Chickens are amazing creatures. When you watch one drinking water, you know that you are watching a dinosaur. We knew for a long time that we wanted chickens. Then one day, some friends decided that they did not want to fight some of the side effects of caring for chickens. So they gave us their entire set up: run, coop, chickens, even some food. We have been in love ever since.

These lovely ladies are giving us an added benefit of eggs. Our eggs are farm-fresh. This means that they are not pasteurized. They go straight from the nest to the carton (actually several of my girls like to lay under the rose bush). My chickens are free range. They have a coop and a fenced in run, but I leave the gate open most of the year and allow the ladies free reign of my backyard, and if the wind is strong and blows my door open, free reign of my kitchen.

I also like to say that my eggs are “in bloom”. This just means that the eggs are unwashed. The coating that chickens naturally lay to prevent their eggs from contamination is called the BLOOM. By not washing the eggs, the bloom stays on, and the eggs remain fresh. Unrefrigerated, the eggs will be good for more than a month. Refrigerated, they are good for at least 3 months. To be honest, mine have last much longer than these number indicate.

So the eggs are unfertilized (I do not own a rooster), free range, farm fresh, and still in bloom. You don’t get better than that!