Ryan Miller of Farmer’s Henhouse talked about organic egg production at the Annual Organic Producer meeting. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

The number of feathers a chicken has is important for organic egg production.

Ryan Miller of Farmer’s Henhouse in Kalona discussed eggshell quality and poultry at the Annual Organic Producer meeting held at Dallmeyer Hall in Washington Tuesday. Miller talked about when he recently saw an organic producer’s eggs had come out white, “I always wonder ‘Why does that happen?’ When we let the birds out we want a nice brown egg, but we also want the birds outside in the summer and then we get these light shells. And there’s a gland right behind the tail of the chicken, just up on top of the tail. And that glad, if it’s exposed to too much sunlight will turn the shells white or lighter colored.”

Professional Proteins, Ltd. Operations Manager and host of the event Beth Bennett said that she did not know that was a cause of light colored eggs. Miller also said, “If your birds are well feathered and they go outside you’ll have way less problems with it. If birds that go outside that don’t have feathers on their back, the eggs get really white. That’s a question that I had for about 10 years.”

Miller also suggested to organic farmers that if you see deterioration in egg shells to remediate it immediately. Shade, ventilation, and electrolytes were discussed as important factors for poultry. USDA commodity reports, crop cultivation, and organic beef processing were also topics covered during the annual organic producers meeting.