organic egg video. Not a problem, since they are dead to us now as the most expensive egg with apparently no redeeming value other than a government certification that decrees them to be special. As Joel Salatin says - Thank you US-Duh! (i.e. USDA).

Now the main event!  Feel free to watch at your leisure . . . or now.  Now is good.

Note to PETA - Many eggs were harmed in the making of these videos and this blog.  I cracked them with authority and meticulously introduced them to the inferno that was a hot cast iron skillet. Just so you know

COMPARISON #6 - COOKED EGG

Standard Egg

Free-Range Egg

Dandelion Hills Egg

Again, I do not think we are missing anything without the organic egg. Regarding this process, some things that stand out: The runny yolk of the standard egg, not appetizing to me in comparison to the other two. The orangeness of the Dandelion Hills egg and the viscosity is apparent and seems to be better than the Free-Range egg, which is still a good egg in these categories. Nice yolk, nice color. Overall, not bad. 

CONCLUSION - Dandelion Hills appears to win out over the free-range eggs, but not by much. Standard eggs are just that, standard eggs - runny yolks and no redeeming value outside of price.

Outside of the videos, a short one today. Tomorrow I will summarize the conclusions and give an overview of the EGGSperiment. While I hoped to have done more, the inclined plane experiment was not very helpful as all eggs broke. Weight of egg, weight of shell, and weight of inner egg did not give me much either. Especially considering the fact that the other eggs were graded and sized and our eggs were not.  

Also, some of you may have heard the Avian Flu epidemic that has led to the massive culling of millions of birds in the Midwest.  This link demonstrates the dangers of CAFOs and big operations.  

Really?  You cannot figure out why this is different?  I guess its confusing since they are pretty much the same operations . . . chickens, eggs, oxygen.  I mean the concentration of animals shouldn't have anything to do with this.  Definitely not living conditions, that wouldn't play a role at all with living organisms jammed into battery cages creating a massively stressful environment that reduces immunity in the birds and provides a perfect cascade environment for a bacteria.  No, it can't be that.  Maybe it is a chemical imbalance!

Trevor

In case you missed the rest of the EGGSperiment series:
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-one
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-two
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-three
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-epic-conclusion

In part two, I trudge on and explore the date phenomenon of eggs and compare nutritional information to the best of my googleability while leaving the egg incineration and subsequent chemical analysis of the resulting ash for the professionals.  (A quick google-fu found out this is how we get nutritional analyses, I learned something today).  

COMPARISON #3 - DATE

Somehow, we have turned into eggophobes regarding the freshness of our eggs. Thank you date on the box for telling us when our eggs will explode. As I also blame Charlotte's Web and the rotten goose egg for this fear. Anyway, most of you know, these dates are "sell by" dates and not consume by dates . . . yet we treat them as the latter. Currently, we at Dandelion Hills take the no wash philosophy to heart. We keep our eggs on the counter and do not wash them. As noted in the prior hyperlink, washing takes their protective coating off. Remember, eggs are not food first, they are reproductive avenues for birds. Therefore, their primary focus is to propagate a species. They are lain with the bloom or protective coating that is more effective in keeping out bacteria than any other organic solution. Yes, there is dirt and some chicken "gold" on them, but you wash them just prior to use. All eggs in stores are refrigerated because they are washed and the refrigeration is necessary to reduce bacterial growth. So far, no Templeton Bombs have been created. If concerned, you can float test your eggs to see their shelf stability. Here are guidelines for float testing.  

Back to the date. You see on the box sides a few numbers, one is the sell by date. This is based upon the Julian date, which is the date that the eggs were packaged, usually only 1-2 days after they were gathered from the hens. The Julian date is the three digit number on the side of the box. Our eggs were one day old. Heck, my boys can tell you who laid them and some of these were still warm. For the "standard" eggs, the Julian date of 106 indicates these were packaged on April 16, 2015 - eight days prior to purchase and meaning they have a sell by date of 5/15/15. Not too bad.  Free Range Eggs have a Julian Date of 086 indicating packaging on March 27th, 2015 and sell by date of April 25, 2015 - which is the day after they were purchased. I guess I did them a favor.  Finally, the Organic Eggs have a Julian Date of 103, indicating packaging on April 13, 2015 and a more gracious May 25, 2015 sell by date.  

CONCLUSION #3 - Dandelion Hills eggs are fresher and overall better protected. They can be shelf stable at room temperature and may have up to six or seven weeks of shelf stability at the time you get them.  The other eggs have a shorter lifespan due to their washing, have to be refrigerated and have already been around for a week or longer due to shipping and processing. Dandelion Hills Eggs are best in this category.

COMPARISON #4 - Nutritional Value.
So is there a difference between the nutritional value of an egg or is an egg just an egg?

First, lets look at the suggested information on the cases that we purchased.

So what we see, is that we have no idea if these eggs differ because they use the same standard info for this size egg.  70 calories, 5 grams of fat, 165 mg of cholesterol, 6 grams of protein, etc. Refer to the pics for the rest of the info.  

Now how do we get this for Dandelion Hills Eggs?  Well, we could just say ours are the same, but when we get to the pictures you will see that this is not the case. Some farmers decided to give it a try and this analysis from 2007 of fourteen free-range flocks shows interesting information.
First, let's be clear - the free-range they studied are described here and it does fit what we do at Dandelion Hills (and most likely rules out The Wandering Hen eggs from what we know about the industry). Another thing, if they thought that what they did was different, they would pay for a nutritional analysis to show how much better their eggs are. What we can assume, not very scientific though, is that they do not think its worth the analysis, plus they have so many providers with variability.

The study provided this information:
• 1/3 less cholesterol - THIS IS A GOOD THING
• 1/4 less saturated fat - THIS IS A REALLY GOOD THING
• 2/3 more vitamin A - AGAIN, A GOOD THING
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids - BIGGER BRAINS!
• 3 times more vitamin E - GOOD GOOD GOOD
• 7 times more beta carotene - THIS HELPS YOU PROCESS ALL THAT VITAMIN A!

CONCLUSION #4

It appears from more research that these findings have been substantiated in other studies. So evidence suggests that eggs from hens that are handled in the manner in which we handle our girls are significantly more nutritious in key areas, including lower cholesterol, lower saturated fat and more omega-3 fatty acids. All in all, I'm giving this one to Dandelion Hills Eggs again. Call me impartial, but the other guys did not do much to fight me on this one.

Part Three comes tomorrow with a visual comparison. Many pictures will follow so clear your internet histories and defragment your hard drives to make tomorrow's blog post run smoothly.

Trevor

In case you missed the rest of the EGGSperiment series:
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-one
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-three
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-four
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-epic-conclusion

As a scientist , I have been fascinated with my turnaround on eggs. I went from a person who picked at his eggs when at the local diner for breakfast and focused on the other provisions on the plate. When it came to omelettes and eggs of the scrambled variety, forget it! No likey! Then we started raising our own eggs. I KNOW there is a difference, but the qualitative comments I used to describe them do not do them justice. Some may be psychological since I get to meet our providers every day, compared to how I know other eggs are produced. Since we hope to sell our eggs to those that are interested, I wanted to try to do this as scientifically as possible to prove and convince others why these eggs are better. So, without employing Sheldon Cooper or a mass spectrometer (I am aware that Sheldon is a physicist, but I'm sure he would be interested in the finer points of farm fresh eggs), I set forth to try and provide data to those interested in farm fresh eggs and wonder if it is worth it to pay some of the prices that we small farm operations charge.


PROLOGUE AND HYPOTHESIS - IDENTIFY THE BIAS!
So first and foremost, we have to note that I truly believe that our eggs are better than any you can get in a store. So in doing this, I have to try and be as fair as possible to not let the bias come out in the comparisons and analyses. While not being entered into a scientific journal, I still will try to respect the scientific method. Note:  Analyses were done on April 24, 2015. 

Over the next few days, I will publish my findings in the blog regarding my comparisons between different types of eggs on origination, price, date, nutritional analysis, the "eye" test, yolk viscosity and even cooking!

COMPARISON #1 - IDENTIFY THE PLAYERS AND ORIGINATION

1.  Dandelion Hills Eggs - Our eggs come straight from our happy hens. We have three types of chickens, Black Sex Link or Black Stars, Silver Laced Wyandottes and Easter Eggers. These breeds are primarily egg layers and the Easter Eggers are known for providing colorful eggs with minimal feed costs. We have already expanded the flock by adding young Cuckoo Marans, Welsummers, and our own "barnyard mix" chicks. We get a variety of egg colors, including blue, green, olive, brown, pink and the occasional white. With the addition of the Marans and Welsummers, we hope to broaden our egg rainbow with dark brown eggs. Our hens are given an A-frame rolling coop, see pic above, that follows them as we move them on pasture. They free-range in an electronet fenced area that is moved every 1-2 weeks. The electronet fence is more for their protection as it keeps predators at bay. They are given organic feed ration, sprouted barley and sunflower seed fodder and whatever they may find in the pasture.

2.  Standard Eggs - White eggs, very affordable, pretty much the "standard" egg.  However, my bias creeps out here in helping you understand why they are so cheap. These eggs are frequently "farmed" in concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs. Below is a video of what these apparently look like. While we have not visited a CAFO, this does appear to mimic what we have heard. Note the video was from some time ago, so I hope changes have been made.

Standard egg note: notice the lack of space, lack of light and the clipped beaks.  Not happy chickens!

3.  Free Range Eggs - these eggs come from Wandering Hen Eggs.  They advertise on their site that they inspect their contracted farmers to meet the criteria of 100% vegetarian fed, free to roam and no antibiotics and steroids.  One thing stands out . . . chickens are not vegetarians!  Click the hyperlink to learn more.  Anyway, free range and the name Wandering Hen suggests:

What You Might Think It Means: Hens playfully strolling and tumbling down green hills, home on the range.

What It Actually Means: Free-range means cage-free plus "access to the outdoors." But as Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute notes, this "access" typically means a few small doors that lead to a screened-in porch with cement, dirt or a modicum of grass. And often, Kastel says, industrial fans that suck ammonia out of the building create "hurricane winds" through the small doorways, "and the birds don't really want to walk through that."

Kastel claims that the vast majority of free-range birds in commercial egg facilities never actually go outside. So in most cases, he says, free-range means the same thing as cage-free. Unlike in poultry production, there's no government oversight of the term "free range" when it comes to eggs, so companies can more or less interpret it as they see fit.

4. Organic Eggs - These eggs come from Great Day Farms, which as far as I can gather is emphasis on "farms" and not the singular farm. So multiple contracted farms. Also, what does organic really mean:

What You Might Think It Means: Chickens with hemp bracelets and yoga pants change the sign on their coop from "Chicken Coop" to "Chicken Co-op," then begin composting.

What It Actually Means: "Organic" actually means something very specific, and egg producers who use it are subject to USDA regulation. Organic eggs must come from chickens that are free-range (cage-free plus access to the outdoors), fed organic feed (no synthetic pesticides) and receive no hormones or antibiotics.

But as was the case with "free-range" eggs, Kastel says "organic" eggs are usually coming from birds that live in crowded, industrial aviaries. His organization has created an egg scorecard that rates organic egg farms on a much wider variety of factors.

So as the NPR article points out, titles and names don't mean anything really as there is no real management of the titles outside of organic certification.

CONCLUSION #1:  

Without visiting the other three locations, I cannot make any clear distinctions. However, I would like to think that the origination of our eggs is better. Our hens are happy, they are not overcrowded, most have names (i.e. Golden Treasure, Noisy 1, Noisy 2, Rose, Sunny, Brownie, Sally...) and we set out to be transparent. You can come see our operation any time! Plus we post pics and blog articles on our processes. The other websites demonstrate a veil of secrecy. Who are their contractors and farms? How many chickens are housed together? What do their living arrangements look like? These places are unknown at best, ours is visible. I think that provided a sense of peace, so we'll give this one to Dandelion Hills. (Feel free to debate this on Facebook if you like. I am willing to accept that this conclusion comes with bias).

COMPARISON #2 - PRICE

We start with our eggs, which we sell for $4.00 a dozen.  They are the eclectically colored eggs in the yellow carton.
Dandelion Hills Egg - $4.00  =  33.3 cents an egg

A trip to the local Walmart left me with some good options:  
Standard Eggs -         $1.98  = 16.5 cents an egg
Free Range Eggs -     $3.86  = 32.2 cents an egg
Organic Eggs -           $4.68  = 39.0 cents an egg


(Note: Original calculations had tax included until my genius wife reminded me foodstuffs are not taxed in Michigan.  Good catch Diana!)

CONCLUSION #2 

No one can beat the "standard" egg in price. However, watch the video above on how they can sell them so cheap. When you buy these, you are supporting this operational format . . . the CAFO format. Other than this, the cheapest eggs come from us. Not to mention that if you prepay for five dozen at $20.00, we throw in a sixth dozen for free, bringing the price down to 27.8 cents an egg!  Nonetheless, the Standard Egg is the cheapest.

In the next part, I will release my findings on dates on the egg and nutritional information.  See you soon!

Trevor

In case you missed the rest of the EGGSperiment series:
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-two
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-three
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-part-four
http://dandelionhills.weebly.com/blog/the-eggsperiment-epic-conclusion

Winter provides a multitude of problems with livestock, and the process of "over-wintering" animals requires the expectation that they will "earn their keep" after the winter season has passed. With egg-laying chickens, this is expected, which is why we chose to over-winter. However, they lose their ability to forage for fresh greens and bugs, which leads them to be totally reliant on what we bring to them in the winter coop.

While we love our feed (locally grown and organic), we like to include variety and offering green options will help to keep the nutritional value of the eggs up in the stratosphere of goodness. Therefore, one has to grow the greens for them. (Editor's Obvious Note: Michigan winters are not a good time to grow greens outside for a variety of reasons.  Unless you have a cold frame - FUTURE PROJECT!).  

The best way to grow greens quickly is with a sprouting fodder system; however, we are just shy from being able to afford one of these. In case you were wondering, "just shy" means we are nowhere close to be able or willing to buy this.

As usual, just add good ole' fashion ingenuity--and a father who has a bunch of junk lying around.

The main factors for a fodder system are to have something that holds seeds, is slanted to direct water, and has holes to release water, as well as options to have multiple days of growth (5-8 days depending on what quality of fodder you desire).

My materials included the following: salvaged Christmas tree bowls (don't ask), a permanent marker, an awl, and an old shelf that was originally used to hold merchandise in a store and was provided by the distributor--so we didn't directly pay for it!  Other materials included my stove, tin snips, and 1" x 1" pieces of wood and pine strapping (about 1/2" in thickness).

I heated the awl and used that to put in three holes in one side of the bowl.  I marked this area with the marker to keep track of the drip zone. I then added the strips of wood in order to have a "Rube Goldberg" type of water path system. Side view below.

It's more visible in the pic below, but I used the tin snips to cut out part of the metal shelf to help encourage pure dripping to the bowl below.

Then I just alternated the flow down the shelf for a total of six days worth of growth. There were five days on the shelf as the bottom bowls are catchment bowls for the system water. The sixth day is actually the first day of the process--soaking the dry seeds to help induce germination. The last picture shows the current status of this project. I put the shelf up on cinder blocks to get a seventh day of growth (one day soak, six days growing) and have added a fluorescent light in front to get the sprouts green. Without this light, the sprouts and fodder did not photosynthesize. While still nutritious, they lacked some nutrition (chlorophyll) that helps turn our farm-fresh egg yolks that deep orange color.

We started off with rye seed, red and white wheat, barley, and sunflower seeds. The rye and sunflower seeds did pretty well, but I think the sunflower seeds needed another day. Wheat was not good--poor germination, which led to a stinky mess.  Barley is the champ!  

This is great since it is one of the most preferred fodders for livestock. Unfortunately, though, we have been unable to find a source for organic barley seed, but we are happy to know that barley is not grown with genetically-modified seeds. Future test trials will be done using organic black beans and organic spelt from Findlay Organics.

So what are the benefits?
1. Chickens love it!
2. We love the eggs!  They are noticeably different and those yolks have regained  their "orangeness."
3. We are taking 12 oz. of feed every day and turning it into 48 oz. of fodder, with our best day producing six times more feed than we initially started.  Obviously, this can save money in feed costs.
4. It is much healthier for the chickens.
5. It keeps me busy and is nice to grow things in the winter.

What are the problems?
1. Ideally we should be multiplying food by six times, not four.  There is still more work to do to fine tune the system.
2. The seeds may not be getting watered often enough.
3. Humidity is important and it is low in our furnace-heated house.
4. Some of the levels are off on the shelves. If you look at the picture the shelves with 1" x 1" transitioning to the pine strapping have a better angle than the 1" x 1" to shelf angle. I think this may be causing water to go too fast through those.
5. This will not produce enough fodder for future animals.

So while we reap the benefits, it is back to the drawing board to try to increase the scale and efficiency.

We will likely implement the system below in the summer due to its simplicity. Give it a look, it's pretty simple.

Total Cost: Donated shelf, donated bowls, donated wood, zip strips (already had), cinder blocks (already had).  While I can't say free, I didn't spend anything to make it.

Trevor

Great question, thanks for asking. Recently we had some very chilly nights, but all of our research said to stay away from heat lamps to decrease dependency of the hens on that added heat. As you may remember, the hens spent the summer in the pen shown below. We had an electronet fence around this rolling coop all summer to keep them from roaming. A few clipped wings and getting into the habit of letting the hens out about 60-90 minutes before dusk to roam and forage helped them stay put throughout the day as well.

However, this was not going to be the winter option and as the shed was being built, it was necessary to come up with a winter coop solution.  I wanted to build one out of pallets, but other building projects took time away from that option.  So we decided to go with a carport from Harbor Freight.

We staked it down really well with additional stakes so that it could handle a bit more wind. It is of note, that the carport was not recommended for high winds and snow. So we did our best and hoped for the best. It was placed in front of the new shed to help block the direct north wind. We put a fifty foot roll of six-foot fence from the middle of the front to the back left corner to provide a run. After this, we dumped all of our garden waste in there for them to pick through until freeze. Now, the stainless steel feed cans are near the front middle of the door blocking that area so the hens cannot get out. The right zipper is how we get in and the left zipper is the entrance into the run. We keep that open during the day and clamp it on the fence. In the upper middle of the carport is what looks like a port hole on a boat.

Chickens need ventilation in their coop so we cut a hole in the tarp and placed a piece of old screen there. The rim is a bucket top with the center cut out.  There is another inside and we screwed those together to sandwich the screen in place. We only did one and it was pretty good. We are ready to add another if the ventilation is not good enough, which would be apparent by the fumes in the coop, condensation on the inside of the tarp and/or or frost.

This is the inside looking toward the back. Since the carport is not snow rated, we have a handy broom in there, but also built some braces just in case. These doubled as a place to put extra roosts. These are the primary roosts and have about 16-17 of the hens and Charlie the rooster on them each night. The back is a steel frame that my dad gave us and is used to hold some 2x4s for back roosts. We have a healthy amount of straw as a base and keep adding more straw or pine shavings to it every week or so. The black tarp on the sides, and white tarp on the back is discarded lumber tarp I salvaged from the dumpster at a lumber yard. This is relatively windproof and was used to block drafts from under the carport. The netting on the back is actually poly-fence and is just there to stop chickens from falling behind and getting trapped between the two levels.

This is the back looking forward. These were our bucket nesting boxes, which they don't use. They did initially, but they found a better place and so we let them lay there instead. Occasionally, there is an egg in these. We think it is when "Mama" the black sex-link hen is sitting on eggs and won't let anyone else in the nesting spot. We aren't letting her go broody just yet, but we will let her in the spring if she is still interested. That could be really cool. There are straw bales in front of the door for draft protection too. We covered them in lumber tarps to stop the chickens from tearing them apart.

Overall, we are very happy with our winter coop solution. It gets cold in there, but we haven't lost any hens yet and have not added any additional heating. It warms up during the day (earlier today it was at 43 degrees) and then cools off at night. They don't go in the run much anymore so we have moved their food and water into the coop. There is generally no odor, and if there is, we add more litter and it improves right away. The extra carbon from the wood shavings and straw help to mediate the odor. We lose a few eggs to freezing, but "Mama" is our savior there as she is often keeping them warm for us until we collect them. We can't complain, as we are getting 10-15 eggs a day still from 26 hens in the middle of winter--with no supplemental heat or lighting. Not too shabby!.

If you are interested in eggs, just give us a call or contact us via email.  We sell our "beyond-organic" eggs for $4 a dozen and if you prebuy five dozen ($20) we'll throw in an extra half dozen or so.  If you do this, just let us know when you want some and we'll get them ready for you.

Look forward to a future post in which I demonstrate how our hens are getting fresh green sprouts in the dead of winter. Let's say that it instantly made a huge difference in the egg quality.

Trevor