Longbourn Farm

Simple Homemade Recipes & Farm Tips

  • About
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Cookbook
  • Meal Plans
  • Work with Me
  • Resources
  • Blog
    • Recipes
      • 30 Minutes or Less
      • Main Dish
      • Dessert
      • Breakfast
      • Bread
      • Appetizer
      • Side Dish
      • Soup
      • Salad
      • Drinks
    • Gardening
    • Chickens
    • Farm
      • Beekeeping
      • Livestock
      • Land
      • Horse
Home » Animal and Land » Livestock » My hens eggs vs. Store eggs

My hens eggs vs. Store eggs

09/09/15 | Animal and Land, Farm & Family, Livestock

I get asked about the difference between my hens eggs and eggs from the store. This post outlines the details and if you should care about them. 

DSC_0023

First of all, color. Obviously. What determines the color of an egg? The breed of the hen. That’s it. No color of egg is better than another. Typically you find more white eggs in the store because hens who lay white eggs are very good layers. Being a good layer means the hen naturally lays almost every day during her peak production years and she lays large eggs.

DSC_0011

The white eggs are from the store and the brown and green eggs are from my hens.

DSC_0015

My barred rock hen lays these brown beauties. When my rhode island red hen and rhode island red/barred rock cross hen lay, they will lay brown as well.

DSC_0017

My ameraucana hens lay these blue/green eggs.

DSC_0018

These lovely white eggs are from the store. I don’t know what breed laid these particular eggs but typically white leghorns are very good white egg layers.

DSC_0010

Poppy likes to eat the eggs that Abram throws. She was hoping I’d accidentally drop one :).

DSC_0025

Another difference is size. As hens get older, their eggs get larger. Some hens naturally lay larger eggs. The eggs from the grocery store typically come from hens that lay larger eggs. My hens will lay smaller ones just because of their breed. Stella, my oldest hen, lays jumbo sized eggs. Partly because she is older but her breed also just lays larger eggs. The white egg in this picture is a “large” egg from the store. Stella hasn’t laid in a while so I don’t have an example of one of her eggs.

DSC_0020

Another difference is the color of the yolk. My hens lay eggs with dark, dark orange yolks.

DSC_0023

Yolks from store bought eggs are usually a lighter yellow.

DSC_0021

What determines the color of the yolk? Breed of the hen and the diet of the hen. My hens get a complete feed and kitchen scraps and I let them out for a few hours each day to graze grass and weeds and eat bugs. I also feed them the shells of their eggs back for calcium. Because they have such a varied diet, the yolks are a little darker. Eggs from the store have lighter yolks again because of breed but also because the hens usually get super awesome professionally balanced diet while they are at a laying farm. It is very impractical for all commercial hens to be able to graze and free range. (It’s also dangerous. I only let my hens out for a few hours because dogs and raccoons will eat them. Not if, when). Laying hens for large farms have excellent care given to them and they are healthy and happy. Unhappy hens don’t lay eggs!

Just ask Stella, she hasn’t laid an egg since Poppy bit her…Don’t worry. She’s all better now. Except the egg laying part.

DSC_0023

Anyways, moral of the story: the only differences between eggs from the store and eggs from my hens are cosmetic. Both eggs are very healthy and delicious! So if you want to eat a great egg for a great price, go buy one. It’s way cheaper than raising your own, ha! Although I am working on ways to make it more cost efficient, stay tuned!

Pin this farm tip on your Chicken Keeping board to SAVE it for later! Follow Longbourn Farm on Pinterest for more great tips, ideas, and tutorials!

If you’ve wanted to try your hand at keeping chickens but don’t know where to start, check out my free email course!

Comments | 2 comments

« The Chicken Coop Project: Complete
Animal Genetics and Breeding: Part No. 1, Pets »

Comments

  1. Lynne Windley says

    September 15, 2015 at 5:30 PM

    That was so informative! I learned a lot. I love the pictures of all your eggs too! I have to say though, from a cosmetic standpoint, your hen’s eggs beat store-bought eggs hands down.

    Love, Mom

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Hi, Friend!


Alli Kelley is an Agriculture focused entrepreneur. She runs a successful food blog, a consulting and coaching business, and all the social media connected with an online presence.

She also owns and operates a small, diversified farmstead where she enjoys home improvement projects, experimenting in the garden, creating profitable mini businesses on the farm, and of course, riding her big grey horse, Zane.
Read More…

Agriculture

Side view of a full DIY chicken waterer.

DIY Chicken Waterer Tutorial

posted in Animal and Land, Chickens, Farm & Family, Livestock

(sponsored)Are you wasting $2500 a year on food? Learn how to reduce food waste in your home and get the most out of your dollar and reduce your environmental impact! @beeffordinner #BeefItsWhatsForDinner #NicelyDone #beeffarmersandranchers

How to Reduce Food Waste

posted in Animal and Land, Livestock, Main Dish, Recipes & Tips

pasture full of cows

Where Does Beef Come From?

posted in Animal and Land, Livestock

Meal Plans + Ad-Free Recipes

less stress save time prepare ad
FTC Disclosure of Material Connection: The way I provide you with free content is through affiliate links and some of the links in the post above may be affiliate links, they will be marked in the post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to YOU. Read terms here.

Copyright © 2023 · Longbourn Farm • Tasteful Theme by Restored 316

Longbourn Farm
  • Home
  • Cookbook
  • Meal Plans
  • Work With Me
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Gardening
  • Chickens
  • Farm