eggs as a staple food?

How many free range eggs is it safe to eat per day? These are truly free range - they get to range as far as they want on 20 acres, but I think they actually range on about one acre. Supplemented with whole oats and whole sunflower seeds, plus any leftovers that are suitable.

Oops, forgot to mention; chicken eggs.

If you are worried about cholesterol, you don't have to anymore. Last year the federal government's Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee dropped the recommendation to limit eggs because the science just hasn't backed the idea the food cholesterol -> blood cholesterol. I know, ridiculous that so many people were told for so long to not eat eggs and shrimp and so on for no reason. At least they are admitting they didn't have it right.

So then it comes down to how much fat do you want in your diet? What are your other sources of fat and protein? There are so many different approaches to balancing protein/carbs/fats and there's no one answer that's right for everyone.

How many things can you make from eggs before you get sick of them, LOL? I really like eggs poached in salsa, BTW.

Since I'm hungry all the time, I want a lot of fat in my diet! I get starvingly hungry if I eat a lot of carbs, but not if I eat a lot of fat. Plus I lose weight on the more-fat diet.

Thank you! I guess I'll eat all the eggs I want.

My husband frequently goes on a "Steak and Eggs" diet, in which he eats pretty much steak and eggs (with some veggies thrown in, or liver, etc substituted for steak). He'll do this 6/7 days a week (1 day a week being a just paleo/Weston Price), for months at a time. I guess it's common thing for bodybuilders to do to. Aaaaaaaanyway, he'll eat 8-12 eggs a day, plus a steak. He always seems his most healthiest when he eats like this (as apposed to simply an organic, gluten-free Weston Price/paleo diet). It also--not that it matters--doesn't seem to correlate with his cholesterol (he's a phlebotomist, so he gets to run his numbers somewhat frequently).

As it is, he currently consumes about 6 eggs a day, and would eat more if our ducks started laying more than 2-3 eggs a day (we're still obviously having to supplement with store-bought eggs).

Eggs are pretty much a perfect food. I don't think you can eat too much of them!

Nicole Alderman wrote:Eggs are pretty much a perfect food. I don't think you can eat too much of them!

You totally can, just not people in touch with their bodies. There are plenty of people out there who have forgotten what it means to feel 'full' and eat until they've finished the meal on the plate or until they feel 'stuffed,' whichever comes first.

I think someone with an active lifestyle would have to work pretty hard to eat too many eggs! Took me ages to figure out that I need to eat more than feels sufficient, or I lose muscle mass, and then I pull my back. 4 reasonably sized meals per day is much nicer than gorging 2-3x though.

Eggs are great, but I'd definitely want a bit of a break after a few months of 8-12 a day...


Nicole, given your impressive egg consumption numbers... are you guys sticking with just ducks for egg production, or are chickens in the plan? I'm torn on this myself, I like ducks better in general. Faster to mature, no crowing, better at eating slugs... but I do find the protective aspect of a couple good roosters appealing. Egg production from chickens was definitely more reliable compared to the Muscovies that I'm used to, in large part because they were so darn good at hiding their eggs... I'll probably end up with both in the end.

There are plenty of duck breeds that compete with chickens in their respective classes.

Layer 300's are ridiculously productive Hybrid Production Layer, while Khaki Campbells and Indian Runners are very productive stable breeds that should compare well to something like a Rhode Island Red Chicken.

On the Dual-Purpose front, I'm planning a mixed flock of Silver Appleyard and Saxony ducks. 220-260ish eggs per year and a sizeable meat bird of very high quality.

But if you like chicken meat and have the space/resources, why not do both? Ducks and Chickens do have distinct ecological niches and their meats are very distinct [though Chicken meat, even organic, is by FAR more affordable than Duck.]

Dillon Nichols wrote:
Nicole, given your impressive egg consumption numbers... are you guys sticking with just ducks for egg production, or are chickens in the plan? I'm torn on this myself, I like ducks better in general. Faster to mature, no crowing, better at eating slugs... but I do find the protective aspect of a couple good roosters appealing. Egg production from chickens was definitely more reliable compared to the Muscovies that I'm used to, in large part because they were so darn good at hiding their eggs... I'll probably end up with both in the end.

The sound of a rooster near our house, I think, would probably both drive us mad . If I really wanted a loud protector, geese would probably be a better choice, simply because they eat the grass, but we also don't care for their honking (my parents' neighbors have a flock of geese and roosters, and the sound is overwhelming). Also, I don't think a rooster would do much to protect our ducks from a bobcat. Our local bobcat(s) ate a bunch of my neighbors roosters. Not much seems to phase those kitties .

If we had different predators, a rooster might be a good fit, but it's no match for a bobcat. I think we're pretty much stuck right now with only letting them out for a few hours at noon (currently let them out at 9:30 and put them away at 3:00, as that's when the sun rises and sets behind our trees). Before the attack of the bobcat, we had 12 layers, which should have given us about 10 eggs/day. Now we have 7 layers and they should be giving us about 7 eggs a day (we have 3 runners, 1 Golden 300, and 3 anconas). Right now, though, only our three Runners are laying (the other ducks need to get their act together! But the bobcat deaths and the power outages in November messed up their light and that really messed with their laying).

What we'd really like is to have about 5 more laying ducks, to bring us back up to getting 10 eggs a day. I really do like our ducks. I like being able to herd my ducks from place to place, and I like that I don't have to somehow create a dry place for them to dust bathe. Creating dry places in a rainy areas with ducks everywhere spashing water isn't too easy! We might end up picking up a chicken or two, simply for the diversity and to help turn our coop bedding, and also because we had a rescue chicken that my two year old son loved... and which promptly got eaten by a bobcat during our bobcat fiasco.

Good eggs from chickens with a foraging diet are so nutritious! High quality protein, fat, trace minerals, yeahhh. I think you can eat as many as you want and when they lose their appeal, stop.

However, there are so many ways to eat eggs, we never get tired of them. Poached in salsa is new to me and sounds so good!

Eggs go into so many other things, I can't imagine having too many.
We buy 5 dozen at a time, and I could easily half a dozen a day, even without baking them.
I love them over easy, on top of a bed of brown rice, with brags or soy sauce.
Americas test kitchen gave us the secret to perfect over easy eggs- don't flip them, just put a lid on them and the whites will cook through, leaving runny yolks.
We will have poultry when we are ready, and I am thinking ducks and quail eggs will bring the most at market.
Quail eggs at the farmers market here go for more than $11 a dozen, last time the wife checked.
Mind you the local Asian superstore CAM sells them for $3 a dozen, and yes, I have thought about the possiblities ...

Eggs are great. Inexpensive, nutritious and easy to prepare.

Here is one of my favorite recipes - Eggs in Purgatory. I have made this with variations in ingredients many times. Very tasty.

Eggs in Purgatory Recipe

I try and remember the seasonality of foods. Living in Wisconsin, eggs are produced from chickens under artificial light at this time of year, which doesn't jive with my ethics. So, I've been trying to eat less but it is super hard! Otherwise, when eggs are in season, I have no limit on how many eat.

...eggs are produced from chickens under artificial light at this time of year, which doesn't jive with my ethics.

I agree with you there.

What surprises me is how many homesteaders resort to this practice.
Give your birds a rest this time of year. They will perform better & longer if we just follow nature's schedule.

@Stephanie Ladd: "....eggs are produced from chickens under artificial light at this time of year, which doesn't jive with my ethics. So, I've been trying to eat less but it is super hard! "

It may be that some of our hens are being induced to lay through the winter simply on account of my wife having the quonset lights on to feed the other critters til about 10 pm, but we seem to have at least a trickle of new eggs at any given time. But I emphasize that there are an unknown number of free-range hens hanging out in that building....easily 50+. Obviously that egg output balloons once the daylength increases naturally; we are in northwest Minnesota. Although it's not a substitute for a good, fresh egg, I recently hit upon using ground, hydrated chia seed powder as an egg substitute in baking....worked amazingly well. So at least that is one substitute for them.

Stephanie Ladd wrote:I try and remember the seasonality of foods. Living in Wisconsin, eggs are produced from chickens under artificial light at this time of year, which doesn't jive with my ethics. So, I've been trying to eat less but it is super hard! Otherwise, when eggs are in season, I have no limit on how many eat.

Unwashed eggs in cool storage should last several months, presumably long enough to get back into the production season?

It's not like chickens 100% stop laying at this time of year either, at least mine never did in the past. Might average one egg per week per bird during the darkest period.

This is partly a breed choice though, there are 'winter layers' that do better than other breeds.

@Kurt: "Unwashed eggs in cool storage should last several months, presumably long enough to get back into the production season? "

Agreed. And let's not forget freezing beaten eggs. We beat 3 or 4 eggs in a bowl and transfer the beaten contents to freezer bags. Again, no point in requesting "sunny side up" here, but for baking and scrambled/omelette type dishes a good way to get through the winter or dry spells.

Edited to add: Make sure they are !beaten! eggs.....if you freeze them without beating them, the protein will denature and you will not be able to beat them upon thawing.