The Promised Farm > Eggs > Quantity - Quality - Certificatedness - Prices - Egg FAQs (did you know...) - Recipes
eggs (are we sellin'? and how many? we're talkin' quantity)
Until mid to late Summer of 2009, we will be limited to about 26 laying hens — and one bantam rooster named Spike. This means we're averaging around a dozen and a half eggs a day. These are currently all spoken for. This doesn't mean we aren't interested in giving everyone an opportunity to enjoy our "Best Eggs on the Planet." We just need to grow slowly and purposefully, so we can keep our sights on what is most important; the health and vitality of our flock, and the quality of the eggs they produce.
If you are interested in purchasing farm fresh eggs on a regular basis, we'd love to know. Your input will help us decide how many new hens to start this spring.
You can write directly to The Promised Farm or you can join our DitsyChix YahooGroup so you can be updated when we start increasing production, and take our running poll. We would love to know how many dozens of eggs we can look forward to providing this coming summer.
about the quality of our eggs
Our
eggs are The Best Eggs on the Planet. We all say so because we
eat 'em and we think it's so, so it's so.
See?
Hyperbole aside, we are sometimes asked about certain "quality-of-life" issues that often necessitate the use of various labels and phrases and explanations. To limit the time consumption of explaining this more than once, I'll try to answer all of the Labeling Issue-issues with this post. For a longer bit of explaining and entertaining, Go Here for my thoughts on Certifications and Labels.
All our hens are hormone, medication [1] and antibiotic free, [2] pasture fed (when there's pasture) free ranged, [3] allowed to eat as many bugs as nature's bounty can supply, pampered with bread crumbs and occasional table scraps, and encouraged to clean up all the scratch grains they can handle from the floor of the barn. (Our horses are sloppy eaters.) To say that our eggs are "organic" would be true in about every sense, if one were using common sense and not just labels.
But common sense doesn't often apply when labels are required. So I don't mess with them. You want eggs that are better than any store bought egg you have ever had? Let me know.
You want them to be certified some-such-or-otherfied by the PETA Labeling Control Ministry or blessed by the Pastor of Organic Purity? Forget it. I'd have to triple my prices.
And while we're at it... what does "Vegetarian Eggs" mean? That the hen didn't eat meat? What about bugs? What about worms? Ever see a chicken catch a mouse? They're better than our stinkin' cats!!! I think that if one's vegetarian issues tend to run into speed bumps with eggs... best to just move along to another awesome source of protein. Ummmmmmm. Well, I hope you find a good one.
my philosophy on certifications and labels
Don't need them. You, the customer, don't want to necessarily pay for them. But you want quality products, and I want to only sell quality products. Where's the middle ground? Taste. There is something to be said for the manner in which hens are raised, and the quality of their feed. We strive for reasonable balance, rather than passionate neurotic gymnastics. You will know how fresh our eggs are when you eat them. Fussing over every facet of what our hens eat in order to satisfy some kind of labeling bureaucracy just doesn't add that much to the final product... other than cost.
Read more of my thoughts on certs and labels in our No News articles and opinion section.
current prices
We are currently selling our unsized and ungraded eggs for $2.50/doz. Prices will increase to $3.00 when our Spring hens begin to lay. We will also begin to size them. The average dozen ranges from medium to extra large, brown and white. We even have a few blue-green bantam eggs. These are quite a treat for the kids to see, so let us know if you want one or two thrown in. Prices are always subject to change, depending on the market, but for the most part, you are going to get the best eggs on the planet for a little less than you'd pay for the designer organic special multi-labled eggs at the store.
[1] We have not had to medicate our hens for any major diseases or conditions. (We give God the credit for this blessing.) This does not mean that we wouldn't intervene should something life threatening to the flock turn up. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. I personally believe that it is neither responsible nor moral to allow an entire flock of livestock to die horrible deaths on the alter of Organic Purity when it is within our power to prevent it. That said... if a hen gets a cold, we let her work it out on her own. back
[2] We buy day old chicks and start them out on a commercial ration that includes antibiotics. This to me, makes sense as it helps them to acclimate to their new environment and decreases the mortality rate. Doesn't seem humane to me to impose a high mortality rate on the little peeps, if it can possibly be minimized or avoided. But after that, we don't use medicated feeds. We try to pay for as little feed as possible. back
[3] Now about the label "Free Range:" For The Promised Farm, this means our laying hens are cage free and not caged on pasture. If we raise any meat birds in the future, we will probably put them in a pasture pen. Is that cruel? You decide. Are they more likely to end up in the bellies of predators if they aren't contained? Yup. And Coyotes don't pay. back
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