Are eggs the superfood that you have been looking for? They just may be! Chicken eggs contain every nutrient, except for vitamin C, needed to support life. If you adopted your flock to keep yourself stocked up on this superfood, you’re not alone. Some flock owners love watching their hens scratch around the yard while others like being in control of their food production.
No matter what your reasons for getting a backyard flock, fresh eggs are a great bonus and one that you can utilize for a variety of purposes. However, if you have more chickens than mouths to feed, you may wind up with more eggs than you know what to do with. But don’t worry, there are tons of ways you can use the versatile egg!
Cooking with Eggs
One of the most obvious ways to use fresh eggs from your backyard flock is to cook them! Preparing eggs can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Cooking with eggs is a great way to enjoy the nutrients and protein provided by fresh eggs. Hens that are fed a nutritious feed supplemented with healthy snacks will lay more nutritious, vibrantly colored, and nutritionally complete eggs.
To get you started, here are some fun and healthy ways to cook with eggs.
Fried Eggs: A Country Classic or With a Twist
Fried eggs are an easy, last-minute go-to for any flock owner. And they don’t have to take the same form they always do! There are so many ways you can spruce up a fried egg. Turn fried eggs into a breakfast sandwich using bagels, English muffins, or slices of bread.
Pair it with your favorite breakfast protein and some cheese, and you have a delicious breakfast sandwich!
Scrambled Eggs: Easy, Cheesy, or Spicy!
There is so much you can do with scrambled eggs too! Add a little cheese about a minute before they’re done cooking. Or spice things up with huevos rancheros or breakfast nachos. Try a spicy egg quesadilla. The options are easy and endless!
French Toast: Fun Flavor for All
Sweet or savory: either way, French toast is a great way to cook and turn eggs into a delicious meal that pleases adults and the little ones!
Serve French toast with pure maple syrup and organic butter for a sweet approach. For a more savory style, serve it up with some bacon and additional scrambled eggs and vegetables.
Boiled Eggs: A Bonus Snack, Salad Topping, or Side Dish
Dress up your boiled eggs by transforming them into an epic egg salad or fun deviled eggs! Keep things light and healthy by using them as a salad topper for adding additional protein to any salad.
Poached Eggs: Egg Perfection!
You can also try your hand at poaching eggs. Use a classic approach and turn your poached eggs into an eggs benedict. Or transform them into a date night go-to by poaching them in your favorite stock, tomato juice, or even red or white wine for added flavor.
Unique Ways to Use Those Extra Eggs
Looking for more challenging and sophisticated ways to use up extra chicken eggs? Try your hand at making egg waffles, grilling eggs, making a Chinese steamed egg, or giving Turkish eggs a try. Dutch eggs, curry eggs, egg vindaloo, or matzo brei are other unique ways to use eggs in your cooking!
Baking with Eggs
Eggs are an essential part of any baker’s ingredient list! From meals to desserts, baking with eggs can help add variety to the menu and provide nutrition to any meal. Some delicious egg-based meals could include Finnish pancakes, egg casseroles, quiche, egg muffins, or baked French toast.
Fancy baked goods that involve quite a few eggs include bread pudding, custard pie, or souffles. Macaroons, meringues, or angel food cake are great options for using up extra egg whites. As for the egg yolks... mousse, curds, or mayonnaise all require additional egg yolks.
Become a Pro: 5 Eggcellent Baking Tips
When baking with fresh eggs, these tips can make a big difference:
- Use room-temperature eggs in baked goods to give them a better rise.
- When making a meringue, be very careful not to let any yolk taint the egg whites which will inhibit a proper meringue from forming.
- It’s easier to separate the yolks from the whites using cold eggs.
- Beat your eggs and slowly add them to your batter to keep the batter from becoming stiff
- Fresh eggs will sink when put in a glass of water. Old eggs will float. Eggs that float completely should be pitched!
Preserving Eggs
Aside from freezing eggs, there are many other unique and traditional ways of preserving fresh eggs. Preserving your eggs can help you save some of your girls’ bounty for the winter when they’re less productive.
Here are a few methods that can be used for extending the shelf life of fresh eggs:
- Pickling: Pickled eggs can be stored in the fridge for up to 6 months.
- Oiling: This method involves coating the eggs with white mineral oil to seal off the eggshell pores. Eggs can be stored for several months after they have been oiled.
- Thermostabilizing Eggs: This method is similar to boiling eggs, but it does not thoroughly cook the egg. Refrigerated thermostabilized eggs will keep for 8 months.
- Water Glassing: Water glassing eggs involves storing them in a water glass solution. This method will preserve eggs for up to 6 months.
- Dehydrating: You can easily dehydrate eggs by scrambling the eggs and using a dehydrator to remove any moisture.
- Freezing: Just crack them into an ice cube tray or scramble and pour them in. Transfer them into a freezer bag or a container and they will last up to a year and are great in recipes or for scrambled eggs.
Feed Excess Eggs to Pets & Animals
If you have more eggs than you can use and you have given them to everyone that you know, try giving them to your animals–you might find that they simply love them.
Feed Eggs to Your Chickens
You can always feed extra chicken eggs back to your chickens! Chickens love eggs, and they are a healthy, nutritious snack for your chicks. When feeding chickens eggs, always make sure you cook the eggs by either scrambling them or boiling the eggs before offering them to your flock. This will prevent egg-eating issues by having your chickens not associate the eggs they lay with a tasty, raw snack.
You can top their healthy egg snack with fresh fruit, veggies, or grubs for extra nutrition and protein! Scrambled or boiled eggs are a great way to encourage sick or ailing chickens to eat something nutritious and healthy.
Feed Eggs to Pets & Livestock
Not only are eggs good for us and our chickens, but many other animals find them to be a delicacy that provides essential, beneficial nutrients. Feeding cooked eggs to household pets, such as cats and dogs, can be beneficial for their coat health.
Cooked eggs can also be fed to other livestock like pigs, ducks, and any other kind of poultry. If you have an abundance of eggs, share them with your pets! Most pets and livestock can have eggs on a daily basis.
What Else Can You Do With Extra Eggs?
Still have more eggs than you can use? No problem. The possibilities when it comes to egg creations are nearly endless. Here are a few ideas.
Gift Eggs
Most people love eggs. Give your extra eggs to friends, family, and neighbors, especially in your neighborhood groups! Eggs also make a great hostess or guest gift if you are traveling and visiting with other folks.
Spread the sunshine by including a note with your gift eggs! Here are some ideas you can borrow:
- Hi friend! There are a dozen reasons why you are the best. Thank you for being such an eggcellent friend. 💚
- I looked it up in my hencyclopedia, and it verifies that you’re eggstraordinary! Thanks for being awesome!
- Have an eggs-tra special day!
- Wishing you a sunny side up week!
Donate Eggs
In some circumstances, you may consider donating your extra chicken eggs to organizations like shelters or food pantries. However, make sure you check with the coordinator of the organization to see if any rules or regulations apply to donated eggs.
For a less complicated way of donating your extra eggs, see if you can share your eggs at social gatherings or community events! Some zoological organizations or animal rescues may even be interested in receiving donated eggs.
Selling Eggs
Of course, there is always the option of selling your extra chicken eggs. The reliability of your egg supply will determine your sales approach. If you have a few hens, you may just build a small customer base to sell to when you have extra eggs. If you foresee having an abundance of eggs on a regular basis, you may look into selling your eggs at your local farmer’s market, farm stand, or co-op store.
Whenever you are marketing farm fresh eggs to the public you will want to be aware of the rules and regulations that may apply to selling eggs. Egg selling rules may include guidelines on washing, refrigerating, labeling, and transporting your eggs. These guidelines are usually determined at a state level and can be found by doing a little research on your state’s egg selling rules.
No matter who you sell to, always make sure you are selling clean, quality eggs!
Get Crafty with DIY Egg Fun
Crafting with eggs may sound dangerous and messy, but it is really fun! There are many fun and creative ways you can craft with any extra chicken eggs that you don’t have any other use for.
Dyeing Your Eggs
Dyeing eggs is a fun project and can even keep the egg edible so you can enjoy eating the eggs after you craft with them! Try using natural dyes derived from spices, fruits, and vegetables for a natural twist on dying eggs.
If you want to keep your egg art around for a little longer, try blowing out eggs and painting, drawing, or dyeing the eggshell. Blowing out eggs involves making pin-sized holes at the top and bottom of the egg. Then you blow really hard on one end to make the egg contents come out the other end. This creates an empty eggshell that is fragile but fun to craft with! You can paint, use pen and ink, stickers, or dye to decorate blown-out eggshells!
Uses for Eggshells
After using up your abundance of eggs, you may also find that you have an abundance of empty eggshells. These too can be put to good use!
Eggshells can be dried, crushed, and used as a calcium supplement or garden supplement. In gardening, the calcium in the eggshells can be beneficial for plants such as tomatoes and peppers.
- Eggshells that aren’t crushed can be used as seed starting containers which can be planted right along with the young seedling.
- As a supplement, crushed eggshells can be used as a calcium supplement for both you and your flock.
- Powdered eggshells and egg membranes can be put into capsules and used as a calcium supplement to help your skin, nails, bones, and joints.
- You can also feed crushed eggshells back to your chickens alongside another calcium supplement like crushed oyster shells.
So Many Eggcellent Ways to Use Your Flock’s Gifts
With so many good ideas for using up extra chicken eggs, you shouldn’t be overwhelmed when egg production exceeds your egg usage! If you can’t keep up with eating all your fresh eggs (or maybe you don’t even like eggs), then you can easily gift, donate, or sell extra eggs. As a flock owner, remember to have fun and use your imagination. You will find many ways to use those delicious gifts from your laying hens!
