Celebrating World Egg Day

Celebrating World Egg Day

World Egg Day is held on the 2nd Friday of October every year. It is a day when poultry enthusiasts all around the world will give a great big eggs-uberant shout out to the humble yet magnificent egg! Of course, we love our eggs all year round, but we are always egg-cited to celebrate our favourite source of protein and vitamin D. Eggs really are nature’s little miracles, they are full to the brim with deliciousness and are a power package of vitamins and minerals. So what is World Egg Day? And how should you celebrate? Have a sticky beak at the article below and learn about the history of the day and why the humble egg is worth all the fanfare!     

World Egg Day is…

In an eggshell, World Egg Day is a wonderful world wide celebration of all the healthy goodness and abundant nutrients found in the simple, yet complex egg. It is a way for those in the egg industry to promote their “nest eggs” so to speak and to educate, as well as, to encourage the world about the quintessential quality of life that a simple egg can help to provide.

How Did World Egg Day Originate?

The International Egg Commission or IEC, created in 1964, is an organization made up of 75 + countries from all over the world who are working together for the betterment of the egg industry. The IEC egg-xists to connect people in the egg industry with fellow egg production professionals and aficionados.

Some of the goals of the IEC are to encourage proper care of egg laying flocks, to create cooperative and productive marketing terms for eggs and egg products, to advocate cleaner egg production practices and to aid countries devastated by poor nutrition throughout the world.

During the IEC annual conference held in Vienna in 1996, members voted to honor the egg-straordinary yet humble egg by creating World Egg Day-an annual celebration which occurs on the 2nd Friday of October.

What’ So Special about the Egg?

Well, for starters, it takes about 26 hours for a hen to create and lay a single egg! Wow! Kudos, ladies! And, the nutritionally rich egg is a must have for all health conscious Australians. Simply put, eggs ROCK!

A single egg is a mighty superhero. Even though the typical backyard farm fresh egg doesn’t don a superhero cape and leap tall buildings in a single bound, it does pack a wallop of delicious nutritious goodness! Boasting 6 grams of potent protein and rich in Choline, a vital mineral that helps carry nutrients throughout your body and prevent birth defects, eggs are also an egg-cellent source of other essential vitamins and minerals such as Vitamins A, B, D, E and Folate, Selenium and Phosphorous. They also contain 9 essential amino acids whose function is to aid healing and help your organs work well. So, with the nutritious boost you get from a single egg, perhaps you will be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Seriously though, the economically egg-cellent egg energizes your body, empowers your brain, and enhances your overall health. Yet another WOW moment for the egg-ceptional egg.

Crack an egg, save the shell! In an eggshell, eggshells are very versatile practical commodities. Recycle rinsed out and dried shells back into calcium supplements for your chooks. Or sprout seeds in these environmentally friendly all natural pots. Got gardening pest woes? Look no further than mighty egg shells- crushed shells act as a deterrent for deer and slithery snails and slugs. And, for terrific tomato plants, simply mix crushed egg shells into the soil prior to planting seedlings and you will reap beautiful, large, radiantly red tomatoes-as the shells rot and mix into the ground, they release plant friendly calcium. Try spreading these same shells all around your other plants for gorgeous blooms and fantastic fruits for little labor.

So you see, the egg, is all it’s cracked up to be. So, get crackin’!

Flap Happy Ways to Celebrate

Poultry enthusiasts around the world are egg-ceptionally creative when it comes to celebrating the beloved egg.  So, flap along with us here at Backyard Chicken Coops and celebrate the one, the only, the eggs-traordinary EGG! Try some of these egg-cellent suggestions or create your own unique celebratory eggs-periences:

• Cook up your favorite egg dish for brekky, brunch, or even dinner. Eggs are great any time of day.
• No matter the time of year, throw caution to the wind and hard boil your chook’s beautiful bounty and decorate your eggs with bold bright color, with patriotic gold and green, or stars for the star of the meal.
• Try a new and egg-citing egg recipe.
• Don’t leave your chooks out of the celebration-sprout some healthy chicken goodness in rinsed out and dried egg shells. They’ll be flap-happy with glee and serenade you with clucks until the cows come home…quite literally if some of your chooks’ backyard companions regularly moo!
• If you raise laying hens or other poultry, share your backyard farm fresh eggs with friends, neighbors, family and at your local farmers’ markets.
• Host an egg-cellent party-serve an all egg dish menu, crack some good ol’ egg jokes, play egg-citing games and show off your egg-straordinary flock of egg producers.
• Put eggs to work for you by adding crushed shells to your garden soil, condition weary hair with a simple egg yolk or make an egg white facial mask and show your fresh face to the world.
• Read Green Eggs and Ham to your kids!  
• Play some egg-ceptionally FUN games-have an old fashioned egg toss or try your hand at the spoon and egg race!
• Do the Chicken Dance! Cluck, cluck!
• Or, if you’ve been considering getting chickens, now is the time to spring into action. Here at Backyard Chicken Coops, we have everything you need to get started on the wonderful adventure of keeping chickens. Steer your curious beak toward our Learning Centre for all the information you’ll need to get started. And, because every flock needs an egg-cellent place to call Coop Sweet Coop, check out our “perfect for every size flock” selection of coop homes such as our Taj Mahal, Penthouse and Mansion.

However, you choose to celebrate, be a good egg and don’t put all your eggs in one celebratory basket, oh no! Celebrate like CrAzY!