A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens (43 page)
Read A Family Guide To Keeping Chickens Online
Authors: Anne Perdeaux
Fresh eggs every day are wonderful . . .
. . . but they can accumulate at an alarming rate!
When I was a child we had eggs for breakfast every morning but cooked breakfasts are much rarer these days. Although home-baking is making a comeback, four hens in full lay can easily provide over twenty eggs a week, which is an awful lot of cakes.
The abundance will diminish as the year wears on and come winter, eggs will be precious again. The question is how to make the most of them during the months of plenty, while preparing for leaner times to come.
Keep your eggs in the fridge, unless you are lucky enough to have an old-fashioned cool pantry. The normal domestic kitchen is too warm – if someone gives you an egg-rack for the kitchen, use it for storing something else!
Egg-boxes are the perfect containers and can be bought from chicken supply stores. Place the eggs pointed end down so the air-space can ‘breathe’. Number or date the boxes so you know the age of the eggs inside – this will be helpful if you have a springtime glut.
Eggs can absorb smells, which may be fine if you have a basket of truffles, but not so great if they are stored next to onions or smelly cheese.
Ideally eggs should be taken out of the fridge half an hour before you use them.
You’ll have noticed that eggs aren’t refrigerated in the shops, although the boxes advise customers that eggs should be chilled after purchase. This is a legal requirement to prevent changes in temperature during transportation.
No shop-bought eggs can compete with those laid by your own hens so it makes sense to preserve as many as possible when you have an excess.
Eggs can’t be frozen in the shell (they would crack) but they can be stored in the freezer in a variety of other ways. Choose only fresh, undamaged eggs.
The easiest method is to freeze eggs in quantities you regularly use (e.g. three for an omelette). Break the eggs and mix very gently, without making them frothy. Add a pinch of salt or a little caster sugar, depending on their intended use – don’t forget to label the container! Eggs will keep up to six months like this.
You can also freeze yolks and whites separately, which is handy if you are making meringues and want to keep the yolks for another day. Whites can be frozen as they are. Yolks should be lightly whisked with a little salt or caster sugar to stop them from thickening and gelling.
The whisked yolks can be frozen in ice-cube trays, then popped out and stored in a freezer bag. One cube will equal a standard yolk. Whites can also be frozen like this – two cubes will equal a standard white.
If you enjoy baking (and chicken keeping can turn people into bakers), consider freezing cooked dishes such as quiches and cakes. Sponge cakes made with eggs from your own hens are especially delicious. They are a useful standby in the freezer too, enabling you to put a pudding or homemade cake together with very little effort.
Boiled eggs don’t freeze well – the whites go rubbery and the yolks crumble.
Pickled eggs are very easy to make. They keep for ages without refrigeration, and make a tasty addition to salads and snacks. You will need a sterilized preserving jar (submerge the jar and lid in boiling water or put them through a very hot wash in the dishwasher). The ‘Kilner’ preserving jars with glass lids are ideal – metal lids will react with the vinegar.
For a dozen eggs simmer a litre of vinegar with a few whole spices (or a bag of pickling spice) for around ten minutes. Vinegar and spices can be varied to taste. Cider and wine vinegars are milder, or you can dilute malt vinegar with half as much water. A tablespoon of sugar makes a sweeter pickle, a chilli will add some bite, or you can add a few cloves of garlic. Experiment with small batches of eggs until you find the magic formula.
Choose eggs that are about a week old – they will be easier to shell. Hard boil them thoroughly, plunge into cold water, then shell them and place in the jar. When the vinegar has cooled, strain it over the eggs so they are completely covered. Seal and leave for about two weeks.
Preserving Eggs in Waterglass
In the days before refrigeration, eggs were preserved in a solution of sodium silicate or waterglass. This seals the shell pores, keeping bacteria out and moisture inside.
Waterglass (not ‘isinglass’ which is used for wine-making) can be bought online and the chemist may also be able to order it. One part waterglass is mixed with nine parts boiled, cooled water. This is poured into a lidded container – plastic, enamel or earthenware – which has been thoroughly cleaned and scalded. Remember to leave enough room for the eggs.
Use only clean, unwashed, fresh eggs and carefully check for any cracks. Infertile eggs are said to keep better than fertile ones. Place the eggs pointed end down and make sure the solution covers them by about 5 cm. Keep the lid on the container to help avoid evaporation and top-up when necessary; store in a cool, dark place.
Wash the eggs in cold water before using, and prick with a pin before boiling. An undetected hairline crack will cause an egg to go bad, so each egg should be broken into a cup before being added to a dish.
My father remembers eggs being preserved this way in the 1930s. He says they emerged as good as fresh, although they would probably be unsuitable for certain dishes. As the eggs age, the yolks become more delicate, and the whites become thinner and difficult to whisk.
Maybe this sounds wasteful – and hardly making the most of all your hens’ efforts. It depends to whom you give them. A box or two may help keep the neighbours happy, especially if they have been disturbed, or might be disturbed, by your chickens.
Remember those who have helped too. My friend is convinced that our hens keep a calendar so they know when we are going away – not a sniff of an egg in recompense for her twice-daily visits. When we have an excess, I make sure she shares in the bounty.
A box of fresh eggs is usually an acceptable gift – maybe instead of chocolates or wine when visiting friends. You can amaze the recipients by telling them the name of the hen that laid each egg!
When you have paid off all your obligations and the family is refusing to eat another omelette, you can sell surplus eggs. As eggs are a food product, there are some regulations, but these are fairly straightforward for small-scale flocks.
Legislation may vary in different parts of the British Isles and can be
subject to change. For current advice you should check with DEFRA and the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (Egg Marketing) – see ‘Further Reference’.
At present the rules are:
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You must register with DEFRA if you have more than fifty birds, irrespective of whether you intend to sell eggs.
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There is no need to register with the Animal Health Agency if you have less than 350 birds, and only sell eggs direct to customers for their own use. This may be from the farm (or garden) where they were laid or via door-to-door sales.
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If you are unregistered, eggs must not be weight or quality graded (large, medium, small, Class A, B or C).
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Eggs may only be described as ‘free-range’ or ‘organic’ if they meet the relevant criteria.
If eggs are sold by the producer at a local market, further regulations apply.
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If you have more than fifty birds, you must register with the Animal Health Agency.
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If you are not registered, eggs must not be weight or quality graded.
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Your egg-boxes must display the following information: name and address; best before date (maximum twenty-eight days from laying); advice to keep eggs chilled after purchase.
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Some markets also require eggs to be stamped with a producer number – in which case you will have to register with the Animal Health Agency.
If you wish to sell through a third party (i.e. to shops or hotels) the eggs will have to be graded and you must register with the Animal Health Agency, regardless of the number of hens you keep.
In the early stages of chicken keeping you may only be selling a few surplus eggs, rather than registering as an egg producer. However, you will still want to supply your customers with eggs that are as good if not better than those produced commercially – if for no other reason than to encourage them to return for more.
While you mustn’t grade your eggs if you aren’t registered, it may be interesting to know that eggs sold commercially are graded as follows:
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Class A eggs are fit for human consumption when sold in the shell.
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Class B and C eggs are sold to be pasteurized. These are eggs that are dirty, have been cleaned or are slightly damaged (eggs where the shell membrane has been punctured are normally classed as unfit for human consumption).
A registered producer can send eggs to a packing station, where they are sorted and sold on. It’s also possible to set up a small egg-packing business at home. If this is of interest, DEFRA and the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency can help and advise further.
There are several standards applied to Class A eggs. Some defects are internal and only detected by candling (shining a bright light through the egg to view the contents), but even without this you can maintain good quality:
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Only sell eggs from healthy hens, kept in clean conditions, and fed a good diet.
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Remember that shocks and upsets to a laying flock can cause egg defects for a few days afterwards.
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Eggs should be clean but should not have been brushed or washed.
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Sell only eggs with perfect shells – no odd shapes, lumps or cracks.
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Eggs should be fresh (in Class A eggs the air-space is less than 6 mm high). Collect eggs at least daily, store them in a cool place and sell within a day or two of laying.
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Don’t sell eggs from hens that regularly produce watery whites, meat spots or blood spots.
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Many people don’t like eating fertile eggs. It’s also impossible to guarantee that the eggs will be stored correctly once purchased. If you have a cockerel with your hens, you should advise customers.
Making Use of Your Eggs
New chicken keepers usually find themselves eating more eggs than before. From being a useful standby in the fridge, eggs suddenly become a gourmet treat when you can have them on the plate within minutes of being laid!
Even if you check the nest-boxes regularly, you may discover a pile of eggs hidden under a bush. They can be tested for freshness – but even so should be hard-boiled or baked and not offered for sale.