Cracking the code of egg carton labels, Part 1

I don't know about you, but before we got our egg dealer's license several years ago, I was frankly baffled by the various terminology of egg carton labeling. Although some of these labels are periodically re-defined , some things remain consistent; for example, egg sizes. What's so confusing about Large and Extra Large? Well, nothing, once you know what it means.

Egg sizes are determined by weight. The standard Large egg is 2 ounces. However, the difference between one egg size and the next is 1/4 ounce; thus, a Large egg is actually anywhere from 2 to 2-1/4 ounces, an Extra Large egg is between 2-1/4 and 2-1/2 ounces, and so on. Sometimes, because of the varying shapes of eggs, one egg might appear to be larger than another, when they are both the same weight. So when we are sorting our eggs by size, we weigh each egg to determine the size.

By the way, you cooks and bakers out there probably already know that most recipes calling for eggs specify the Large size egg. Now that you know a Large egg is 2 ounces, you'll know what to do when you want to use different size eggs: Measure the eggs by weight until you have the equivalent weight of the eggs called for in the recipe.

OK, on to egg grades. I had not the slightest idea what this meant. Simply, it is an indication of freshness, Grade AA being the freshest. How is this measured? It is determined by the size of the air space at the wide end of the egg; this is easiest to see when candling (shining a bright light through the wide end of the egg). Why? Because the egg shell is porous, and over time the contents gradually evaporate. So, the smaller the air space, the fresher the egg.

With commercial eggs, the catch is that this standard of freshness is applied when the eggs leave the place of production, not when they arrive at your grocery store. You can't tell just by looking at the eggs, right?

Let's go over one more label term this time: Free range. This term is unfortunately not as clear, definition-wise, as it might appear. Technically, for eggs to be labeled "free range," the hens must be allowed "access to the outdoors." What does that mean? (My husband David suggested that the hens are watching the Nature Channel while pumping out eggs.) In reality, it means very little. A commercial operation can comply with this requirement by simply installing one or two very small doors somewhere on an outside wall of their 20,000-hen facility, and making sure the door is open at least part of the day. Honestly, now, how many of those hens, in a place that huge, ever have a chance of even seeing the door? And even if they do go outside, who's to say there is grass out there?

The main problem with the term "free range" is that you can't know for sure. Your eggs might have come from birds who spent part of their day outdoors, but you simply have no way of knowing. It seems to me that without tighter definitions and oversight, "free range" isn't much more than an effective marketing tool. You'd expect to pay more for "free range" eggs, right? But what are you paying for?

Once again, it comes down to this: If you don't raise your own chickens, the best way to know that you're getting truly fresh eggs, from birds that have been treated humanely, is to visit the farm where the eggs are produced. Observe the operation. Talk to the farmer. You'll not only return home with eggs you can believe in, you'll establish a relationship that benefits you, the farmer, and your whole community.

In Part 2, I will talk about a few more egg carton labels, including one of my personal favorites (in a dubious sort of way): Vegetarian diet. Stay tuned, and please post your comments and questions.

Egg production slowing down; could the hens be molting already?

Well, this is interesting. We've noticed a slow but steady decrease in our chicken egg production recently. True, we did lose four young hens to bobcats earlier in July, but we don't believe this alone accounts for the slowdown. We've also had several hens who seem fairly persistently broody, and as you may know, when a hen goes broody she temporarily stops laying. We keep taking the hens off the nests, and don't let eggs pile up under them, hoping to get them out of mother-hen mode. I always feel a little guilty when I take eggs away from a broody hen; the poor things just want to hatch some babies. Then there's that pathetic sort of whimpering noise they make, which doesn't help a bit.

Still, our guess at this point as to why the chickens aren't laying quite up to par (the ducks are still laying quite well -- we get 8-10 eggs per day from our 10 laying ducks) is they may be going through an early molt. Certainly a number of chickens, as well as the adult turkeys, look as if they're molting. Generally our experience has been that the birds molt in mid- to late fall, say October or early November. I wonder if it has anything to do with the unusually cold, wet spring and summer we've had this year?

Those of you with chickens, what is your hens' egg production like this summer? Generally the longer days of late spring and early summer mean the highest production rate, although unusually hot weather can cause hens to slow down or stop laying briefly. I remember the egg laying dropped significantly last fall, following a series of bobcat attacks; stress can certainly be a factor. Anyone else notice signs of early molting?

Frankly, I hope we're wrong about the molt. We don't want our egg supply to drop too low during the summer; this is the busy season for the Alder Wood Bistro, and they buy nearly all our eggs. Our teenagers (the 10-week-old New Hampshire pullets) won't start laying till probably early November, so we'll just hope for the best. Thank goodness the ducks are still going strong.

Speaking of eggs, I have been getting more questions lately about what all the labels on egg cartons actually mean. In my next post, I will try to define these terms for you and clarify some (to me) confusing points.

Breaking news: Writer surfaces after a month away from her blog

...and the blogosphere breathes a collective sigh of relief. Seriously, though, I feel like it's been more like a year. This was not a planned sabbatical or vacation or even garden-variety procrastination. Actually, I cut my hand badly several weeks ago, and it is more or less immobilized in a bulky, truly uncomfortable splint. I'm supposed to keep it on at all times except to shower, until the end of the month; then I re-visit the orthopedist to find out whether the darn thing will require surgery.

By the  way, this happened 8 days before David was scheduled to be out of town for a week. I had been looking forward to a week to myself on the farm, knocking out query letters and other writing tasks in between bobcat patrol and collecting eggs. Several generous and kind family members spent part of the week up here, helping me out with things best done with two hands.

The good news is that I cut my left hand and I am right-handed; on the other hand (sorry), for the moment I can only type one-handed. The embarrassing thing is that I seem to type almost as fast with one hand as I used to do with two hands. This is frustrating, as I have recently been working hard on improving my typing speed. Oh, well! At least I am already in the habit of writing my drafts longhand. And now that David is back and handling most of the chores, I am throwing myself into my writing with a burst of pent-up energy.

Anyway, let's see, what else is new around here? It has been an unusual July weather-wise. Generally here in the Rain Shadow, July and August can be relied upon to be warm (sometimes hot) and dry. For the past 3 years we've had a week or so of 90-degree-plus temperatures in July; this year, we've had 2 (yes, TWO) days where it panted and groaned its way to around 80. We have had a few other mostly sunny days, but more days like today: cool, foggy, with rain showers at times. While it's allowing me to spend less time watering in the garden, it's not doing much for my beans and tomatoes.

I identified a new (to me) bird a few days ago, a Northern Goshawk. (Unfortunately, I observed it in the act of killing one of our 8-week-old New Hampshire chicks.) This brings to 64 the number of wild bird species we've identified on our property. With all the second-growth woods around us, and our two large ponds that attract lots of migratory waterfowl and other birds, it's like living in our own private nature preserve.

Thanks for hanging in there these past few weeks while I've been offline. I'm back now, and if not better than ever, at least I'm a more careful typist. Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Following up on the Mother Earth News Fair

Ebony and ivory: Dark Cornish hen, surrogate mom to a White Midget turkey.

If you missed the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup last weekend, I sure hope you have a good excuse! Seriously, though, what an amazing event to enjoy and participate in. Thanks so much to all of you who came to hear my presentation on raising turkeys; this was a new experience for me, and you helped make it a surprisingly easy debut. I appreciate your kind feedback, as well as your questions. I had a lot of fun and learned some things myself.

I'd also like, once again, to thank Mother Earth News, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Storey Publishing and all the other sponsors of the Fair. You all put on a terrific event, and I truly feel privileged to have been part of it.

Speaking of questions, I realized after I left the Fair on Sunday that I had failed to answer a question from a gentleman who attended my talk that day. He asked two questions, and I'm pretty sure I only answered the first one (blush). The question was, do we have to round up the turkeys or herd them into their roost area at night? In general, we don't; like most of the other birds, once it's starting to get dark, they all head for their respective coops and roosts. The only real exceptions are  1) when we're trying to close them up early because we're going out that evening; and 2) when the birds are young or are being moved from one coop to another, it usually takes a few days for everyone to get used to the new location. However, although they will all put themselves to bed if we just wait long enough, our oldest White Midget tom always hangs back for a while; he really likes one of us to walk him down to the roost. The ducks also tend to wait around for us to walk them in. The chickens are all very good about going to roost; they're usually in a good hour before it gets dark, and all we have to do is close the coop doors.

Several of you asked me about buying hatching eggs or young Midget White turks from us. As three of our four breeding hens were killed this spring, for this season anyway, we won't have any eggs or turks to sell. If you'd like to be on the list for when eggs or young birds are available, feel free to contact me and let me know.

We managed to rescue some partially-incubated eggs from one of the turkey hens that was killed, and put them under a broody Dark Cornish hen. She hatched four turks, but unfortunately three of them didn't make it. Our one remaining baby is about four weeks old now and growing really well (see photo above); we're pretty sure it is a female, which is good news. 

If you're interested in raising turkeys, but need more information, a good resource is the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. They have very good materials available from their web site, and can also be contacted by telephone or e-mail with your questions.

For detailed information about the different turkey breeds, you can't do much better than get a copy of Carol Ekarius' book, "Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds." It is a beautiful book with amazing color photos, as well as excellent information on many kinds of poultry. In my opinion, this is a book that should be on every poultry enthusiast's bookshelf, and well worth reading. I was fortunate enough to meet Carol at the Fair, as well as several people from Storey Publishing, and I encourage you to check out Storey's complete booklist; they offer an impressive selection of titles covering just about any sustainable-living topic you can think of.

Again, if you couldn't make it to the Mother Earth News Fair last weekend, please do try to attend one of the two additional fairs later this year. Check the Mother Earth News web site for more information.

There's still time (a little) to come to the Mother Earth News Fair today

OK, people, listen up: It's a beautiful day, and you need to spend at least part of it at the Mother Earth News Fair at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. (See the Mother Earth News Fair web site for more information, directions, etc.) It is amazing! Several hundred exhibits, including animals, solar panels, grain grinders, book publishers, food vendors, lots of different stages with speakers covering a range of sustainable-living topics, even a stage and activities for kids.

I had a great time yesterday, talking about raising turkeys. What a wonderful audience; if you were there, thank you so much for coming! It was actually a new experience for me, and I truly enjoyed sharing our experiences and answering your questions. I've already met quite a few terrific people, including authors Carol Ekarius and Ann Larkin Hansen, and watercolor artist Carolyn Guske and her husband. This weekend is going by much too quickly!

I will be doing a reprise of my presentation, "Turkeys aren't Chickens: The basics of raising turkeys," today at 4:00 PM, on the ALBC stage in the Centennial Building. I'd like to thank the folks at Mother Earth News, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and sponsors such as Storey Publishing for this incredible opportunity; I'm loving every minute of it.

We're all more interested these days in finding ways to live better while consuming fewer of our own resources, as well as those of the world at large. The Mother Earth News Fair is simply overflowing with exhibits, classes, fun activities, gifts and all kinds of educational materials designed to streamline our efforts to improve our lives and environment. Come on down, and bring the whole family; it's only about a 45-minute drive from Seattle. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Turkeys aren't chickens: Presentation on raising turkeys coming up

 Midget White hen with newly-hatched turks.

This weekend, I'm farm-sitting for my sister in Poulsbo, about an hour's drive from our place. While the change of scene (and routine) is oddly vacation-like, it's definitely a working weekend: I'm making final preparations for a 45-minute presentation on raising turkeys.

Mark your calendars: The Mother Earth News Fair is June 4-5, at the Puyallup Fairgrounds south of Seattle. I will be speaking at the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy's stage on both days of the Fair. If you live around here, or will be in the area that weekend, please try to come. The list of presenters, speakers and exhibitors is truly impressive; check the Mother Earth News web site for topics, schedules and maps.

My presentation will be an overview of raising turkeys, starting with basic questions. For example, I think it's important to ask yourself why you want to raise them. (You'd be surprised how few people think about this before they bring the cute little day-olds home.) If you think you're going to save money on your holiday bird by raising one yourself, frankly, you probably won't. Turkeys also have different nutritional needs than chickens; they are bigger birds, so housing can be an issue; should they be kept in pens or is it best to free-range? How much time and money, realistically, do you have to put into raising turkeys?

These are just a few of the questions that I will be addressing at the Fair. Some we thought of before we got our first turkeys, others we learned through experience that we should have asked questions sooner.

We love our turkeys, and truly enjoy their often quirky behavior and mannerisms. If you're even a little bit interested in raising turkeys, I'd love to see you at the Mother Earth News Fair. It promises to be a weekend of learning opportunities for anyone seeking ways to live more sustainably. Do plan to come if you can!

Pot Pies and Egg Money Premise #4: Have some fun!

In case you were wondering, these PPEM Premises are not being shared in any particular order. From our point of view, they are all of equal importance, since as a group, they summarize our perspective on both farming and life (not that you can separate the two). I'm generally just writing about whatever happens to come to my mind at blog update time.

So, back to Premise #4. It's quite simple, actually: Have fun! Yes, that's right, HAVE FUN. The underlying goal of all that we are doing here is to create a life, and a farm system, that are sustainable, after all. And frankly, if it's not fun at least some of the time, who would want to keep doing it? If your initial reaction to this is to ask why one should have to consciously plan to have fun, read back over some of my earlier posts. It's not just that we're busy; who isn't these days? Our experience has been that it is too easy to get in a rut of just getting through today and hoping for some rest before getting up again at first light tomorrow. So we make a point of finding ways to bring some fun to the party.

Having fun isn't confined to off-work hours.The first year we had chickens, for example, we started a tradition of Happy Hour with the Chickens. During that summer, we had a couple of lawn chairs in the chicken yard, and we would take drinks and some kind of treat for the birds and sit down there among them for awhile before we tucked them in for the night. It was lovely to relax for an hour or so and enjoy the Chicken Channel. Some of the bolder birds would jump up on our laps, depending on how yummy they judged that day's treats. They seem to be partial to things like organic ginger snaps.

It also makes a difference, to me at least, to vary details of the routine chores. Even reversing the order in which I make the rounds to pick up eggs seems to make it more fun. I have no idea why, but who cares? And it's not as if these chores ever feel particularly tedious anyway; between indoor and outdoor tasks, I find I get plenty of variety on any given day, provided I put some effort into planning my schedule.

Of course, there are plenty of ways to have fun outside the work day. It's good to have non-farm-related hobbies and interests, and getting involved in your community usually offers many choices for you social butterflies. We like to watch movies, and we eat out fairly often at the Alder Wood Bistro, among other diversions.

I could go on (and as you know, I usually do), but I will leave it there, in the hope that you will use your imagination and start thinking up your own ways to regularly add fun to your life. What could be more fun than going to bed each night actually looking forward to getting up the next day and doing it all again?