The difference between homegrown and store-bought eggs is amazing. This week, Antoinette layer her first egg! The yolk is such a deep yellow, and the taste is amazingly rich and flavorful. Here, see for yourself:
It was an exciting day when Antoinette lay her first egg. I had let the royal flock out in the yard earlier that morning. When I went to check on them at 8:00 AM, and Antoinette was back in the coop, scratching around and making a lot of noise. When I went to check on the chickens at 10:00 AM, Antoinette was out of the coop with the other two in the yard. I opened the coop, and guess what was in the nesting box?
Yep, you guessed it, a lovely brown egg. You will notice that there is also a ping pong ball in the nesting box. We keep ping pong balls in the nesting boxes to teach the hens where to lay their eggs. Some hens lay eggs in random spots, and we didnt want to have to go on an egg hunt every day.
The egg was warm, clean, and perfectly shaped.
Here is the difference between a store-bought and a homegrown egg:
Why do you think there’s a difference? For one, there is a difference between an egg that is fresh and an egg that is a week or two old. But also, I think it’s all about what the chicken eats. As I explained in my post about what all those labels mean on your egg carton, even organic farms don’t always let their chickens roam in the grass. My chickens eat a lot of greens – they enjoy the grass in the backyard and eating weeds out of my vegetable garden. Those fresh greens add a lot of nutrients to their diet – and I think we see that difference in their eggs.
Let me tell you about Antoinette’s first egg. I could tell that Antoinette was getting ready to lay an egg, because she started acting differently a week or two before.
Here were five signs that Antoinette was going to lay her first homegrown egg
1. Her comb and wattles (on her head) were getting redder.
2. She started making more pronounced noises… more like a “bock bock” than her usual clucking.
3. She went to sleep really early. Chickens usually head to bed at sundown, but I would find Antoinette getting into the coop at 3:30/4:00 PM when sunset was at 6:00 PM.
4. She would go into the coop in the mornings after her breakfast. Usually, the chickens wake up at sunrise (around 7:00 AM here) and stay in the run or in the backyard all day until sundown. Instead, I would find her back in the coop at 10:00 AM.
5. She adopted a new “crouch.” Instead of skittering away when I would bend down to catch her, she would crouch down.
As a Wyandotte chicken, Antoinette is expected to lay 200 eggs per year. Thus far, she has layed an egg every day! Antoinette’s eggs are brown.
Tikal is a Amercauna chicken. She is expected to lay 3 eggs per week. Tiki’s eggs will be blue.
Wilhelmina, a Polish chicken, will lay 200 eggs per year. Whilhelmina’s eggs will be white.
Can you tell the difference between homegrown vs. store-bought eggs?
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