How to stretch eggs

[LuvOrlando]

Was at Market Basket today and it would seem the powers that be heard the hullabaloo, addressed whatever the hiccups were and made sure there are plenty of cage free eggs on shelves for families so I got some more. Most people in the store had eggs in their carts but there were still a lot on the shelves, so that's fantastic. Hope it is this way everywhere now.

Still think I might continue reducing the eggs we use and supplementing with more plants, the veggies in the mix usually make a great thing amazing!

 

[lifesavacation]

I know you always think that your situation is universal, but....
Considering the previous poster gave the estimate of $500 per dozen, I'm assuming they spent well over $500 for the lumber for the coop. Not everyone has scrap wood lying around to build a functional coop. A 2x4 is like $6 now so it can be pricey if you have to purchase all the supplies. You may also need fencing or netting depending on where you live to keep them enclosed. You may need heat or light in the winter.

Around here feed costs way more than $5. And there's also the expense of bedding. Plus, chickens only lay for a limited time, so they have to be replaced regularly so that's an additional expense.

Here's an article that lays out the average costs. They estimate that it would cost between$1.34 and $3.55 to produce each dozen. (The prices used for calculating are from March of 2020, and we all know prices of nearly everything have increased since then.) https://practicalselfreliance.com/chicken-cost/

I seriously love having my chickens. I think everyone with a backyard should have some . I’m turning into a crazy chicken lady, I know. Our biggest factor on building the coop was that I wanted little maintenance. I grew up doing chicken chores and I hated it. We put a lot of thought and time into the design of the coop and the feed/water system. I probably do 30 minutes of chicken chores weekly. Super easy.

We modeled our coop after Carolina Coops. It cost $3000 to build. It’s definitely a luxury coop. My only regret is I wish I had gone bigger. I have 23 new chicks coming in April and I’m not sure where they are going.

We have 11 chickens and I spend $75 every 3 weeks on high quality, organic feed. I also use industrial hemp bedding $$$, but I only have to change it twice per year. I can’t turn them loose in the yard because of predators and avian influenza, but the coop has lots of space and I supplement with fresh alfalfa and veggies.

I‘m hoping to get around 7-8 eggs daily now that the days are getting longer. I have a mix of colors, blue, green, brown, white, cream. I’m starting a laying project in the spring and will be trying for olive speckled eggs.

 

[longboard55]

I use to raise laying hens as a 4 Hr, think twice, yes they lay eggs but OMG they are pooping machines and they eat like a horse. We would buy the chickies from Sears catalog

 

[LuvOrlando]

I seriously love having my chickens. I think everyone with a backyard should have some . I’m turning into a crazy chicken lady, I know. Our biggest factor on building the coop was that I wanted little maintenance. I grew up doing chicken chores and I hated it. We put a lot of thought and time into the design of the coop and the feed/water system. I probably do 30 minutes of chicken chores weekly. Super easy.

We modeled our coop after Carolina Coops. It cost $3000 to build. It’s definitely a luxury coop. My only regret is I wish I had gone bigger. I have 23 new chicks coming in April and I’m not sure where they are going.

We have 11 chickens and I spend $75 every 3 weeks on high quality, organic feed. I also use industrial hemp bedding $$$, but I only have to change it twice per year. I can’t turn them loose in the yard because of predators and avian influenza, but the coop has lots of space and I supplement with fresh alfalfa and veggies.

I‘m hoping to get around 7-8 eggs daily now that the days are getting longer. I have a mix of colors, blue, green, brown, white, cream. I’m starting a laying project in the spring and will be trying for olive speckled eggs.

I use to raise laying hens as a 4 Hr, think twice, yes they lay eggs but OMG they are pooping machines and they eat like a horse. We would buy the chickies from Sears catalog

Sooo how does one manage chicken coop poop (see what I did right there.
Can you scoop it up like with cats in a litter box, is there a grill under the pen where you can capture it and hose it all off? Sounds like it can go from fun to not fun pretty quick.

I remember my kids having turtles and the poop management was horrendous since a captive water turtle is swimming in it's own toilet bowl so I never let the kids touch it, which defeated the purpose of a pet - so that happened.

 

[tzolkin]

Sooo how does one manage chicken coop poop (see what I did right there.
Can you scoop it up like with cats in a litter box, is there a grill under the pen where you can capture it and hose it all off? Sounds like it can go from fun to not fun pretty quick.

I think for most small backyard coops people use wood shavings or straw for bedding. Yes, it gets gross and when it's time to clean you shovel it all out and compost it. Then replace with new clean bedding.

 

[lifesavacation]

Sooo how does one manage chicken coop poop (see what I did right there.
Can you scoop it up like with cats in a litter box, is there a grill under the pen where you can capture it and hose it all off? Sounds like it can go from fun to not fun pretty quick.

I remember my kids having turtles and the poop management was horrendous since a captive water turtle is swimming in it's own toilet bowl so I never let the kids touch it, which defeated the purpose of a pet - so that

I use the deep litter method in my coop. I‘ll have to swap out the hemp bedding maybe once a year.

 

[karen4546]

Sooo how does one manage chicken coop poop (see what I did right there.
Can you scoop it up like with cats in a litter box, is there a grill under the pen where you can capture it and hose it all off? Sounds like it can go from fun to not fun pretty quick.

I remember my kids having turtles and the poop management was horrendous since a captive water turtle is swimming in it's own toilet bowl so I never let the kids touch it, which defeated the purpose of a pet - so that happened.

My husband uses the chicken poop in the garden.

we have a decent size farm with goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and Guinea fowl.

we don’t eat the animals - just the eggs. Pig is a rescue but we raise and sell the goats.

 

[karen4546]

I seriously love having my chickens. I think everyone with a backyard should have some . I’m turning into a crazy chicken lady, I know. Our biggest factor on building the coop was that I wanted little maintenance. I grew up doing chicken chores and I hated it. We put a lot of thought and time into the design of the coop and the feed/water system. I probably do 30 minutes of chicken chores weekly. Super easy.

We modeled our coop after Carolina Coops. It cost $3000 to build. It’s definitely a luxury coop. My only regret is I wish I had gone bigger. I have 23 new chicks coming in April and I’m not sure where they are going.

We have 11 chickens and I spend $75 every 3 weeks on high quality, organic feed. I also use industrial hemp bedding $$$, but I only have to change it twice per year. I can’t turn them loose in the yard because of predators and avian influenza, but the coop has lots of space and I supplement with fresh alfalfa and veggies.

I‘m hoping to get around 7-8 eggs daily now that the days are getting longer. I have a mix of colors, blue, green, brown, white, cream. I’m starting a laying project in the spring and will be trying for olive speckled eggs.

We have several “ Easter egg” layers also. We don’t have a coop per se …more of a yard. the chicken area consists of one larger area with a chicken house with roosts, nest boxes, and chick coops off the ground to raise the bitties. There are Four of those all set up with lights and are each 8 ft long and 4 ft wide. The house is 14ft x 8 ft. The fenced in area on that set up is probably half the size of a football field with 6 ft fences,

the other chicken house is the same size with the same set up with laying boxes and roosts but the fenced in area is only 15ft x 10ft. It has a small opening so the chickens can go to the big yard but they roost in there at night.
we have automatic watering and feeding. We do put out corn daily. Of course they have laying Pellets and we give them lots Of extras like bean shoots, over ripe veg. etc.

we hatch out our chicks also. My husband loves his animals.

 

[barkley]

and the smuggling has begun-

from the boarder control authorities-

'The San Diego Field Office has recently noticed an increase in the number of eggs intercepted at our ports of entry. As a reminder, uncooked eggs are prohibited entry from Mexico into the U.S. Failure to declare agriculture items can result in penalties of up to $10,000'

 

[tvguy]

and the smuggling has begun-

from the boarder control authorities-

'The San Diego Field Office has recently noticed an increase in the number of eggs intercepted at our ports of entry. As a reminder, uncooked eggs are prohibited entry from Mexico into the U.S. Failure to declare agriculture items can result in penalties of up to $10,000'

I can see that happened as people cross into California because eggs here by law must be from cage free chickens now, which caused the price to go up before the current shortage.

 

[magik]

Use flaxseed or aquafaba to replace eggs in recipes.

I regularly use 1 tbsp ground flaxseed plus 3 tbsp water mixed together to replace 1 egg in all kinds of baked goods. I don’t actually like eggs, so I generally only buy them at Christmas time to make lots of cookies. I always have flax seed on hand though, so it’s easier for me to just use flaxseed egg substitute most of the time.

I’ve also played with aquafaba (the liquid drained out of a can of chickpeas) to make meringues. I was shocked that it worked.

For those of us who are allergic, frittatas, quiches and omelets are right out, but that's only 3 dishes, so not a huge loss for most people. (As it happens, most other allergic people whom I've met also seem to dislike the smell of whole cooked eggs, so again, not much of a sacrifice. I developed an intense dislike for the smell right around the same time my allergy was discovered, so who knows which came first.)

For things like quiche, I have found tasty recipes that use tofu instead of egg. I don’t know that I would just replace the eggs in a quiche recipe that was designed for using eggs, but plenty of quiche recipes that were designed for using tofu exist.

 

[Imzadi]

I've tried every method out for hard boiling eggs, from placing them in cold water at the beginning, to gently dropping them into water at a full boil. None of them work for me. I ended up with over-cooked eggs with dry, chalky yolks that even mixing them with the moisture in mayonnaise (for egg salad or deviled eggs) couldn't fix. Plus, there would be a gray ring around the yoke, and no matter how I cooled them, always developed. All that actually gave me an aversion to boiled eggs, unless I bought it pre-made from a deli.

I do love a fried egg, sunny side up, with a runny yoke. So, this morning, I decided to go to the other extreme and make some soft-boiled eggs. I found a recipe online, placing eggs into boiling water for a total of 6-1/2 minutes. They came out perfect. The yokes were luscious. I am in love.

I even refrigerated a couple of the eggs to have later. But, then ate them already as I kept thinking about those wonderful yokes. (They are definitely better when the yoke is still warm.) And, NO gray ring around the cooled yoke!

I will never try hard boiling an egg again.

Here's the recipe I used from Bon Appetit:

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/jammy-soft-boiled-eggs

 

[tvguy]

I've tried every method out for hard boiling eggs, from placing them in cold water at the beginning, to gently dropping them into water at a full boil. None of them work for me. I ended up with over-cooked eggs with dry, chalky yolks that even mixing them with the moisture in mayonnaise (for egg salad or deviled eggs) couldn't fix. Plus, there would be a gray ring around the yoke, and no matter how I cooled them, never went away. All that actually gave me an aversion to boiled eggs, unless I bought it pre-made from a deli.

I do love a fried egg, sunny side up, with a runny yoke. So, this morning, I decided to go to the other extreme and make some soft-boiled eggs. I found a recipe online, placing eggs into boiling water for a total of 6-1/2 minutes. They came out perfect. The yokes were luscious. I am in love.

I even refrigerated a couple of the eggs to have later. But, then ate them already as I kept thinking about them. (They are definitely better when the yoke is still warm.) Yet, NO gray ring around the cooled yoke!

I will never try hard boiling an egg again.

Here's the recipe I used from Bon Appetit:

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/jammy-soft-boiled-eggs

I was going to buy some eggs to hard boil. Bought the pre-cooked, already shelled ones because they were cheaper!

 

[barkley]

I regularly use 1 tbsp ground flaxseed plus 3 tbsp water mixed together to replace 1 egg in all kinds of baked goods. I don’t actually like eggs, so I generally only buy them at Christmas time to make lots of cookies. I always have flax seed on hand though, so it’s easier for me to just use flaxseed egg substitute most of the time.

I’ve also played with aquafaba (the liquid drained out of a can of chickpeas) to make meringues. I was shocked that it worked.


For things like quiche, I have found tasty recipes that use tofu instead of egg. I don’t know that I would just replace the eggs in a quiche recipe that was designed for using eggs, but plenty of quiche recipes that were designed for using tofu exist.

if you want some good substitution ideas for a vegetarian diet or vegetarian versions of very classic old school foods-take a look at the 'apple a day' cookbooks. very old school books written by the wives of seventh day adventist doctors (the faith is vegetarian). reads like any other community type cookbook but there are tons of traditional foods where you learn what can be very successfully substituted out for non vegetarian ingredients.

I was going to buy some eggs to hard boil. Bought the pre-cooked, already shelled ones because they were cheaper!

lord-those are crazy expensive even in the best of times. my local stores charge a minimum of $1 each.

 

[Imzadi]

I was going to buy some eggs to hard boil. Bought the pre-cooked, already shelled ones because they were cheaper!

I always wonder how long ago they've been cooked and how fresh they still are.

 

[tvguy]

lord-those are crazy expensive even in the best of times. my local stores charge a minimum of $1 each.

$2.54 for 6 pack at Walmart. Fresh eggs were $5.13 a dozen. If I had bought a dozen hard boiled eggs, I would have saved 8 cents

 

[Lilsia]

Our local grocery stores contracts with a private, local egg farm and they are not having any shortages. Their prices, although a bit higher, are the same. I will happily pay more for good quality eggs. The cheap, mass produced ones make me sick. You can actually see the hairline cracks in the shells where bacteria can get in.

 

[tvguy]

Our local grocery stores contracts with a private, local egg farm and they are not having any shortages. Their prices, although a bit higher, are the same. I will happily pay more for good quality eggs. The cheap, mass produced ones make me sick. You can actually see the hairline cracks in the shells where bacteria can get in.

While there have been a few empty slots, both Walmart and our local grocery chain have always had eggs. Walmart NEVER ran out of their 60 egg cartons. The one brand both stores have always had, Egglands Best. While that is a national brand, the packaging promotes they are local eggs, from Turlock, which is 100 miles from here. Gemperie Family Farms apparently being Egglands Best supplier here.

 

[barkley]

on the subject of egg cost-was out shopping the other day and decided to have a bite to eat at a little diner we've been to many times. admittedly we've not been there since the pandemic hit so we figured the pricing would be higher but the egg prices must be hitting them the hardest b/c while their other menu items had gone up in price it was nothing compared to the increases on the dishes that contained eggs-at least a 40% price increase (and a little disclaimer on the wipe board that greets you when you walk in to caution and apologize that due to egg shortages some menu items may vary in availability within so much as a given day).

 

[nw6675]

Just noticed that egg prices are normal again in my area. Woot! No more stretching