Shock horror there is going to be a shortage of free range eggs this winter.
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Who would have guessed that one was coming, well no one who has any knowledge of chooks and their habits.
Now our feathered friends, if left to their own devices, hunker down during winter, like many of us, and they stop or virtually stop laying eggs.
So with more and more consumers deciding to buy only free range eggs supply during winter months becomes an issue.
Layer chickens kept in man-made conditions otherwise know as battery hens are deceived into thinking they live in the ‘tropics’ with no winter thanks to electric lights keeping the days long.
For free range chooks with no artificial lighting its winter and time for a good rest.
A solution – store eggs they can last a good while if stored correctly. Back in the olden days for example on long ship journeys eggs were stored in barrels in sand and according to records the eggs lasted for many months.
Now with refrigeration the barrels aren’t required.
Otherwise you can wait it out till the chooks start laying which will happen soon enough because the shortest day June 21 occurs this week and from then on as the days lengthen in terms of light the chooks will be keener to hop back into the laying boxes and pop out an egg.
We have become too accustomed to having every item of food available 365 or this year 366 days a year.
That means we either accept industrial production of our food and flying food around the world so we can eat cherries in July grown in USA for our satisfaction.
Or we say okay no eggs for a bit I’ll eat porridge instead for breakfast and waiting, like kids in front of the Christmas tree for their presents, for the first cherries of the season each year.