Tricia, I wonder if the small eggs are because they have young layers or because they have a bantam or some other smaller variety? If they have young layers, the eggs may get bigger as the hens mature. If it's variety, that's what you're gonna get.

For a commercial operation, your egg farm looks lovely, I do hope they manage to sustain that business. I really like the concept of "free range" but today's environment makes that difficult to impossible. Dogs, traffic, wild predators, all will deimate a flock. I only let mine out when I am there to "supervise", the rest of the time they spend in a caged run, much like the one the farm pictures show, with access to the outside or inside as they decide. I don't have curtains on the nesting boxes, though!

I also like their Isa Brown chickens, you;ll get nice big brown eggs from them and they are regular and heavy layers.

The prices, though, that's amazing. I can't get $1 a dozen for mine, grocery store eggs are 69 cents a dozen right now. Maybe now, with the salmonella thing, but I don't know...

Anyway, best of luck to Pete and Gerry and the family, what a lovely place they have. From what I see I heartily approve of their business, in spite of their prices!

Enjoy your eggs, sunny side up, and say hello to the happy hens for me. Although I don't speak chicken, maybe all that clucking is really a complaint about the curtain color or something.

Annie, what is your thoughts on true "Organic Eggs" or "Free Range".

I have a number of farms in the area that I buy my eggs from. Like your chickens they have their hen house within a large fenced in run.

I would think it would be almost impossible to have a true free range commercial operation. And here, for a farm to be designated "organic" there can't be anything on the farm that isn't organic right down to the fence posts.

Eggs in the grocery stores range from $2.79 up to about $4.00.
I never buy eggs sold in grocery stores any more. I buy fresh same day farm eggs from $3.00 to $4.00 depending on which farm I stop at.

Ann

Tricia,

Thank you so much for posting that link! I checked into it thinking that I was just going to have total envy because eggs like this seem to be something I am just not going to find in my area. But I was shocked to see that they are as close as a 30 minute ride! I had no idea that the closest natural food store in my area stocked eggs. I have always used Eggland's eggs and I do like them. But I have wished for the really fresh farm eggs like the ones I remember from my Grandmother's chickens. Now I know where to shop.

Again thanks to you and thanks for Annie's review; and best of all the store is open on Sunday!
Kat

All I can say is WOW....$6.50 a dozen and/or $5.38 a half dozen???

My neighbor charges me $1.00 a dozen for large brown or blue eggs. Even the certified organic eggs at the local co-op are only $3.75.

I will never complain about egg prices again!

Linda

I have a friend who raises free range chickens, fryers to sell. Really pastured chickens. And the last time they butchered, they said the number lost shocked them!
It's cheap to raise pastured chickens....but for the loss.
Linda C

This is an honest question.

How can you have "organic" eggs?

That is like organic honey, eh? How can you be certain that bug the hen just pecked up didn't fly through a cloud of DDT in the morning?

Same thing with honey, I don't see how it can be both imported from Belize and labelled organic if the bees were allowed to fly out and gather pollen.

My farm gate prices are exactly as Ann T's are. They are responsibly grown/raised/harvested at $3.00 the dozen. The other $3 some of you pay is covering the costs of certification. (I'll bet)

I too don't care about the Organic label..I care about where and how they are raised and what "feed" they are getting.

My eggs come from a friend who has the chickens, duck and turkeys in a large pen..they roam, eat organic non soy feed and are happy critters.. I pay $4 for 18. Or she'll give me 2 dozen little eggs for $4. They are either bantam's or pullets. I love me little pullet eggs..:) She's also currently raising meat chickens in another pen. I'll be eating those in about a month!

I can get duck eggs at $5 a dozen from another friend..I've even cared for the ducks while they went on vacation..my payment ..all the eggs they laid while in my care.

Honey~ well I too buy that from a local farmer. Not "organic" but raw and "natural"..

I paid $2.50 a dozen yesterday for free-range eggs at a little vegetable stand.

Annie, thanks so much for your review! It's been much harder than we ever anticipated to locate food sources that practice humane, sustainable, & healthy practices. I very glad to read you think Pete & Gerry's are trying to do it right. They're going to be our egg source. Now, to find some grass-fed beef we can chew. Unfortunately, we purchased a lot of meat before taste testing. We're just finishing what we got in May & I'm so glad it's about gone...tough as shoe leather.

Our New England Cable News has been airing a segment about the Iowa egg farm that's had the recall...I think the guy's name is DeCoster. Anyway, he's also got a farm here in NE...Maine. It's the largest producer of eggs for NE. The head of ag for the state of Maine says that DeCoster's operation has been repeatedly fined for cruelty to animals (the videos are just awful!) & also for rodents, etc. They also show pictures of the housing for DeCoster's employees with numerous broken windows & also rat infected. Really a dismal picture. Maine has fined them & has placed the egg operation on a more strident inspection regime. Still, I don't want to purchase their eggs. They sell under numerous brands.

Rosewitch, I'm glad the link was useful for you! We've been using the eggs for a couple weeks. They look & taste really good. You'll notice the difference between Pete & Gerry's & regular store eggs immediately.

Price? I'm always amazed at the prices other CFers post. There's a lot of difference between regions in the US.

/tricia

For baking recipes you might consider keeping organic whole powdered eggs and saving those lovely free range eggs for sunny side up breakfasts on the veranda.

Linked is one source, there are others if you Google. Scroll all the way down.

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic whole egg powder.

Annie, the free range bit is interesting. I always thought it was necessary for healthy birds but Pete & Gerry's make a good case on the website for controlling access to the outdoor areas.

Do you agree that starling & Canadian Geese are health threats to chickens? Also, what about the mite problem...is it really a problem? Oh, so much about chickens I don't know... Anyway, are these good reasons to keep chixs inside in addition to the obvious like hawks, coyotes, dogs, etc.?

What about protecting the soil? That seems reasonable to me. Lots of chickens would destroy the grass & contribute to erosion, right? Protecting the land is as important (or more so) than protecting the chickens. I like the mention of that but is it really true, or just marketing hype?

Thanks,

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Pete & Gerry's Free Range Philosophy

Yep, we maintain a food storage program that has always contained powdered eggs. I rotate them by using in some baked goods. Frankly, I have no idea the quality of those eggs & I'm a bit concerned but haven't started really searching for more organic choices in food storage items. I know they're available from Emergency Essentials 'cause I've noticed a few in their catalogues...right now, we're still trying to clean-up our act with what's in the refrigerator & freezer. :) We'll get to the food storage but have to use up what's already there...

/tricia

Well...if they don't go out when it's cold, nor when fox etc are seen nor when there are starlings etc roosting in the barn roof, nor during migration season nor when the ground is soggy....I am wondering about the number of days a year they do get to go out?
Wondering if friends who do raise a few chicks for eggs worry much about mites, or do they let them do the ages old dust bath thing?

Linda, has anybody every told you that some days you are very negative? (smile) You are forgiven today though...how's Chabby?

Logic tells me that raising a "few chicks for eggs" is quite a different operation than raising thousands of chickens for commercial egg production & not a valid comparison . And, since my friends/neighbors don't raise chickens I want to find a source for quality eggs. A little support would be appreciated. Your negativity is tiresome & I will ignore any more such commentary since I want this thread to be informative for all CF members. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who would like to learn. There's other forum participants, like rosewitch, also evaluating their local sources for reliable quality eggs. So, let's make this a positive experience & not a nit-pick it apart thread, pretty please? Thanks. :)

/t

My BIL and SIL raise chickens in their back yard (in Silicon Valley!) and they say you need a really well-built coop for them at night because of the coyotes. Their back yard is now devoid of any living thing except for chickens. That happens pretty fast. I don't know what they feed them, if it's organic or not.

For backyard chickens you need a chicken tractor.

Basically its a movable coop with a run built on so you can control where they go and rotate that area. Hard to do with hundreds of not thousands of chickens.

You know what chickens really like? Lawn clippings. Dump the bag (I don't bag, I mulch mow my little, itty bitty lawn) into the pen and its like a chicken party.

Here is a link that might be useful: I'm not kidding

metaxa, some small farmers here use those movable chicken cages, but I know very few selling eggs commercially on a big scale who have a true free range operation. It's too difficult. Those are pastured chickens, not really free range, but they're a lot safer and less likely to become the dinner of the lab next door. Here we have coyote, fox, bears, an occasional cougar but it's dogs allowed to run all over the neighborhood that are the biggest problem.

My girls go out into their run whenever they choose, even in the middle of winter, and they seem to like the snow. It's fenced top and bottom against predators so I don't lock them in in bad weather or if I see predators.

Truly organic? Sigh. Here food items can be certified organic even when using some "approved" chemicals. No matter what you are raising, be it corn or chickens, there is a possibility of contamination from other sources and that cannot be completely controlled. Miy eggs couldn't be certified organic even though I raised them from a day old and have grown everything they eat. Well, except the occasional cracker or cookie the kids feed them, so you see what I mean. my cattle are grass fed too, but they get an occasional powdered sugar donut from the kids so I would suppose they aren't completely organic either.

Plus, we all know about government inspection. I've heard many news stories about the non-organic practices of supposedly organic farms, so I guess we just all do the best we can.

If the government would actually do something to violators instead of just letting them pile up violations, we'd have a lot fewer problems like the egg recall, the peanut butter recall, the gulf oil spill and that million gallons of oil tht just got dumped into the Kalamazoo River here in Michigan.

But that's another rant altogether...

Annie

Tricia,

Don't fall down the slippery slope of confusing negativity with common sense. LindaC simply suggested that the chickens would never see the light of day if the owners reacted to all potential threats and climate changes. We have three free range chickens at a neighbor's home near me. It is a rural back road. I constantly have to stop because the chickens are crossing the road. They particularly like their owners back deck and rock garden.

I've noticed what we call "farm" eggs rather then store bought have yolks that break easy. It is a trick to get an egg to cook over easy! Most of the time I give up and scramble them.

Buck a dozen from a friend at work. Bar frequently gifts me with a dozen. For some reason they are mostly Jumbo double yolk eggs. Both places are bring your own box. What goes around comes around so I took fresh squash bread to the bar last night.... used some of the free eggs to make it.

There is NO such thing as "organic". That is a marketing label for foods that may or may not be chemical free. In general a good thing that foods not be grown with excessive chemicals. Simply washing eggs, vegetables, and fruits helps remove most contamination. Meat is a bigger problem as it is raised with hormones and antibiotics that remain in what we eat. Currently my rabbits are very close to natural. I pile brush and then shoot them during hunting season... which is just a couple weeks away... gotta beat the fox to them.

I wouldn't think Linda negative. A woman that wonders about things for certain. To find the truth a person needs to look at all sides. An apple can look good on one side and have bugs on the other... you can still use the good side to make pie... or the whole thing to make cider. ; ) What is worse bug guts or poison to kill the bugs? The obvious solution is run the cider in your still and make 'shine out of it.

lyra

I think differently about a lot of things since I watched a grape pressing in Napa one fall. Lots of living things besides grapes go into that press.
I wonder if people worry about organic wine?
I wonder if the chickens I have seen scratching in the dirt and laying eggs wherever in 3rd world countries have salmonella?
I wonder what the production of that organic egg farm is in relation to laying hens? I wonder about the chicken mortality numbers, and why they have to charge near $5 for half a dozen eggs?
Linda C

Decision made. Pete & Gerry's will be our new eggs of choice. I received a private email last night from a grocery store dairy manager who is a lurker here on the forum. They've toured the egg barns & gave a very good recommendation. So, along with Annie's positive review, the chixs behind the red curtains will be laying our eggs (sorry, I think the curtains are funny). The dairy manager also gave me a location outside Mystic where I can get the eggs considerably cheaper. It's good to know though that I can at least get them locally if we don't feel like driving just for eggs.

/tricia

Heck Linda, just because we don't have equipment (think of how little we knew about babies before ultrasounds) that measures levels of "sentience" a plant has, how can we guarantee the grapes aren't feeling their impending death or the literal crushing? I am completely kidding.

;)

I do, seriously, wonder how one type of killing is more or less acceptable than another. Or how muscle is perfectly acceptable to eat, but mention a brain, or a liver, and get a completely different reaction.

Rob, I liek the taste of muscle, however I have had bran and dont care for the taste or the texture and the only way I will eat liver is saturated with cognac so it can no longer be tasted.

There are several local farms where i can get eggs, I will probably be buying them from the one that is in the process of being certified organic. Their eggs are $3.59/dozen and I am looking forward to a trip up there tomorrow.

This has been a very enlightening thread!

Alexa

I don't care where you live, it doesn't make sense to pay over $10.00 for a dozen eggs.

Ann

When I lived way up north eggs were like nuggets of gold.

This is 40 years ago so I expect times have changed but the eggs were frozen and placed in a barrel of water. As they thawed they floated to the surface. Or sort of floated. Or didn't. They were all consumed though.

Never mind the CN rail freight cost, the trip from the rail head into the reservation was a penny per pound per mile.

That made a single egg 50¢ in 1970 dollars.
So that would be $6 the dozen or about a bazillion dollars in todays money.

It wasn't uncommon to see someone who had been in the bush for some time on sabbatical in a southern town eating 6 eggs and a quart of orange juice just for an appetizer in some diner

I don't recall that we worried about the provenance of the egg or the oj back then.

metaxa, according to the wonders of Google, in the rest of the world a dozen eggs were 78 cents a dozen in 1970 and milk was $1.31 per gallon, so the on sale grocery store eggs are actually cheaper today at 69 cents than they were 40 years ago.

I can't even imagine paying $10 for a dozen eggs. The math tells me that an average "large" egg weighs 1.67 ounces, or a pound for 9 1/2 eggs. For simplicity's sake I rounded up to 10 eggs to allow for normal variations, resulting in a price of about $8 a pound. (I was an english major, that math's right, isn't it?) We pay that for steak, but eggs?

Nope, definitely not going to visit Mystic for breakfast!

Annie

Mystic's favorite breakfast joint, Kitchen Little, uses Eggland's Best eggs. There's always mobs of people both local & tourists standing around outside waiting for a table on the weekends. Prices are reasonable...their overhead is low. Their location's view is fantastic, right on the Mystic River gunkhole visible from the I-95 Mystic Scenic Overlook.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Little, Mystic, CT

Nope, I'll take the lobster, please...

That is breakfast food, right?

Actually, I've tried Eggland's Best but to me they still taste like...nothing, if that makes sense.

Annie

Yeah, I have my own chickens, really the main reason is the eggs taste so good! Store bought eggs, even the fancier organic ones, taste so bland to me now.

My chickens have a coop and an enclosed run. I let them out to free range a couple of times a week. Occasionally, a predator gets one. Just last month a coyote ran off with Little Whitey in broad daylight.

But, the girls probably think the freedom, bugs, and interesting things to do is worth the risk. If I need to replace a chicken, I buy one that is right about to start laying from a gal I know who raises chickens to show. She sells me the ones that are not perfect enough to exhibit for ten bucks, and I get a young chicken just about to start laying like crazy.