Category: Eggs

Wondering what it is? Well I will tell you. It’s “seasonal.” Yes you’ve heard that term before, but maybe not how it applies to eggs. Now before you dismiss it and think I’m crazy let me share with you a few things.

Most chickens have a dormant stage that happens in the Fall or Winter where they lay very little to no eggs. When they come out of that dormancy, it is usually Spring or close to it. All of a sudden eggs are booming! You have eggs coming out of your ears, or so it seems. Then when the weather heats up in the Summer you still have eggs, but not nearly as many as you do in the Spring. Fast forward to Fall and eggs are dwindling or maybe they’ve stopped altogether going into Winter. Do you see the pattern? Right after their dormant stage, when the weather is warming and the days are getting longer, the chickens begin to lays eggs in abundance. Coincidence? Not at all. Hence the term…..seasonal!

Sidenote: We know there are some people who use artificial lighting to try and keep their birds laying, but we do not. We don’t feel that this is in their best interest. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, we take the stance of if God created the birds to need a rest period than we are going to let them have one.

It has taken me 3 years to actually figure out this idea of eggs being seasonal, but they truly are! Just as we grow certain vegetables in certain seasons, eggs are most plentiful in Spring. Now of course eggs are available year round at your grocery store, but these are not anywhere near a fresh farm egg. Most of these birds are chicken house birds. No light, no bugs, no grass.

Please don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean that you can’t get eggs “off season” or outside of Spring because you definitely can. You just may not be able to get as many.

On our farm, we have tried to set a pattern each year of hatching new chicks in the late Spring or early Summer months. Since most chickens start laying around 6 months of age, the plan is that once the others began to slow down, we will have new ones that are just starting.

To illustrate this, in the month of May we hatched 8 chicks. These will be ready to lay sometime in November. Now whether or not they will they actually do so…..Who knows! Chickens need lots of daylight to hatch an egg and if they’re not getting it, you’re not usually getting eggs. November and December are low daylight months so it may be possible that they’re ready to lay, but the conditions they need to actually produce an egg won’t be there.

So this year when your favorite farmer or egg supplier runs out of eggs, remember eggs are seasonal and they will be back in Spring! If they do happen to have eggs, it is most likely a lower quantity.  So as mentioned above, your regular 3 dozen may turn into just 1.

Just think your farmers still have the labor and expense of feeding and taking care of the birds and they may not be getting eggs either.

If you are one of those people who are fortunate to purchase farm fresh eggs in the later months, be thankful that you don’t have to go to the grocery store and buy store bought eggs that have probably been sitting on the shelf for two months already before you spend your hard earned money on them.

An important fact is that just as people are stressed by crazy weather patterns and major changes, chickens are too!  Really our chickens have had a “rough” year between moving day with their new coops, the hawk attacks, all the rain last year, and now the extreme heat! No wonder why the hens are giving me the side eye when I go to collect eggs…I should be happy there are eggs at all!!! Lol!

Don’t worry. You guys know how spoiled these girls are. We are working hard to keep them hydrated and healthy. Their health and well being is our main concern, so we will do what we can to help them to live well and keep producing the eggs we’ve all become accustomed to.

After living in our house for over 3 years, we never had one single hawk attack until recently. We’re not sure, but we believe that it is just one who continues to come back looking for its next meal.

Our chicken area is under tree cover and our birds are mostly various shades of black, brown, red, etc. They pretty much blended in with their surroundings, even when the trees were bare. So we’ve never had a problem. We used to let them have use of just about the whole property, but as our organic produce offerings grew, we had to section them off.

Our first hawk attack happened on just a regular day. I looked out the window as I often do and saw a strange bird perched on the coop. I went into the kitchen and upon further inspection I instantly knew that this bird was a hawk. I then had the sad realization and sinking feeling that we probably lost some birds.

I immediately went outside to asses the damage and once I got closer the hawk turned its entire head around to stare at me. It was eerie and fascinating at the same time. It then flew into a nearby tree.

I was definitely too late. It had attacked one of our newest birds. We raised this bird from a chick, but it, along with its siblings were just integrated into the flock. This new batch of birds are mostly white with a few brown feathers here and there. We think their coloring allowed the hawk to see them as literal fresh meat. I was so sad!

Thankfully, my son came home at that exact moment and rushed out to see what happened after he heard my screams. He then put all the chickens into a caged area that we normally have at the ready for meat birds who have reached their harvest. I didn’t want to lock them up, but they were safe.

Fast forward to the second hawk attack….we were outside working  and decided to let the chickens roam. We both went inside and thought the birds would be safe for a little bit, but almost immediately there was a commotion and this time the hawk took out one of our original layers! I was just so angry! I posted up with a bebe gun at the ready to dispose of the bird the minute it came back. I didn’t know it at the time, but hawks are protected by federal law. So it was a good thing that the bird never returned.

There was one more attack, this time on a rooster. I am happy to say that he is fine, but as you can imagine to keep the birds safe they have been on lock down. If you follow our Facebook page then you’ve seen the work being done to ensure the safety of our birds. We know other farmers who free range their birds and as such thought we were safe. In actuality, it seems that we have been very fortunate to have not suffered a hawk attack before now.

We have some really good friends who raise chickens as well and they gave us some wonderful advice about how to protect our birds. Since this happened I’ve spent some time thinking about hawks and really whether it’s one or four, they’re just doing what their God given instincts tells them…..hunt and eat!

The layers were already getting a new coop. We just had to revamp it and make sure it included aerial cover. The sad thing is that they don’t like being cooped up so they’ve almost just about stopped laying eggs. They’re just not getting the sunlight they need and being in a new surrounding is stressful to them.

The good news is that our projects are nearing completion. The coops and runs are in their final stages and this means all birds will get back to what they do best. Work should be completed this weekend!  Then everyone, including us can enjoy fresh eggs again!  Well we hope……you guys know our chickens are pampered and so they may hold a slight grudge.