Here's How Many Cartons Of Eggs Martha Stewart's Chickens Lay In A Day

If you're looking to find farm fresh eggs near you, you're in luck if you live next to Martha Stewart. In an interview with Tasting Table, Stewart revealed that her more-than-200 chickens on her New York farm provide a whopping total of 60 to 100 eggs a day — totaling five to eight cartons!

Stewart raises a lot of Cream Legbars and Cuckoo Marans, known for their blue and brown eggs, respectively, and a truly laudable production. Every year, she gets about 31,500 eggs she estimates to be worth around $10,000 — though that's still not enough to even cover their feed. Of course, it's not like she has to eat every last one on the day. After all, properly stored farm fresh eggs can typically last about two weeks at room temperature and more than three months in the fridge. Still, though, with her incredible abundance, Stewart could make between 15 and 25 daily quiches without ever leaving her house.

Hens reach their peak laying age between 20 and 78 weeks, still producing but slowing down after this time. While Stewart regularly cycles out her older birds for new chicks, her flock still boasts some remarkable fruitfulness. She achieves this with a mix of old-fashioned methods and careful structuring, all to provide a high-quality home for birds to thrive.

Although it may not be more affordable to buy chickens than eggs, Martha Stewart says hers are the best she's ever tasted. She credits her great quantity and quality to how happy her birds are, saying they're well-fed and given great homes to produce in.

A happy, healthy hen typically averages about 300 eggs a year, but Stewart's Cream Legbars average a little less, around 280. Cuckoo Marans' averages are even lower, around 150 to 200 eggs annually. However, a key factor of any egg-laying bird's production is how happy it is. Despite having breeds with lower-than-average yields, Stewart maintains a healthy, productive flock by eliminating one of the biggest sources of stress: harassment from other hens. As a matter of fact, both breeds Stewart raises are famous for gentle, docile temperaments, meaning they don't harass others in their flock.

When it comes to taste, nutrition is the biggest contributor. As such, Stewart makes sure her ladies have ready access to water and food laden with calcium and protein. Stewart also feeds them garden scraps, which don't substitute a healthy diet but act more like healthy treats. Chickens are omnivores and like variety, so this is a great way to not only cut down on food waste, but also give them the enrichment they need through foraging. Free-roaming is another vital aspect of their great production, as it allows them to move, explore, and dig up the occasional bug whenever they want.

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