2019 Vashon Egg-O-Nomics Report

Pour yourself a cuppa before reading this annual report. It’s long. Not as long as a recently released political report and not nearly as much fun. And the facts are clear.

I have always been quite fond of the idea of everyone having just enough hens to feed their family. Interesting enough, during my in-depth research and discovery, there is validation for my dream declaration.

Statistically speaking, Americans consume an average of 278 eggs per year and hens lay an average of 280 eggs per year. (American Egg Board, USDA).

Imagine my surprise. One hen per person and there will never be an egg crisis.

Chicken Math note:  365 days in a year, 280 eggs laid in a year. What? Why not 365  eggs per year? A very good question.

The answer is:  A female chick is born with thousands of tiny ova, which are undeveloped yolks, meaning she is born with a predetermined number of eggs to be laid in her life. Once she reaches maturity, an ovum will be released into a canal called the oviduct and begin its journey of development.

From the time an ovum leaves the ovary, it takes approximately 25 hours for the egg to reach the vent for laying. During that time period, the yolk will grow larger while being surrounded by albumen (egg white), wrapped in a membrane, and encased in a shell. Pigment is deposited on the shell as the last step of the egg production process.  Sometimes it takes more than 25 hours, sometimes less.

Added to this mathematical logic, there is the softer logic of breed, weather, sunlight, feed, stress and maybe she just has a headache.

Bringing the statistics home to Vashon:

My research found our population range to be 9,635 – 10,624 (2010 US Census, DATAUSA.io and CensusReporter.org.) I will call it 10,000 residents on our fair isle in the middle of Puget Sound in the 13th most populated state .

10,000 residents X 278 annual egg consumption = 2,780,000 eggs consumed per year = 231,333.667 dozen farm fresh eggs required on Vashon.  The average consumption does take into account Vegans, egg allergies, those who simply do not like eggs, teeny weeny babies and on the other end those who eat more than their statistical fair share of eggs.

My very scientific annual egg survey (Hi, Do you have laying hens? If yes how many do you have?) reveals we have approximately 1,584 hens clucking and scratching on Vashon & Maury Islands.

Statistically speaking; 1,584 resident hens X 280 annual lay = 443,520 = 36,960 dozen eggs laid per year on Vashon – Maury Islands = 194,373 dozen egg shortage per year = a Vashon Local farm fresh egg crisis!  (statistically speaking). We need 700 more laying hens on Vashon.

Grocery Store Eggs

Curious about our local grocery egg supply, I walked into one of our two grocery stores and asked the Dairy & Egg guy “Do you have any idea how many dozen eggs you sell in a year, a month or a week?”. He blew out a puff of air, rolled his eyes up and to the right, then looked at me and said “We move between 100,000 and 150,000 dozen eggs a year”. Seems like so many eggs.

At the other grocery store I asked the Dairy and Egg guy the same question. He did not roll his eyes or blow out a puff of air. He stared through me for a few breathless moments, then focused on me again, said “we must sell about 100,000 dozen eggs a year.”  Very scientific.

Using 125,000 dozen from store #1, plus 100,000 dozen from store # 2, plus 36,960 dozen Vashon fresh eggs, we have a supply of 261,960 dozen eggs sold annually on Vashon- Maury Islands. (not including Mom’s Deli and Harbor Mercantile in Burton).

Review of statistics:

Demand 231,333 dozen
Supply-  261,960 dozen
Surplus – 39,960 dozen

Staring through the shiny glass double doors in Grocery Store #1, I see 5 shelves high and 5 egg cartons across, making for so many different choices for “farm fresh”, local, cage free, organic, non organic, humane, pastured chicken eggs.

Prices at the 2 groceries range from $1.99 all the way up to $9.79 for the Vital Farms organic, free range, pastured eggs with very fancy labels.

The average price around the island for island grown eggs is $7 / dozen.

By the way, the pricey egg with the fancy label did that splatty thing in my pan and had a very flabby, drab yolk.

Does a farm fresh egg taste any different or better than a store bought egg?

Does this mean there is no egg crisis? That depends on your taste, standards and your concern for quality of life of the hens that lay your eggs. Plus, is it true or not true that all eggs are nutritionally the same? Does a farm fresh egg taste any different or better than a store bought egg? Do you care?

I am so glad you asked! 

What do you believe?  When I crack an egg from one of my girls out back, the whole egg is compact and stays where it lands rather than splat and spread across the pan. The egg whites are firm and clear, the yolk, equally firm is plump and orange like a Florida navel. A gastronomical beauty.

Then I tried a free range, organic egg from the grocery store. The shell cracked so easily, it was almost soft. The egg did that splatty, runny thing all the way to the edge of my egg pan. The yolk was sort of yellow and kind of flabby, just barely rising off the white. Visually, a dud.

Does a farm fresh egg really taste different from a store bought egg that may be 2, 3 or 4 weeks old?

I slide my plump fried in butter egg onto my plate and I can taste the sunshine, grass, extra Vitamin A and beta carotene.

Science agrees sight and smell play a major role in taste, so of course a plump, firm egg from hens I watch fight over worms has a delicious factor far superior to any grocery store egg that may be of unknown age.

That is all the science I need. And you?

But wait, some science says the farm fresh egg nutrition may be equal to an egg from a chicken cooped up 24/7 in a “cage free” barn (USDA).

Oh, but wait again! Science also says there ARE more nutrients in a free range, organic egg. According to Mother Earth News, a farm fresh, free ranging hen egg may contain:

1/3 less cholesterol
1/4 less saturated fat
2/3 more vitamin A
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
3 times more vitamin E
7 times more beta carotene

Why do I say “may” contain?

Feed, age of hen and housing conditions all play a role in the nutrients contained in an egg. Just like the hundreds of boxes of cereal in the grocery, we can buy a plethora of “enriched and fortified” chicken feed, everything from Omega 3 to high protein feed to extra vitamins and minerals just like Special K. Personally, I am partial to pasture bug, worm and chickweed fortified feed. Chickens know what they need. The main benefit of giving chickens free range, they are able to find what they need in the pasture. When I watch the chickens scratching around, why do they go from here to there? Because there is something delicious over there.

Roosters are very good at announcing to their hens in a guttural kind of cluck: Oh, come ever here! Let’s get these bugs, or no no no! Over here, check out this clump of green something. Or is he telling his hens they really need more protein so you better get your fluffy butt over here for this stash of and worms?

About that seductive “Farm Fresh” label. 

The labels are so alluring  our eyes feast on the image of fluffy, colorful hens  pecking around a green pasture with trees and not a fence or electric netting in the frame of the label.

Perhaps the label says “cage free” or  “Pastured” or “Free Range”.

A “Cage free” hen may live in a very large barn with NO access to the open air and are crammed in a space with very little room to roam. There are lots of fans in this very large barn.

“Free range” may be better but can be a very misleading label. Free range means the hens may have “access” to the outdoors from their very large and crowded barn, but that access may be a 36 inch wide muddy run around the outside of the barn with a door so small, not very many hens bother to get out.

“Pastured” seems to be the best label I have found during my research for this report. Theoretically, the hens can indeed go out of their barn with big doors onto wide open pasture to peck, scratch, soak up warm sunshine and dust bathe themselves .

A box of commercially raised eggs is still considered “fresh” at 8 weeks.

Commercially raised eggs are washed, chemically sanitized and refrigerated.

Organic eggs

All certified organic eggs theoretically fed certified organic feed.

Well, if they are organic, are the bugs, grass and weeds also certified organic?

Believe it or not, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) graded eggs would be illegal if sold in the UK, or indeed anywhere in the European Union (EU). It’s all to do with the fact that commercial American eggs are federally required to be washed and sanitized before they reach the consumer. (the sanitizing agent may be a toxic chemical or it could be a weak bleach solution). EU egg marketing laws, on the other hand, state that Class A eggs – those found on supermarkets shelves, must not be washed, or cleaned in any way. 

Goose vs Chicken Eggs

Chicken eggs are the focus of this report as they are most widely consumed. Many people like ducks eggs as much or more than chicken eggs and some who are allergic to chicken eggs can eat duck eggs I do not know many people who prefer a goose egg over a chicken egg or a goose egg at all.

Goose eggs are HUGE. For example, a Large chicken egg typically weighs 2.125 ounce and a Jumbo chicken egg may weigh 2.50 ounces

An average duck egg weighs 3-4 ounces

A GOOSE egg typically weighs 5 – 7 ounces. The goose egg in the photo here weighs a whopping 11 ounces! The chicken egg in the photo weighs a typical 2.5 ounces. A goose egg has 266 calories vs a chicken egg with a mere 72 calories. You might correctly suspect the big goose egg offers more of everything from cholesterol (1,227mg vs. 185mg) to fat (19g vs.19g to protein (19.97 vs.19.97g).

No surprise, a goose egg tastes, well, eggier. Way eggier. Some love it, some do not.

Egg-o-nomically speaking, the egg offers eggs-ceptional value with its dense nutrition and flexibility in cooking for about 50 cents an egg. Fried, scrambled, hard boiled, soft boiled, poached, baked, there are oh so many ways to enjoy your eggs.

Cheers to The Incredible Edible Egg

Here are just a few of the many delicious ways to eat your eggs!

References

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-american-eggs-would-be-illegal-in-a-british-supermarket-and-vice-versa/#

https://www.organicconsumers.org/blog/are-your-eggs-really-organic

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/06/08/why-you-dont-want-to-buy-organic-eggs-at-the-grocery-store.aspx:

https://blogs.umass.edu/natsci397a-eross/free-range-eggs-are-they-actually-a-healthier-option/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21673178

https://www.eggnutritioncenter.org/articles/are-free-range-eggs-more-nutritious/

https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/pastured-eggs-vitamin-d-content

https://censusreporter.org/profiles/06000US5303393616-vashon-island-ccd-king-county-wa/

https://www.aeb.org/farmers-and-marketers/industry-overview/69-farmers-marketers/market-data-trends

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Todays_Reports/reports/ckegan18.pdf

https://blogs.umass.edu/natsci397a-eross/free-range-eggs-are-they-actually-a-healthier-option/