Chickens
Our chickens are given free access to pasture from dawn to dusk, so that their diet and daily routines more closely resemble what nature intended. Not only does this create healthier and tastier eggs, we believe it makes for happier birds. We don't give our chickens antibiotics, steroids, hormones, or vaccines, and only supplement their free-range diet with free-choice quality poultry feed and oyster shell. Just like the rest of our animals, each one of our chickens is considered a part of the family, and we try to spend time every day to make sure that every one of them is getting the care and attention they need to live out a happy life here at Grateful Akers.
What we sell
Though in the past we sold chicks, laying hens, roosters, and meat birds, currently we are only offering eggs for sale as a new child and work schedule has forced us to cut back on hatching. We hope to revive our hatchery some day, but for now we are focusing on eggs, sheep, and honey.
Eggs
Our hens lay many different colors, shades, and sizes of eggs, so most customers receive a random assortment of what was laid on the day of purchase. A typical egg carton will include a mix of medium to large brown, blue, green, and white eggs.
Our laying hens have unrestricted access to pasture from dawn to dusk, allowing their diet to reflect what nature intended. We supplement their free-range diet with Omega-3 enriched layer feed and oyster shell, to ensure that our girls stay healthy and produce high quality nutritious eggs. We never give our birds antibiotics, hormones, vaccines, or steroids, allowing them to produce both natural and nutritious eggs.
Unless customers request otherwise, we wash all eggs on the day of sale. Most of the eggs that we keep for ourselves remain unwashed until it's time to eat them. Unwashed eggs have a natural antibacterial coating called 'bloom', do not have to be refrigerated, and will stay fresh much longer than a washed egg. Washing an egg removes the bloom, shortens its shelf-life, and requires that the egg be refrigerated until eaten. Once we wash your eggs and hand them over to you, we recommend that you put them in the fridge within a few hours. If you would rather purchase unwashed eggs, let us know ahead of time.
We sell eggs that are intended for eating at $4 per dozen.
Hatching Eggs
Most of the eggs we sell are for eating, but occasionally we do offer fertilized eggs for those who wish to hatch their own chicks. Typically the hatching eggs we offer are Olive Egger, Crested Cream Legbar, or Barnyard Mix, however sometimes we receive extra hatching eggs from other breeders and will sell those extras.
We never wash hatching eggs, and strongly advise against it. The embryos within hatching eggs are protected by the bloom (a natural antibiotic layer deposited over the shell during laying), and washing it off is usually a death sentence for life within.
Depending on the type, we sell hatching eggs from $1 to $5 per egg.
Some of the breeds on our farm
Crested Cream Legbar
Ameraucana
Salmon Faverolle
Marans
Isbar
Leghorn
