If you think that all eggs are created equal, then you have not indulged in a fresh egg laid by a backyard chicken. Homegrown foods often provide the greatest nutrition and best taste. Eggs from a small backyard flock are laid by chickens that eat grass, hunt for worms, dig up insects, and munch on foliage. These are happy chickens. Happy chickens lay healthy eggs.
How much healthier are these backyard eggs? A lot! When compared with industrial eggs, we are talking loads more of vitamins B2, B5, and B12; four times the vitamin D; ten times the vitamin E; double the omega-3; and 25% less saturated fat!
There are also numerous health benefits outside of the egg shell. Tending to a backyard flock of chickens requires regular upkeep. That involves raking the run, changing the coop ground cover, laying fresh straw in nesting boxes, changing out 5 gallon pails of water, and hoisting bags of feed. All of these activities require a healthy dose of bending, squating, lifting, carrying, and pushing that will keep the body farmer fit.
There is also the social and emotional boost from tending to the flock. You have not lived until you and your child have sat in anxious awe, tuned into Chicken TV, waiting for one of the hens to lay an egg. Seeing the egg-laying process live is amazing...to put it mildly. Kids can spend hours with the chickens observing, playing, and tending to the chicken's living space. My own children have spent numerous summer days in the coop! And the sheer joy they experience each day when they return home from school and discover freshly laid eggs has not dwindled; even after hundreds of eggs!
Starting your own flock is not easy. It is not challenging, either. With some research, planning, and a minimal investment, you can get your own fresh eggs everyday. Interested in learning more? Contact us and schedule a consultation.