What Does it Take to get Fresh Local Eggs on Your Table??

You may have been wondering what the process is and why it costs $5 or more for a dozen farm fresh eggs. I’ll give you the quick version here, but if you want to come to the farm and see for yourself, I’d be happy to give you the nickel tour.

Let’s start with a baby chick. Now, unless you’re a specially trained chicken-sexer, you never know if the chick will grow up to be a rooster or a hen until about 4-6 weeks of age, sometimes longer. And if it’s a rooster, well, you’re not going to get any eggs! You got a 50/50 chance.

During the first several weeks, chicks must be fed a high protein chick starter and watered at least twice a day, have clean bedding and have a temperature controlled environment (heat lamps). Our chicks live in a large plastic container in the house for the first few weeks until graduating to a brooder out in the garage, where they have more room to grow. After a few weeks indoors, everyone is anxious to get them out! They create a lot of dust and they can be a bit noisy.

Can you guess what happens as these birds grow? They poop - a lot!

They stay in the garage brooder for the next 3-5 weeks where they are fed and watered twice a day, get clean bedding and remain under the heat lamp.

At about 6 weeks of age, they grow out of the garage brooder and they graduate to a pen in the barn. Same routine here: feed, water, clean the poop.

The chicks live in the barn pen for another 4-6 weeks, where they observe the rest of the flock, but are separated so the big guys don’t pick on the new littles. More feed, water, cleaning of the poop.

Are you seeing a pattern here?? Feed, water, clean the poop.

Finally, when the chicks are about 4+ months old and almost the size of the rest of the flock, they can graduate from chicken daycare and join the rest of the grownups in the barnyard! In the barnyard they are free ranged on pasture eating grass, bugs and worms, which makes those beautiful dark yolks we all love. And of course, water and clean the poop from the nighttime coops.

In addition to our table scraps, we connect with local restaurants and markets to pick up their extra veggies and bread to feed as a treat to those hard-working ladies. This helps give them a variety of nutrients, which is passed on through their eggs.

Did you know that chickens are not vegetarian? They are omnivores and will eat almost every type of meat - yep, even chicken!

All that until the hen is about 6 months old, when she starts to lay eggs.

Yay! We got eggs! Then the chore list goes: feed, water, clean the poop, collect eggs, wash eggs, package eggs, store eggs in refrigerator until sold. We have 2 extra refrigerators that run 24/7 to store eggs in. Those eggs are rotated so we don’t end up having eggs sit in our fridge too long before going home with you.

Now, we prefer not to wash our eggs, as they will last longer and we can leave them out on the counter for a couple weeks. This leaves the natural bloom coating on the outside, which prevents bacteria from entering the egg.

BUT since… our TN bureaucratic government thinks they know better than mother nature, they require eggs for sale to be washed and refrigerated. I despise the government telling me how to raise, acquire, and eat my own food! But that’s a topic for another blog.

People who prefer local, homegrown food call, text or place an online order for eggs. We return the call or text to set up an on-farm pickup time. We also pack dozens of chicken and duck eggs, farm raised chicken meat and microgreens into a cooler and drive them to the farmer’s market. There we set up a booth and spend the day getting to meet amazing people who enjoy fresh food.

The farmer spends a lot of time and physical labor, builds brooders, purchases feed, heat lamps, feeders and waterers, packaging, labels, marketing, signage, etc. The list can go on, you get the idea.

So, in order for you to get that delicious, nutritious pasture raised egg, there’s a lot of things your farmer has to do first. By the time you add up all the costs, your local small farmer is only making a few bucks per dozen eggs.

There are statistics that show 80% of small farmers go out of business by year 5. That’s just seems so unfortunate. We need small farms and our local farmers everywhere deserve to make a fair profit providing one of the most important jobs there is - providing wholesome food!

We do it because we love this lifestyle and we want good, healthy food for our family. And we work hard. We hope we can continue to farm for many more years serving you and your family.

Please share our blog on your social media or email to help us get the word out.

Farm on friends,

Alisa and Darrin Wyatt