In about 2 weeks, our new farm will be home to over 100 pastured egg-laying chickens, and we couldn't be more excited about it!
We've done our homework to find out what we have to do to legally sell our products and are pleased that we now have a marketing plan.
Basically, eggs have to be refrigerated up until the point of sale. Luckily, we're in a pretty handy location for people to stop by and pick up a dozen. We plan to make it even easier for customers by having eggs available in a mini-fridge on the front porch. You won't even have to feel like you're interrupting us -- just drop your $3 in the jar and grab a dozen farm-fresh eggs!
We are also toying around with a small-scale CSA so that local folks could sign up for once-a-week delivery. (I'm open to suggestions about how this ought to work.) So long as the homes we're delivering to are close enough to our home/refrigerator, we're cleared to do this.
Additionally, I can arrange to bring eggs to the many folks I see throughout the normal course of my day (school, dance, sports practices, etc.).
For now, we plan to reuse as many store-bought cartons as possible. So long as we make a clear attempt to black out the previous markings on the cartons, this is acceptable practice. Additionally, we plan to affix our own sticker, claiming the eggs as ours.
That said . . . ALL DONATIONS OF USED EGG CARTONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!! Drop them off on my doorstep, gather them for me in your classroom, bring them in big bags to me at church! Seriously, we need them all!
So, to recap:
1. We need egg cartons ASAP.
2. We'll have eggs available in a couple weeks.
3. Do you have any thoughts on the weekly delivery idea?
I have a question about your chickens. What do you do with them when they are finished laying? I read somewhere that chickens only lay eggs for a few years, so what happens then? Do you eat them? Just curious. I read an article about the urban farming craze and how animal rescue organizations have had a huge influx of abandoned chickens from people who either don't want the responsibility or don't want chickens that aren't laying anymore. Obviously, this isn't what you would do, but it made me wonder what you do with your layers when they are past their prime, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteYes, urban farming has made this a popular question since many backyard farmers are unprepared to face the realities of the killing cone. We are on the cusp here of having to deal with this as a few of our first birds are reaching "retirement age." We do plan to slaughter ours. The birds who fed us during their lifetimes will feed us in their death as well. Besides not having the stomach for it, there are a couple other reasons farmers may not choose this route. Laying chickens' bodies are very different from meat chickens', who are bred to grow large, meaty breasts. Laying hens are bred to be productive, meaning that more of their intake goes toward egg production. In other words, they tend to be small and their meat "hardly worth the effort" of processing. Additionally, chicken meat is most tender when it is young. Older chickens have such tough meat that it is really only suitable for the stew pot
DeleteIt cut me off. . . We don't plan to run a chicken retirement village, so they must be done away with. Most farmers would just kill them and throw them to the refuse pile. Though it yields little meat and that meat has limited use, we still plan to slaughter and process ours for the table. After the years of service the chicken has provided us, it seems the fitting thing to do. :)
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