Six Figs Farm LLC

Can you keep our eggs on the counter? One of the great things about farm fresh eggs is that you can keep them on the counter, right? However, here in Georgia, one of the rules we have to follow is to refrigerate our eggs immediately, and keep them refrigerated or cold in a cooler. So, our eggs have been refrigerated since shortly after they were laid. Once refrigerated, eggs should remain refrigerated. So, no, you shouldn’t keep our eggs on the counter.

We have an Egg Candling License, which is required to sell eggs in the state of Georgia, and here’s a link to the laws we have to follow to remain legal. georgiaegglawandsupportingregulations.pdf. I candle every single egg that goes out our doors; duck, chicken, or goose. I’m looking for hairline cracks that aren’t visible, meat spots, or anything unusual with the eggs.

Are our eggs fresh? You know how good farm fresh eggs are. When you purchase our eggs, they’re less than ten days old (and almost always only a few days old). The “best before” date on our label is 45 days from when the eggs were laid. You can look up how old grocery store eggs are, and I’m no expert, but Google says they can be 60 or more days old when you get them.

Are our eggs washed? The picture above is freshly gathered, unwashed chicken eggs. I set the collecting basket down and took the picture. We keep our chicken’s nest boxes meticulous and our hens healthy. We also wash our eggs, per Georgia law. There is a reason for this- you can’t see bacteria. If you crack an egg with bacteria on the shell, it can introduce the bacteria into your food.

In the simplest terms, chickens poop and lay eggs from the same hole. In addition, chickens will poop in the coop or on the roost. The next hen comes by and steps in the poop on her way into the nest box. Many hens will lay their eggs in the same nest box, so the hen that just stepped in poop is now stepping on eggs. Sometimes, you can see poop on the egg, but again, you can’t see bacteria. I will tell you that I wouldn’t let my hens step on my steak before I eat it. So, eggs should always be washed before using them. The law says that we have to wash them before you buy them. So, we do.

As far as duck eggs, ducks are jerks. You can leave them the cleanest nesting area imaginable, and they will dig up some mud beside it and lay their eggs in the muddiest muck. I do not have a photo of duck eggs pre-washing, because who would want to look at that- yuck! We wash our duck eggs, as well. You’re welcome.

Are our eggs fertile? We keep roosters. Otherwise, the hawks would have an unlimited buffet of pastured organic chicken. So, our eggs are fertile. Some people think there’s a health benefit to that. Others find it icky.

There are well documented health benefits to choosing pastured eggs over confinement (grocery store) eggs that are listed here. There are a lot of folks who swear fertile eggs are healthier, but I have seen no studies, and have no idea if that’s true.

People who think fertile eggs are icky usually are worried that there will be a developing chick in the egg when they crack it open. The short story is that there is not. The long version: after about 3 days of incubating at 100.5 degrees, you can start to see small changes in a fertile egg, if you know what you’re looking for. Growth and development stops immediately when the egg hits the refrigerator. We collect our eggs several times daily and refrigerate them immediately. You really can’t tell a difference. Every so often there might be a tiny meat spot we miss on candling, but that has nothing to do with anything developing.

Why soy free? A number of years back, I was feeling terrible. Sick all the time, tired all the time, migraines regularly. I read about doing an elimination diet, the Whole 30. I did that, and when reintroducing the foods, it turned out that a lot of the foods I ate regularly were not my friends. Soy was one of them. When I eliminated those foods from my diet, my health did a 180. We’ve spoken to many people in the same boat over the years we’ve offered soy-free eggs. The feed we give our chickens is also certified organic and regionally sourced from a farm in North Carolina.

Do we free range our chickens? We do not. In our area, we have coyotes, foxes, hawks, as well as many other predators. We keep our chickens in electrical fencing, which we move to fresh pasture regularly. This greatly minimizes the risk from most land predators. They are in a secure coop at night. And, the roosters and sufficient shelter areas works well to minimize losses from hawks. They live on pasture, inside electric fencing. We move them to new pasture as often as needed to keep them really healthy.

Fresh eggs can’t be boiled. Ok, that’s not a question, but I hear it frequently as a statement. Yes, fresh eggs can be boiled. How to boil and easily peel farm fresh eggs

What do duck eggs taste like? Duck eggs have a larger yolk than chicken eggs. They are richer, and have more “egg” taste. Some people love them cooked like regular eggs. Other folks bake with them. Baking with duck eggs gives you a baked product that is lighter, richer, and higher rising.

Do you have any questions about our eggs? We’d love to hear them! You can comment on this post, or drop us an email at sixfigsfarm@gmail.com

Has all this talk of eggs gotten you thinking of a scrambled egg breakfast? Click here to order some of our eggs. Thanks for stopping by!