getting my eggs to taste better

[Donutlou]

hi,
we have 6 hens, 3 buff orpingtons and 3 silver laced wyandottes. our eggs look great, yolks sit up high and taste good but not great like some that we have gotten from friends. any idea why our eggs dont taste better? they are not free range but have a large screened in run. we feed them natures best organic feed and cracked corn as a treat. i also sprout black oil sunflower seeds and give it to them as a treat. its also winter and we are in the north east if that makes a difference.
thanks
the marinos

 

[lazy gardener]

Switch to fermented feed. I guarantee you'll notice a difference, most likely within 3 weeks. It will also cut down your feed bill, and your chicken poop won't be as gross.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

hi,
we have 6 hens, 3 buff orpingtons and 3 silver laced wyandottes. our eggs look great, yolks sit up high and taste good but not great like some that we have gotten from friends. any idea why our eggs dont taste better? they are not free range but have a large screened in run. we feed them natures best organic feed and cracked corn as a treat. i also sprout black oil sunflower seeds and give it to them as a treat. its also winter and we are in the north east if that makes a difference.
thanks
the marinos

Hi - I have a BO and a SLW in my flock, too.

Do your friends free range their birds? I ask because my flock is free range during daylight hours and I believe that the outstanding flavor of their eggs (not just my bias - my customers love them, too) is due to the fact that they consume a variety of edibles: greens, bugs, frogs, etc. - whatever they find and decide they want to eat. They also get non-GMO fermented feed to supplement what they forage, and I also provide non-GMO scratch and BOSS as treats, along with various fruit and vegetable scraps.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I can't say for sure.... do they do something different than you?

I also happen to ferment my feed. Just Purina flock raiser.

Sprouting barley maybe to fodder would help substitute the lack of ranging.

Good luck!

 

[Donutlou]

yeah, they do free range their chickens. we don't really have the space to do that without our son (2yr old) getting into their poop. im going to look up fermented feed. my wife really wants to keep them organic, no gmos etc. you think i should feed them worms and stuff like that?

 

[Donutlou]

thanks for the insight, im gonna try the fermented feed. we give them most of our vegetable scraps etc too.

 

[Donutlou]

i checked out your link for fermented feed. thanks for that. so its just mix my current feed 1 to 1 with water and stir for 3-4 days... then feed to the ladies. im assuming its like oatmeal consistency? how long does it stay?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Fermenting feed is not going to make a big difference opposed to true free range. It's the diversity of grasses and bugs, grubs that makes free range so great. Fresh eggs, as fresh as we back yarders get them are much better than store bought even if your mainly on a feed. Which is good mind you. Too many treats is unproductive. Table scraps and soilder fly colonies are ways to diversify what their intake is in a healthier way than scratch. What are you changing flavor wise with fermenting? Cider. OK....that will change flavor but the benefit of fermenting feed is not OMG the flavor is so much better. It's not asian food where if you don't know what to do just add nutmeg and call it good. Not knocking fermenting but my lord, does it cure cancer too?

Look into a sustainable way to give your birds insects. Soilder fly colonies and even growing out earth worms is going to do wonders not only for diversity of feed and flavor but a huge boost in protein. In the summer if you garden then all your culls go to them rather than compost. Stuff like that will get you closer to that true free range flavor your craving.

 

[MagicChicken]

Winter in the northeast would be tricky. If you have access to good alfalfa hay you can use that in their pens. It would give them something green to pick at. In warmer weather you could plant stuff around their pen that they can nibble through the wire.

My birds sample everything that grows into their area. Usually this helps the color and flavor of the eggs. But not always. I had one group of hens who figured out how to get into my garden. They decimated the purple kale. This purple kale was a new crop for me, and I had already decided I didn't like it (cardboard texture, odd taste). But the hens liked it. I thought that was a good thing until they started producing eggs with purple-tinged yolks. And those purple eggs tasted vile. Just like that variety of kale. On the other hand, bok choy grows fast and my hens really like it. And it has never made the eggs taste weird.

 

[lazy gardener]

Fermenting feed is not going to make a big difference opposed to true free range. It's the diversity of grasses and bugs, grubs that makes free range so great. Fresh eggs, as fresh as we back yarders get them are much better than store bought even if your mainly on a feed. Which is good mind you. Too many treats is unproductive. Table scraps and soilder fly colonies are ways to diversify what their intake is in a healthier way than scratch. What are you changing flavor wise with fermenting? Cider. OK....that will change flavor but the benefit of fermenting feed is not OMG the flavor is so much better. It's not asian food where if you don't know what to do just add nutmeg and call it good. Not knocking fermenting but my lord, does it cure cancer too?

Look into a sustainable way to give your birds insects. Soilder fly colonies and even growing out earth worms is going to do wonders not only for diversity of feed and flavor but a huge boost in protein. In the summer if you garden then all your culls go to them rather than compost. Stuff like that will get you closer to that true free range flavor your craving.

I'm glad you're such an expert on the benefits of fermented feed, including how it does improve the flavor of the eggs. It certainly does seem to me like you are knocking fermenting. Until you have done an honest trial of supplying fermented feed for a month, you really have no ground to state what it will and what it won't do. I'd love to be able to have a colony of BSL larvae. But in my zone 4 climate, that is not possible. Sprouting is a valid option, and IMO fermentation goes a long ways to making those eggs exceptional in flavor. I have customers who go into withdrawal when I can't supply them with eggs. One lady can buy farm fresh eggs near her home, but she says the eggs from my hens are so much better. She hates to get eggs from any other source than me, because the difference between fermented and non fermented is THAT NOTICEABLE, AND FF YIELDS SUPERIOR FLAVORED EGGS.

Winter in the northeast would be tricky. If you have access to good alfalfa hay you can use that in their pens. It would give them something green to pick at. In warmer weather you could plant stuff around their pen that they can nibble through the wire.

My birds sample everything that grows into their area. Usually this helps the color and flavor of the eggs. But not always. I had one group of hens who figured out how to get into my garden. They decimated the purple kale. This purple kale was a new crop for me, and I had already decided I didn't like it (cardboard texture, odd taste). But the hens liked it. I thought that was a good thing until they started producing eggs with purple-tinged yolks. And those purple eggs tasted vile. Just like that variety of kale. On the other hand, bok choy grows fast and my hens really like it. And it has never made the eggs taste weird.

Sprouting grains is very easy to do. I keep a few jars of sprouts going when ever ground is frozen and snow covered which for me is Nov through April.