It’s mainly the feed. The feed our hens eat is 100% USDA Organic Certified. So that means there are generally no pesticides used to grow the corn, soy and other products in it. And it is all GMO free. Some natural pesticides are allowed by the USDA, in special circumstances. USDA Organic does not allow the use of synthetic pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides.

Egg shell color is determined by the breed of hen and is often related to the color of the feathers over the hen’s ears. Brown hens, like we have, typically lay brown eggs and white chickens lay white eggs (although there are a few breeds of white chickens with brown ear-feathers that lay brown eggs). Note that the shell color is not related to the nutrition or quality of the egg inside.

Due to FDA regulations and food safety requirements, we must wash our eggs before our consumers can receive them. We use a light, organic approved soap to wash our egg shells. After the eggs are washed, they are sanitized with a mild chlorine solution. Our quality assurance team monitors critical control points like wash- and rinse-water temperature, detergent levels, etc. This does remove the cuticle (or bloom) from the egg which is a natural protective coating, but we must wash them per FDA requirements.

Natural fluctuations in yolk color can be due to flock age, the weather, the time of year, and even flock location. The bugs that the hens peck at also can play a part in the yolk color because they increase the amount of protein in their diet. Each hen is unique, and their eggs typically reflect that as well. We routinely check our organic eggs for color and that they are generally much darker than caged, commodity eggs, representing their more natural and varied diet, but sometimes there are lighter yolks as well due to all these variables.

Double yolks are rare (about 1/1000) and double yolked eggs tend to be very, very large. They typically are graded as a ‘Super Jumbo’ because they are so large. These eggs primarily come from younger flocks that are just learning how to lay eggs and as their reproductive systems have not fully matured. All of the farm fresh organic eggs go through our egg processing machine and once they are identified as Super Jumbos they are hand packed because they are too big for the machine to pack.

An egg that floats in water is actually a very old egg and should not be eaten, because it is not fresh! The reason that old eggs float is that the air cell that occurs naturally when the egg was laid has expanded, because the egg has aged.

Blood spots are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel on the yolk surface when it’s being formed. A meat spot is the same but will show up in the white of the egg. A blood spot is in fact an indication of a very fresh egg. As an egg ages, the blood spot diffuses across the white and becomes almost undetectable as time goes on. Blood/Meat spots can occur in up to 6% of all brown shelled eggs. From time-to-time, the incidence of blood/meat spots in eggs increases above the normal, 6% rate, when the hens in a flock get excited by changes in lighting, changes in temperature, or when they catch a cold. Candling methods reveal most eggs with blood spots and those eggs are removed, but it is impossible to remove them all. Due to shell density, color, contrast and depth, some of these eggs do get through. Sometimes, if the spot is small, it can be cut out with the tip of a knife and the egg is still good to eat.

Most hens lay about 1 egg per day.

That ropey strand of egg white is called the chalazae. It secures the yolk in place in the center of the egg white. The fresher the egg, the more prominent the chalazae. It is safe to eat, as it is neither a defect nor an embryo.

Deviled Eggs!