The New York times offers a worthwhile article on a question that many of us who raise backyard chickens often ask . . . what should we do with all these eggs? It is an enjoyable and informative read (made even more so with the wonderful accompanying slide-show) that was close to heart on a matter that has become a regular part of my life. What can I do with all these eggs?
Well, obviously the first solution is to eat them. This works to a degree, but it can be hard to keep up. Currently we are getting about a dozen eggs from our six chickens every two days. that is a lot of eggs. I don’t dislike eggs, but I do tend to grow tired of them if I don’t find other means of eating them. I like quiche, deviled eggs, and egg salad a lot. Furthermore, I want to explore more options for making baked goods and pasta with our eggs.
After eating them ourselves, the next best option is to find others to eat them for us. thus far we’ve taken to just giving extra eggs to family and friends as little gifts. It is possible that we could sell them. Fresh eggs can sell from anywhere from $3 to $5 a dozen and so it could make us a little cash. Still, we haven’t progressed to the selling stage yet.
A nice thing for this week is the approach of Easter. I’ve been assigned the making of deviled eggs to have at dinner (is it ironic serving “deviled” eggs at Easter dinner? Me thinks not, simply because deviled eggs are awesome and Jesus probably dug them). Some of our light shelled eggs (we have white, light blue, light green, and dark brown eggs) will be dyed in the traditional store-bought kit manner and we may dye some others in more natural ways (using onion skins, beet juice, and flowers and plants from our yard). I plan on converting our dyed eggs into egg salads after Easter.
Chickens are pretty great, and one can’t really complain about getting eggs (it is actually a pretty big draw for raising chickens). However, the abundance can be shocking at times. Being creative and proactive can keep the numbers from becoming too overwhelming.
