Egg Carton Contamination

[Pensmaster]

How do you prepare the trout?
I LOVE IT GRILLED/SMOKED w/lime juice..
I should have started the thread as a "Barter" theme.
We trade a lot..
P.S. What time is dinner? View attachment 1217117
View attachment 1217142
So I can stay on subject,
I have put 5 eggs WET into 5 different color Styrofoam cartons. As a science experiment. Did this about 10 mins ago. I will check them out around this time tomorrow.
Pink, yellow, green, blue, white. All in the egg refer so the conditions should be the same. I am reusing the 18 pack that caused the stains in the first place.
Same washing method, just cold water. No soaps or chemicals. Just carton/water/egg
I will post the results tomorrow around this same time.

Grilled in foil with butter spices and lemon. It is yummy. I’ll watch for experiments.
I usually let mine air dry till ready.

 

[Pensmaster]

How do you prepare the trout?
I LOVE IT GRILLED/SMOKED w/lime juice..
I should have started the thread as a "Barter" theme.
We trade a lot..
P.S. What time is dinner? View attachment 1217117
View attachment 1217142
So I can stay on subject,
I have put 5 eggs WET into 5 different color Styrofoam cartons. As a science experiment. Did this about 10 mins ago. I will check them out around this time tomorrow.
Pink, yellow, green, blue, white. All in the egg refer so the conditions should be the same. I am reusing the 18 pack that caused the stains in the first place.
Same washing method, just cold water. No soaps or chemicals. Just carton/water/egg
I will post the results tomorrow around this same time.

Grilled in foil with butter spices and lemon. It is yummy. I’ll watch for experiments.
I usually let mine air dry till ready.

 

[Fairview01]

View attachment 1217057
To help keep the costs down, we have friends who donate grains from their Brewery. FREE. 8 - Forty gallons a week or more, as a supplemental feed along with conventional feed. The spent grains keep or food bill real low. AS well a supplement for many swine and goats.
Without this, we could not operate at this capacity.
To insure the Barley Grain train rolling our way, we barter meats for the thousands of pounds of grain.
Every once in a while we give the guys packs of center cut pork chops, hams, baby back ribs, bacon slabs. The bacon slabs really keep the barley train rolling..
View attachment 1217066 View attachment 1217062 View attachment 1217070 View attachment 1217069
On top of the barley coming in, we hatch and sell chicks. This time of year not so good. But spring and summer excellent. That pays for the feed as well. We also filled our freezers with Roosters and the balance, around thirty off them were sold to pay for feed recently.
So it's not just cheap egg sales keeping us going. It's the cheap egg sales keeping them coming back.
When I use to charge $3.00 per dozen, we were feeding the pigs all the eggs. Here in our area the average price for fresh eggs is $2.50. TOO MANY people selling eggs. Selling at 2 bucks has me moving my stock quickly. PLUS I get the cream of the crop. The prettiest and jumbos are put in my kitchen frig.. the balance in the barn frig.

But I agree about the feed costs. If we didn't have the free feed, I would thin my flock big time..

So I have been a member for just short of a year. Sadly this thread is one of not even a handful of total threads that I have found to be intellectually stimulating and interesting in that time.

So to be fair if our flocks were to be compared, your response might be, 'Where are all your chickens?' When I get in a week what you get in 2 day I'm doing good. The eggs I produce are purchased by my neighbors.

I envy your system. It looks like your bartering is a complete circle for your needs. I wish I cold do that. Right now the eggs pay for feed for both the laying flock and my large fowl white Cornish that admittedly is a hobby.

Anways that is WAAAAAAAAY off topic. So rhetorically speaking, 'If you lost your grain source and had to start paying market price for feeds, what would happen not just to your egg prices but to your entire bartering circle? From what little I know and a whole lot of what I don't know it seems your grain source is the keystone of your trade. Perhaps not. What interests me is the $2.00/dozen price.

So at $2.00/dozen that's $70.00 a week at 5 dozen/day assuming they aren't used in a trade AND at the end of the week all eggs are sold. (Can we even buy stale store bought eggs at that price? It's been awhile since eggs have come home in the suburban) In this example lets say the price is $2.25 per. Just a tad more than a mere 10% increase. Now to make that $70.00 only 31 dozen needs to be sold. The other 4 dozen now represent an additional $9.00 or an additional free 13% profit for no additional overhead. At $2.50 per that equates to $17.50 extra and an additional free 25% profit for no additional overhead.

What it means to me on a business level is that at $2.25 I make my $70.00 a week when I sell 31 dozen and I have a surplus of 4 extra dozen to barter with.

You seem to have a near perfect circle of bartering and that could not have been created without some a good business head on your shoulders. I just can't imagine myself collecting eggs at 7pm in 35 degree weather in the rain. You made me hungry with your pictures. Gonna have to fire up my smoker.

Gonna send you a pm.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I usually let mine air dry till ready.

Eggs?? I always use paper flats. Except that one time in my OP.
The paper composite flats absorb excess water and dry out in less than an hour. I took a short cut by being in a hurry and not going over to the flats package and just quickly having access to the styro right in front of me.
TSC put a massive pile of flats on clearance last year for $1 a case. We bought them all.
When I dry my eggs in them, its like 5 layers of flats and the water gets sucked up fast.
I was lazy the night of placing them in the styro..
Short cuts aren't always so short..

 

[Lazy Farmer]

So at $2.00/dozen that's $70.00 a week at 5 dozen/day assuming they aren't used in a trade AND at the end of the week all eggs are sold.

We barter meats.. sometimes we just give free eggs to family and friends. Chickens are inexpensive to raise.

I envy your system. It looks like your bartering is a complete circle for your needs. I wish I cold do that. Right now the eggs pay for feed for both the laying flock and my large fowl white Cornish that admittedly is a hobby.

We are a Hobby Farm, not a business. Our goals are only to stay out of the RED, nothing more. Because we enjoy this life style. As long as we keep homegrown beef, pork and poultry stocking our freezers-- that is the main reason for growing this hobby into a monster.
This is not our income.. just a fun hobby.

What it means to me on a business level is that at $2.25 I make my $70.00 a week when I sell 31 dozen and I have a surplus of 4 extra dozen to barter with.

We don't look at it on a biz level.. we look at it as a food source.

'If you lost your grain source and had to start paying market price for feeds, what would happen not just to your egg prices but to your entire bartering circle? From what little I know and a whole lot of what I don't know it seems your grain source is the keystone of your trade. Perhaps not. What interests me is the $2.00/dozen price.

God Forbid.. but if the Brewery burns sown tomorrow. About my entire flock would be sold as egg makers on craigslist for $25 a bird. We are breeders. When we start selling chicks seasonal, the phone lites up crazy.. half of them ask for egg layers. That's when I sell my older birds to replace them with younger flock. They sell FAST. And people pay that $25 so they are NOT burdened with all labor of raising chicks for 6 months.. they want eggs now..
75 egg layer in main egg house.
Breeder house #1 has 15 Wyandottes/+roo
Breeder house #2 has 10 Mottled Java/+roo
Breeder house #3 has 5 RI Reds/+roo
My newest B hou. has 7 Blue Austurlorpes/+2 roo
My tree house lau) has about 12 hens. They are total living in the elements & like it. Then Lefty & Righty, my pasture pair. They do their own thing.
Just harvested a ton of roos & sold 40ish?
Last season we ran 3 incubators at once, timed out for a hatch every 10 days. As the seasonal progressed, we leaned it down to 2. Eventually one as sales drop. SPRING IS CHICK FEVER TIME..
Right now the eggs from the breeder houses are sold as breakfast until February. Hobby gone loco!
So if the grain train ends... Liquidation is eminent.

You made me hungry with your pictures. Gonna have to fire up my smoker.

LOL

Click on that tiny font link in my signature box. That is the main reason we are doing this. A small hobby farm WILL NEVER PROFIT, but eat like Kings!
BTW, Walmart had 18 packs of eggs the other day selling at $1.69.

 

[JMotuzick]

$25 a bird wow!

$15 a peice for 15 week old pulletts.

$5 a dozen here.
About $1.50 a dozen at the store.
Gota look at quality too though, sadly most people don’t.


I’m all for the barter system been doing it for years. My father has raised pork for the last 30 years. Peaches/apples for 40, he mostly gets traded for hay. Not many people around here grow grains.

 

[Fairview01]

We barter meats.. sometimes we just give free eggs to family and friends. Chickens are inexpensive to raise.

We are a Hobby Farm, not a business. Our goals are only to stay out of the RED, nothing more. Because we enjoy this life style. As long as we keep homegrown beef, pork and poultry stocking our freezers-- that is the main reason for growing this hobby into a monster.
This is not our income.. just a fun hobby.

We don't look at it on a biz level.. we look at it as a food source.

God Forbid.. but if the Brewery burns sown tomorrow. About my entire flock would be sold as egg makers on craigslist for $25 a bird. We are breeders. When we start selling chicks seasonal, the phone lites up crazy.. half of them ask for egg layers. That's when I sell my older birds to replace them with younger flock. They sell FAST. And people pay that $25 so they are NOT burdened with all labor of raising chicks for 6 months.. they want eggs now..
75 egg layer in main egg house.
Breeder house #1 has 15 Wyandottes/+roo
Breeder house #2 has 10 Mottled Java/+roo
Breeder house #3 has 5 RI Reds/+roo
My newest B hou. has 7 Blue Austurlorpes/+2 roo
My tree house lau) has about 12 hens. They are total living in the elements & like it. Then Lefty & Righty, my pasture pair. They do their own thing.
Just harvested a ton of roos & sold 40ish?
Last season we ran 3 incubators at once, timed out for a hatch every 10 days. As the seasonal progressed, we leaned it down to 2. Eventually one as sales drop. SPRING IS CHICK FEVER TIME..
Right now the eggs from the breeder houses are sold as breakfast until February. Hobby gone loco!
So if the grain train ends... Liquidation is eminent.

LOLView attachment 1217219
Click on that tiny font link in my signature box. That is the main reason we are doing this. A small hobby farm WILL NEVER PROFIT, but eat like Kings!
BTW, Walmart had 18 packs of eggs the other day selling at $1.69.

I have 15 acres of decent raw land about 20 minutes from where we live now. Stock tanks with good bass, channel cats and occasionally some ducks. I could do what you guys are doing if I was willing to leave my wife. Ever since those pesky grandchildren started showing up (7 and 1/3 presently) my wife has been set in concrete where we are now. We are 5 minutes from them now; at 20 minutes it be like living on Mars for her.

 

[Leigti]

How do you prepare the trout?
I LOVE IT GRILLED/SMOKED w/lime juice..
I should have started the thread as a "Barter" theme.
We trade a lot..
P.S. What time is dinner? View attachment 1217117
View attachment 1217142
So I can stay on subject,
I have put 5 eggs WET into 5 different color Styrofoam cartons. As a science experiment. Did this about 10 mins ago. I will check them out around this time tomorrow.
Pink, yellow, green, blue, white. All in the egg refer so the conditions should be the same. I am reusing the 18 pack that caused the stains in the first place.
Same washing method, just cold water. No soaps or chemicals. Just carton/water/egg
I will post the results tomorrow around this same time.

I will be interested to see how this turns out. I have bought paper cartons and people give me cartons. I usually throw away the Styrofoam ones. And I throw away any others that are dirty or beat up too badly.

 

[Cryss]

I wash mine in cool water then air dry in a colander. Once dry I apply a super thin coat of mineral oil to replace the bloom. I keep them in the fridge and they can last months if needed.

 

[aart]

I wash mine in cool water then air dry in a colander. Once dry I apply a super thin coat of mineral oil to replace the bloom. I keep them in the fridge and they can last months if needed.

Old thread.....but @Cryss you should always use water 'warmer than the egg' when washing them...so expansion of the contents push 'stuff' out of the shell pores, rather than contraction pulling stuff in.