The elderly hens that my daughter is caring for have given us 4 eggs so far. I used all 4 eggs in a Denver frittata, basically a Denver omelette baked in the oven.
The yolks were darker colored and more mounded once cracked into a bowl, as compared to grocery store eggs. My husband thought the eggs tasted richer. We all noticed how yellow the egg part of the frittata was.
The hen with the issue appears to be improving slightly, without any extra care from my daughter. Between my daughter and I we know exactly zilch about hens. Thank goodness for the computers, both for finding information and for the ability to email the hens' owner while they're traveling.
Last night's dinner was also exciting, but for a completely different reason. Yesterday was my husband's birthday. In our house, the birthday person gets to choose what we're doing to celebrate, including what's for dinner and dessert on the birthday. My husband chose Mexican food and a Rice Crispy Treat cake for dessert. Yesterday wasn't the big celebration. It was just the four of us. Our big joint birthday celebration will be this weekend, with our son and daughter-in-law joining the four at home to celebrate both my husband's and my birthday. My husband took time off work for part of the day yesterday. What he really wanted to do was go to Value Village, then play a board game in the afternoon/evening. We are so easy to please in our household.
I've been getting the vegetable garden planted this week. Monday I seeded the carrots. Yesterday I planted the kale seedlings that I started indoors. And today I planted the cabbage and Brussel sprout seedlings (also started indoors). I will need to keep an eye on the garden this year. I saw 3 rabbits on our property this morning. Although some of the garden beds have wire fencing, a couple of them do not.
Have you had the opportunity to eat very fresh eggs before? What's been your impression of fresh eggs compared to grocery store eggs?
A number of years ago, when my financial situation was different, I had the luxury of buying farm fresh eggs from a local producer at the farmers market. They were exactly as you described, and I enjoyed them greatly. I signed up to get emails from that vendor, and still receive their newsletter. But their eggs are out of my price range now.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, enjoy the fresh eggs!
Hi Tina,
DeleteThank you, we really enjoyed the 4 eggs last night. The chickens left 2 eggs today. My daughter wants to share these with the rest of the family. So we will hopefully have another egg dinner soon.
Perhaps someday there will be the opportunity for you to have those vendor's eggs again, maybe for a special occasion or treat for yourself.
I raise chickens even though I don't care for eggs other than baking. I just enjoy the chickens. However, my children and grandchildren love them. I supply any of them who want eggs. When my oldest son and family went back to Germany, they had a hard time finding good eggs until they found some at a farmer's market. My granddaughter said, "They are good, but not Oma Judy style." Best compliment of my life!
ReplyDeleteAwe! That is a wonderful compliment! :)
DeleteHi Judy,
DeleteI can understand how you would just enjoy having chickens. They're entertaining to watch.
Your hens must be well-cared for to produce such delicious eggs. What a sweet thing your granddaughter said.
We have fresh eggs from time to time when friends gift us with some, although it's been a while. I can't say that I noticed that they were that different, but I don't think I was paying attention. It sounds like you had a real treat, though.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteA couple of other differences you may notice about the eggs gifted to you by friends and inexpensive grocery store eggs -- the shells are harder to crack in these home-grown eggs and the whites are more cloudy, which is an indication the eggs are very fresh. When I began buying the cheapest eggs at Walmart a few years ago I noticed the shells seemed very thin and easy to crack. I also would sometimes get a yolk that was more lemon yellow and not so golden. As for taste, I'm not sure I can taste something different. My husband has had fresh eggs before and says he can taste something richer about them.
When egg prices were sky high a few weeks/months ago we drove by an egg farm stand on the way to our son's house. His eggs are always good and fairly priced and those eggs also have rich egg yolks. They even come completely with a little straw and dirt on the eggs! Every time we drive by we like to see what he has. Many times he is sold out but lately he has an abundance!
ReplyDeleteAlice
How exciting, Alice! I'm glad you can get farm-fresh eggs at a fair price in your area. This would be the part of the season when eggs should be in abundance, as the days are growing longer. I'm going to have to look around the next time I'm in the farm area near us.
DeleteHappy birthday to your husband. My husband is also easy to please when it comes to celebrations. It's a great character trait. :)
ReplyDeleteI have had fresh eggs before, but like L&L, I didn't notice much difference, which makes me wonder if different kinds of chickens produce eggs of varying quality. Or maybe I don't have a discerning palate (that's more likely!). I bet your fritatta was greatly enjoyed.
Hi Kris,
Deletethank you for the birthday wishes on behalf of my husband!
So, as I said to Live and Learn, I can't tell the taste difference, but my husband can. Perhaps it's a matter of knowing what to be tasting for. I was actually afraid the frittata would be too egg-y. But it wasn't. It was delicious. What chickens eat affects their egg quality. So in that respect, different chickens will produce eggs of varying quality.
Happy Birthday to your husband!
ReplyDeleteFresh eggs, well, we've had chickens, ducks, quail, and are now back to ducks. I don't necessarily notice a huge difference in taste between the species, aside from duck eggs being 'richer', but restaurant eggs usually are a let-down in color and taste after being used to home-raised. Yolk color is often connected with diet. If they get to free-range in a yard or are fed greens, the yolks will be deeper in color, but I've noticed that a lot of the commercial poultry feeds are now adding marigold extract and such to make them yellower as well. I'd be interested to know if that actually increases nutrition in any way or just gives the owners the illusion of the eggs being 'healthier'.
Cat, sorry, I was sleepy when I was skimming other responses, and missed the middle part of your post, about free-range/greens-fed chickens. Thanks for posting that. My husband just assumed all home-raised eggs would be like the good ones we'd had before, and was a little non-plussed when I showed him the less-appetizing local ones. Thanks, also, for the part about marigold extract. Never heard of that before. Hmmmm... SEEMS like it would just be a cosmetic thing, which seems a little disingenuous; but I'll definitely be asking my chicken-raising buddies what they've heard about that, now! Have a great day, Cat. Sara
DeleteHi Cat,
DeleteI'll pass on the birthday wishes to my husband. Thank you on his behalf!
Now that's disappointing about the marigold extract. I looked up marigold extract and it does have phytonutrients and flavonoids, so there's that at least.
Even with the marigold extract causing yellower yolks, backyard eggs are most of the time fresher than grocery store eggs. If any of an egg's nutrients degrade with age, the fresher the better, I'd think.
Thanks for your comments on raising ducks, chickens, and quail for eggs. This little chicken-sitting job is pushing me closer and closer to keeping hens myself.
I fully agree that the fresher the better. And I also love knowing that our critters are well-cared for and treated with kindness, even though keeping them doesn't necessarily save us money. Right now, I have an abundance of greens growing in the garden as well as lambs quarter weeds, so I pick them a big bunch once or twice per day to supplement their feed.
DeleteHi, Lili. Love your husband's birthday wishes. Sounds like a man of our own hearts around here, like Kris said. :) Many happy returns to him!
ReplyDeleteI've had home-raised eggs from friends intermittently from childhood, and mostly have noticed what you said. Much darker orangey color, much firmer yolks, rich flavor. We are fortunate to have enough in our budget to often buy Eggland's Best eggs, which also tend to taste richer, with more colorful yolks and firmer yolks than some of the cheaper brands we get here; so we try to do that when they're available. In our low-income county, lots of people have chickens and sell eggs, both at stands and in local stores. DH likes to support the locals, so he used to pick some up at the general store, auto parts, etc. But we got several dozens in different places/different growers that were super-pale-yellow yolks, sort of flat and breakable, with not much flavor at all. (Scrambled, it looked like I used half eggwhites and half whole eggs. Very unappetizing!) I wonder if it's a matter of what you feed them, based on what chicken-raising friends have said. So, I told him not to buy from unknown folks, anymore; but we accept gratefully and enjoy fully when our friends gift us with a dozen of theirs, in thanks for our families' friendship and help to one another. Sara
Hi Sara,
DeleteThe hen's diet does make a difference. It sounds like there's quite a bit of variance in how folks raise their hens. How disappointing with those eggs that were paler. At least you can get good quality eggs either with Eggland's Best or from reliable friends.
We try to do what we can to support local enterprises in our area, too. It;'s a way to help a neighbor is how I look at it.
My mom had chickens, then I had them for 24 yrs, so I am very familiar with fresh eggs. I don’t eat eggs, but a couple of my kids swear that there’s a difference in taste. My son and dil miss them so much they keep thinking they want chickens. My son has asked me twice if they could keep them here and come daily to take care of them, to which I quickly and firmly say NO. We all know how that would go lol.
ReplyDeleteDiane
Hi Diane,
DeleteI laughed at your son's proposal! I could just hear my own kids make a similar proposal. But what a compliment on your hen-keeping!