Golden Eggs

Well the ladies have done their thang. Two days after Mr Rooster arrived on the scene my daughter screamed with delight when, after 21 consecutive days of multiple daily checking she found this ...

Who could have predicted the arrival of such a small item could cause so much joy! It was quite small, cute small, but it was just the first egg and it takes a few attempts by the young bird until the egg reaches its full size. Over the following few days the same red hen continued to lay one a day, and her eggs got bigger as predicted. Which red hen was laying we didn't know, impossible to tell. We tried to guess by looking at the expression on their faces for a telltale 'what the hell just came our of my rear end' kind of face! On the third day there were still louder screams of excitement when THREE eggs were discovered one morning. In fact, there was so much excitement, that one egg got dropped and smashed!!

Now we know all three red hens are laying, no duffs! When we add another couple of birds it will be easy to tell when they start laying. We are hoping to get two  Light Sussex soon which are both good layers and table birds.

We are also hoping to add a silky bantom which are adorable to look at, but their main advantage besides looking pretty, is that they go broody. That means at some point in the warm weather they will sit tight on a heap of eggs and stay sitting until they hatch. Bantoms (miniature chickens) are particularly good at this, they are very motherly. Its unlikely that our red hens will ever go broody, and if they did, they would probably get bored, get up and walk off half way through incubation! Now I've said that one of them is bound to prove me wrong.

Heres one of our red hens doing what they LOVE ... sunbathing! When they first arrived they had been reared indoors, and they had no red pigmentation on their wattles, they looked pale and pasty. A few days roaming in the great outdoors and they look so much more attractive with their red wobbly bits the colour that nature intended!

And the colour of the chickens aren't the only thing that vastly improves with a natural lifestyle. The colour of the egg yolk is incomparable ... it's bright sunshine yellow instead of pale. Even the flavour, consistency and texture of the egg white and yolk are noticeably different from organic and truly free ranging hens compared to battery eggs.

The children are so proud of their eggs that they each brought one to their teachers in school thismorning, still warm, straight from the nest!

Comments

[Deborah]

That's amazing! If only all children could be exposed to such a wonderful experience. Your kids are very lucky!

[hedgewizard]

Lovely - just lovely. Like I always say - the easiest and most rewarding piece of SS you can ever do!

[Leonie]

It's lovely to see children experiencing this kind of thing. When we kept hens we allowed one of our broody hens to sit on and hatch some eggs. My two children loved it and the fluffy little chicks were so sweet. And nothing beats a soft boiled egg fresh from the nest that morning.

[kaat at Mamastories]

Oh, lovely eggs! I really can imagine what a great day that is, when your first eggs are hatched: break out the bubbly!
I didn't know a chicken starts out with small eggs and that they "grow"... Imagine that was the case for us mom - and babies!
I love your humor, I am looking forward to reading your summer adventures!

[Heather]

We have 5 red hens - we rescued them from a battery farm via the Hen Rescue Trust - and they were in a state when we got them - actually we had 6 but one died within the first week.

However they have settled really well, are growing back their feathers and are massively more confident and are much stronger although they can't roost.

Sadly only one manages to lay - so the much longed for box of eggs a day I had planned is still something of a dream!

Love having them though - and the eggs we do get have improved in overall quality too - just wish we got more of them.

Heather

[gertie]

Oh Congratulations!!!! I've been checking back regularly waiting for this news. I just love the phrase "going broody". What fun you must be having. Thanks for sharing.

[Vallen Queen]

There is nothing like the tatste of a farm-fresh egg. People just don't know. And once you've had farmfresh, you just can't go back.

['EF' x]

Great fun! At last!

[http//:eloiseohare.blogspot.com]

Oh! Egg lady can I have some of your eggs. Do you remember egg blowing, when we were kids, make a hole with a pin either end and blow the egg out through hole and then paint it, also makes a good egg mobile. Also if you can find out how to make paint with the eggs you could do some wet plaster fescos on the side of the house. I imagine you need colour pigments to mix with it. Also dont eat to many eggs a day because of the high calestroel, I have discovered I have high calestroel from my massif egg consumption and have had to stop eating them, but will make and exception and try one of your eggs when I visit your place.