The farm also houses a wide variety of other animals, including nearly 20 sheep and lambs, which Schuster said he faithfully keeps out of respect for his grandfather, as well as goats, alpacas, ducks, rabbits, pheasant, quail, turkeys, peacocks, guinea hens and even an emu named Happy.īrought to him by local zoos, 4H clubs, SPCAs, and animal control centers that can no longer keep them, "I love these animals and am honored for them to live their lives out on the farm," said Schuster, who happily offers farm tours to adults and children to help them connect to nature and animals. "In the supermarket, eggs can already be 30 days old by the time they're put on the shelf, but ours are never more than two days old when they hit the store. And the taste of our eggs is like nothing else," he shared. "Chickens are easy to take care of and hens will lay one egg a day if there's enough sunlight. "People worry about what's in their eggs and want to have more control over what they're eating," he said of the hens he sells for anywhere from $15 to $50 each. View Gallery: Schuster's Poultry Farm, Lakewood Though a far smaller egg operation than before, the farm continues to house up to 1,000 chickens depending on the season, both to provide farm-fresh eggs to their many local customers – which include Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, Joe Leone's in Point Pleasant Beach and Sea Girt, Fine Fare Supermarket in Long Branch, and a variety of other restaurants, convenience stores, and independent outfits – as well as to offer chickens and hens to a growing number of area residents who want their own backyard source of quality eggs. Now the official owner since his father retired last year, "I keep the farm in the family and guard it from being developed," he said. Schuster likes to joke that he was "hatched" on the farm as well, and remembers packing eggs and making deliveries from the time he was a kid. "In the 1940s and 1950s, more eggs were produced in Monmouth and Ocean County than anywhere else in the world," Schuster said, "and we had 20,000 chickens on our farm, where we cleaned, graded, and packed eggs and also became an egg-packing facility for other farms in the 1950s." Schuster's Poultry Farm began as an egg business. The farm was started in 1942 by his grandfather Norbert, who hid from the Nazis in his native Germany behind the cover of protective sheep on a nearby farm – "sheep saved his life more than once," Schuster confirmed – and who ultimately escaped and emigrated to New York City and then New Jersey. Though the hours are long and the responsibilities of running a farm can be difficult, it's an honor, tradition, and labor of love for Schuster, 45, the third-generation owner of Schuster's Poultry Farm in Lakewood. LAKEWOOD – By the time most of his neighbors are first thinking about rising and starting their day, Rob Schuster has already done a morning's worth of work – feeding and checking on his animals and ensuring that all of the farm's operations are running smoothly.