I'm remembering, not fondly, last winter. Snow fell and did not melt. Snow fell over and over, and then froze and thawed, leaving sheets of ice in the mix.
This fall and so far winter have been totally different. We have had rain but no snow. Overcast but not too cold. One 24 hour period where freezing temperatures were in place the entire time. And plenty of sunny days to pull weeds and water in the hoophouse.
And still, in that 24 hours, we lost eggs. While the are at body temperature when the hen lays them, when the outdoor temperature is in the teens the eggs go right down to that. The eggs actually freeze, and when that happens the egg expands and breaks the shell. When we collect them they are cold. But so is everything else!
The eggs, when thawed, are full of cracks, some of them have cracks so large that it breaks the inner lining. That causes leaks.
In the winter we have a new sorting of eggs. The farmer gets the weird shaped, the weird shell texture, the too small and the cracked from freezing eggs.
The eggs that crack so deep that the egg leaks? Those become dog or pig food. Even the farmer passes on those!
This fall and so far winter have been totally different. We have had rain but no snow. Overcast but not too cold. One 24 hour period where freezing temperatures were in place the entire time. And plenty of sunny days to pull weeds and water in the hoophouse.
And still, in that 24 hours, we lost eggs. While the are at body temperature when the hen lays them, when the outdoor temperature is in the teens the eggs go right down to that. The eggs actually freeze, and when that happens the egg expands and breaks the shell. When we collect them they are cold. But so is everything else!
The eggs, when thawed, are full of cracks, some of them have cracks so large that it breaks the inner lining. That causes leaks.
In the winter we have a new sorting of eggs. The farmer gets the weird shaped, the weird shell texture, the too small and the cracked from freezing eggs.
The eggs that crack so deep that the egg leaks? Those become dog or pig food. Even the farmer passes on those!
Happy pups.
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