The Chicks Have Arrived! by, Emily

Last Friday, Dad ordered 25 Gold star laying hens, and two roosters. Yesterday, (Thursday) we woke up to Dad saying, "Time to get up! The post office just called and said our chicks are in!" 'What a great way to start my day!' I thought as I made my bed. After chores, me, Dad, Ben, and Jonny all jumped into the truck, turned the heat on high, and zoomed off to the post office to pick up the day-old chicks.
Of course, the ride to the post office seemed to take much longer than usual! When we finally arrived, me and Jonny hopped out, and ran to the door, rang the bell, and waited. About 30 seconds later, the door opened, and the postman handed us a box with loud peeps coming from it! Our chicks! We got into the now-very-warm truck, and began the ride home.
Excitedly, we opened the box and petted and played with the chicks on the way home. It isn't often you get to play with baby chicks in the truck! :) They were all very healthy, and peeping so loud it hurt my ears! When we arrived home, Dad ran into the house, and filled up the chick's waterer with luke-warm water, then brought it back and drove out to the chicken coop in the truck. (It was too cold to carry the box out).

Upon arriving, we took the box of peeping fluff-balls into the coop, and put them one-by-one into the pen, dipping their beaks in the water, a process which we do every time, so they know where the water is. When they were all in the pen, they huddled together in a small bunch, directly under the heat lamp. Because they continued to do this, we hung up another heat lamp, and then, since they showed no progress of warming up, put a small heater in their pen. Not long after, they were running around, warm, happy and peeping. In a few hours, Dad went out to check on them, and gave them a small feeder filled with starter feed. Right before chicks hatch, they "eat" the yolk inside of the egg, enabling them to be without food for the next day or so, thus they can be shipped through the mail, and they don't have to be given food right away. The chicks are very happy in their new home, and as cute as could be! :)

The Incredible Edible Egg!

Hard boiled eggs are a favorite around our house. It's a good thing too, considering the number of eggs we have. Have you ever tried making hard boiled eggs from farm fresh eggs? It's not pretty! The fresher the egg the more difficult it is to peel. I am not sure exactly why that is. Adding vinegar to the water before boiling them helps. But tucking a couple dozen fresh eggs in the back of the refrigerator for a week or two works also! White eggs always peel the best. They seem to have a thinner shell than the brown and green eggs. Also, white eggs are usually the biggest eggs, at least on our farm. It's no wonder they were chosen for mass production—those poor leghorns!

Over the past several decades the egg has gotten a bad rap. Some would like us to believe they are killing us and should be replaced with some chemical concoction. I don't agree. Quality eggs—from chickens that are pasture raised, eating bugs and worms—are full of good nutrition. They are an excellent source of vitamin A, carotene, thiamin, niacin, vitamin D and iron. Eggs are also considered to be the most complete protein source in a single food.

Here is some more food for thought:

"The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine had a report on eggs and cholesterol. A group of New Guinea natives, whose diet is exceedingly low in cholesterol, were fed eggs to measure the cholesterol-raising effect of eggs. They figured the serum cholesterol levels would be blown off the charts. The eggs had no significant effect on the blood cholesterol. Another study done by the American Cancer Society revealed that non-egg users had a higher death rate from heart attacks and strokes than egg users. This was a very large (and so convincing) study involving over 800,000 people." William Campbell Douglass, MD The Milk Book

"Patients with severe burns are often force-fed huge quantities of whole eggs and egg concentrates as a source of protein to rebuild large areas of lost skin. During this egg therapy, however, there is no significant increase in their serum cholesterol. In one study, volunteers fed 18 eggs per day actually showed reduced levels of cholesterol. Perhaps it is because when you are full of eggs you do not have room for sugar and junk foods-the real culprits in the cholesterol scenario. Eggs are one of the healthiest foods on the planet. They provide protein of the highest quality plus all known vitamins and minerals (except vitamin C)." David W. Rowland Health Naturally

"Since eggs have the highest amount of cholesterol per unit weight of all common foods (liver and brains have more), people began to fear them. Once called nature's most perfect food by nutritionists, eggs fell into disfavor and their consumption began to plummet after 1950. The average number of eggs consumed in the U.S. per person per year dropped from a high of 389 in 1950....to only 234 in 1989. Americans are eating many fewer eggs today than at the turn of the century......Thousands of egg farmers have gone out of business over the last 30 years because of the false dietary cholesterol scare. And millions of Americans have given up or substantially reduced their consumption of one of the best and most economical foods available for no good scientific or common sense reasons." Russell L. Smith, PhD Health Freedom News

I believe it is best to eat a diet of natural foods. By that I mean foods with ingredients you can name, or better yet foods that are not canned or boxed. Over the years, we have gone through different health fetishes. There was a time when we avoided all dairy products-drinking soy and rice milks. There were also times when I had no sugar in my house. But we have observed that our family has been the healthiest when we have consumed a very "normal" diet of organic natural foods, nothing too extreme. So, all that to say, we enjoy our eggs! And we even throw a few pieces of organic, no nitrate bacon on the plate as well!

Eggs are going fast!

This morning we woke up to 28 degrees below zero! When Mike went out to the barn, Millie, who is usually busy bossing everyone around, was curled up in the hay trying to stay warm. At least the worst is over. The weathermen are predicting 20 ABOVE zero for tomorrow. ...heat wave!

Well, the eggs are going fast! Emily sold 11 dozen today, but she still has some available. Just give us a call! Remember, they are on sale for the month of January ($2.50 per dozen).

Eggs for Sale!!!

Hi all you local folk. Emily has an abundance of eggs, which is unusual for January. If you are in need of eggs stop out, we'd love to see you! Special price of only $2.50 per dozen for the month of January. (Normally eggs are $3.00 per dozen)