Farm fresh eggs. They’re a hot topic these days—often in short supply since more and more people are moving away from grocery store eggs.

There are several reasons why farm fresh eggs are sometimes scarce.

• There’s the seasonal demand such as festive times of the year when people are buying eggs to do special baking.
• Chickens naturally lay seasonally, meaning they tend to lay the most in the spring and the least in late fall.
• Small farms are only allowed to have up to 200 hens on one farm, in one name.
• Because we’re one of a very few small farms that feed their hens only organic grains, we have many people that specifically want our eggs, so demand can make a scarcity.
• Now that we’ve gotten into raising our own pullets (which means young, immature hens) from traditional chicken breeds, we get even less eggs in the late fall slump—which also happens to be when everybody wants extra eggs!

Raising our own hens has been a fun project, but by no means easy. Besides the extra work of raising pullets, these home raised pullets (immature hens) lay less in the late fall, as I already mentioned; they cost us more than the commercial ones; they begin laying later; they lay less eggs and they eat more food.

So why do we insist on raising our own hens?

That’s a question some of our sons have asked me at times. I admit it might not make financial sense, but I just prefer to raise them instead of buying them from a commercial farm.

Now, I imagine from your perspective as a consumer it just makes sense to do everything the “natural” way. You want the best food you can get.

But to the boys it isn’t that clear. They know we put a lot of work and money into raising our own pullets. Hatching eggs, brooding the chicks, keeping predators away. Feeding the pullets as they grow older and moving their pasture shelters every day. It’s tiresome to check the “trap nests” whenever we’re doing that (which I’ll explain later). Then we have all the problems getting organic grain. So of course they’re looking at why we’re doing it—they know very well that raising our own pullets is a big commitment for us.

Well, here’s what I have against the commercial hens:

1. Commercial raised hens are not organic. They’re raised in a conventional barn, on feed that is not organic.

2. They often develop problems such as pecking at each other and eating eggs. I suppose this might be due to a mineral or vitamin deficiency, weak genetics or it may be just boredom.

3. Commercial hens have their beaks trimmed when they’re little chicks, so it’s harder for them to select a certain blade of grass or kernel of grain when they’re pecking at things.

4. Since they’re not selected for natural hardiness, they’re more apt to need things like antibiotics, de-wormers and medicines to keep them healthy.

Commercial hens are raised on a large scale so they are cheaper to buy, because of economy of scale. Most small farmers know that it isn’t really profitable for them to raise their own hens, so many of them buy ready-to-lay pullets from the commercial farm.

We know it may not be financially practical to raise our own. But I really like the idea of raising hardy animals and birds that thrive naturally. So, a few years ago we decided to start breeding chickens, with the intention of developing hens that lay a reasonable amount of eggs in return for the feed they eat.

Why mention the feed? Well, every farmer knows that feed is the largest expense in raising chickens. For us it’s even more so, since we feed all organic grains. Besides that, it can be hard to find organic grain. Last year, most organic farmers in the Maritimes had crop failures, because of the extremely wet summer we had. Besides, as I already mentioned, it has been very hard to find grain truckers who are willing to do a single load or part load since they normally have their regular hauls planned out.

For every hundred pullets we want to raise, we have to hatch at least two hundred chicks, because, of course, half of them are roosters. We raise them up together until the roosters are big enough to harvest for meat.

All these extra chickens take extra feed, which is a big deal at those times when we’re almost running out of organic grain. So we don’t take it lightly. But being stubborn as I am, I still want to raise my own hens.

Developing a Landrace

Although we had a few heritage Blue Australorp chickens earlier, our chicken breeding really began about five years ago when we bought some Chantecler chickens. They’re a French Canadian breed which were bred to tolerate winter weather and keep laying a reasonable amount.

Soon after that we got some Dominiques from a friend who said they were a good dual purpose breed. She told us they were thrifty and healthy and laid a good number of eggs.

Since then, we’ve added Black Australorp, Rhode Island Red and a number of other breeds into our flock.

Many of these breeds were at one time landraces; this means a race that has developed in an often somewhat physically isolated area, and is well adapted to the locality. However, over the years, many breeds have become inbred, and as a result, lose their vitality and even some of their distinguishing characteristics.

What we wanted to do was to have our own sort of landrace. To do that, we would need to have a broad genetic base to begin with, so they’d have the traits needed to resist sickness, parasites, and whatever else comes their way. We would then select the individuals that do well in our situation. These would be the ones we would raise replacement pullets from.

Trap nesting

Since we usually have close to two hundred hens, we can’t easily find out which hens are laying well. There’s a huge variation from one hen to the next, especially in the fall and winter. We need this information so we can save hatching eggs only from the best layers. If we want to improve the breed, we must not be raising chicks from the mediocre ones. We have to pick the birds that are healthy and productive, with low maintenance. That are not always getting sick. That thrive like wild birds without drugs, vaccines, de-wormers and all kinds of “crutches”. Those are the ones we’re selecting for.

We found out about an old method of catching hens in a trap nest when they go to lay an egg. The door shuts on them when they enter the nest, so when we come to check the nests we find some nest boxes with hens in them. We check which ones laid an egg, write down their leg band number, and let them go. The hens that lay the most eggs gain special status in our books!

We’re not finished with our selection process, but we have definitely made some progress. The latest group of pullets which just started laying this winter are better than we have had before. They began laying earlier than most hens we’ve had. They were selected from hens that kept laying at least some eggs even through early winter when many others were taking an extended holiday.

Best of all, we’re finding that we don’t have to give these hens special care to keep them healthy. Until a few years ago, many of our hens would get lice and mites, and various diseases. We would use natural products to try to deal with issues, like diatomaceous earth for lice and mites, for example.

Now they rarely get sick or suffer from parasites. We have much less trouble with leg mites or any of the other problems we had before.

Long lived chickens

We are also selecting for hens that lay for many years. Modern hens that are bred to lay an egg a day will only lay well for one year, and after that, it’s not worth keeping them. We’re putting an emphasis on keeping hatching eggs from older hens that are still laying. That means we eventually won’t have to raise as many replacements every year which will save on both feed costs and time.

I realize you might think I’m emphasizing production and profitability a bit too much. Well, as I hinted at earlier, we do want to do what’s ethical and right. We’re guided by Biblical principles, which includes being good steward of God’s creation, and taking care of our bodies by nourishing them with clean food. We want to take good care of our soil, our animals and not least, you, our customers.

The other (cold, hard) side of the coin is that we have to make a living if we want to keep the farm afloat.

Though we at times don’t even earn a wage from our work, it’s true we are “making a living” by growing our own food, herbs and our own meat.

However, we also need money to pay off the farm, pay property taxes, equipment repairs and many other expenses. Therefore, we try to make every farm enterprise profitable.

If we can eventually have hens that can live a long life and lay eggs for a number of years, we will be more justified on raising our own pullets.

Back to the egg shortage

Because of the rule keeping us from having more than two hundred hens, we thought of a plan where our son could have some hens on our rented land. Last fall, Jesse decided he wanted to tackle this project.

He ordered pullets from a large commercial farm where many farmers in Nova Scotia buy their hens. The reason he bought commercial hens was partly because that’s what’s readily available, but also because that’s the only practical option. The commercial hens lay more eggs and they also lay steadily all year. They eat less feed, and they cost less to buy than it would cost him to raise his own. So the bottom line is that in today’s economy the only way to make a profit with laying hens—to get paid for the time spent—is to buy commercial pullets every year. Egg prices are always based on the price an efficient commercial egg farm can produce them at.

He ordered the pullets back in the fall when we were short in eggs, but the farm wasn’t able to deliver any until mid-winter. However, they did finally arrive, and they’re happily laying a good amount of eggs already.

Jesse feeds his hens the same organic feed we feed to our traditional breed hens. His eggs are also pasture raised when possible, and organic—just like our eggs. So to compare with the average free range eggs, his are organic (this also includes non-GMO) while most are not. Like our hens, Jesse’s hens are also moved daily to fresh pasture during the green season. The only difference between our eggs and his, is that his eggs are from commercial hens that were not organically raised the first 4-5 months of their life.

Overview of different kinds of eggs

Here’s a breakdown showing some of the variations in eggs from different types of farms. If you study this list you’ll see that the terminology isn’t always clear. What does a farm mean when they say things like “free range” or “farm raised”, for example? (Of course that second one is a joke, since all eggs are farm raised!)

Regular grocery store eggs:

• Environment: cage raised, no pasture.
• Feed: usually genetically modified, grown with chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
• Source of hens: raised in large barns, not organic.

Free run eggs:

• Environment: open barn, no pasture.
• Feed: usually genetically modified, grown with chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
• Source of hens: sometimes commercially raised in large barns, sometimes homegrown.

Omega-3 eggs:

• Environment: can be raised in cages or open barn.
• Feed: diet high in Omega-3 from flax seed, feed may be genetically modified, chemical fertilizer.
• Source of hens: raised in large barns, not organic.

Non-GMO eggs:

• Environment: can be raised in cages or open barn.
• Feed: no genetically modified grain, but usually grown with chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
• Source of hens: sometimes commercially raised in large barns, sometimes homegrown.

Free range eggs:

• Environment: often a barn or chicken coop in winter and pasture when available. But, this greatly varies; it can also mean a large barn with access to a small outdoor run.
• Feed: grown with chemical fertilizer and pesticides, sometimes GMO.
• Source of hens: sometimes commercially raised in large barns, sometimes homegrown.

Organic eggs from the grocery store:

• Environment: usually a large barn with access to an outdoor run.
• Feed: no genetically modified grain, no chemical fertilizer or pesticides.
• Source of hens: usually raised in large barns.

Jesse’s eggs:

• Environment: chicken coop in winter, and constant fresh pasture when available.
• Feed: organic feed, added herbs and crab meal as Omega-3 source, no GMO grain, no chemical fertilizer or pesticides.
• Source of hens: raised in large barn, not organic.

Bountywoods Farm eggs:

• Environment: chicken coop in winter, and constant fresh pasture when available.
• Feed: organic feed, added herbs and crab meal as Omega-3 source, no GMO grain, no chemical fertilizer or pesticides.
• Source of hens: raised on farm from traditional breeds.

So, how much do you value organic? What matters most to you?

I hope you’ll be better equipped to choose when you’re buying eggs from now on.

Of course, the only way to really know what you’re getting is to get to know your farmer and ask questions if there are things that are not clear. But my chart might help make your shopping a little easier if there are certain things you’re looking for in the eggs you buy for your family.