click on the pictures on this page
for more eggs-tremely eggciting info
Chickadoo Suz says,
 "Eggs are like people -
On the outside,
they're different sizes, shapes and colors,
But on the inside,
they all have a heart of gold." EGGstreme links
•American Egg Board
•Designer Eggs vs Conventional Eggs
•Eat Wild
*Inside an Egg
•Humane Farming Assoc
*All About the Egg
*Grass-Fed Egg Movement
*How a Hen Lays an Egg
*Egg Science
  Some of our hens are a bit unconventional
in their egg laying, literally making gathering
eggs a daily egg hunt,
Egg-stra
Egg Fun!
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| | Egg-Ceptional Observations Girl Scout Patch available to
egg-ceptional scout nationwide | from a happy egg customer (& friend):
"I love your chickens, I love their eggs and I love you." All egg compliments, btw, are shared with the hens who laid them ♥ | Try your wing at these egg-centric math challenges |
Eggs, Wonderful Eggs!Almost every culture in the world has customs centered around the egg! The egg has even embedded itself into our speech and our commom expressions - such as, "I felt like I was walking on eggshells" or "Don't lay an egg!" So, this page is dedicated to the egg, the incredible, edible egg. Did you know (chicken) eggs come in more colors than white? While the inside of the egg, the white and yolk is the same, the size, shell color and markings, if any, is based on the breed of the chicken. The fresh eggs shown in the pictures on this page and throughout the MyChickenDiaries.com website are from our hens. Every day we get a rainbow of eggs. It is so exciting and so much more fun than plain old, boring white eggs. Generally, our hens lay eggs in the chicken house in nesting boxes. But, every once in a while, someone decides she likes another spot, such as a potted plant or a chair by the back door, for laying an egg. Makes every day an egg hunt! One more thing, did you know that baby chicks cheep to there mothers from within the shell several days before they hatch? Now that's too cool, don't you agree? How about some eggciting entertainment?
Click on pictures to learn more about chickens and eggs.
Check out the quiz in Eggbits 4. Can you get all six correct?
How well do you Speak Chicken? Do you know all sixty phrases?
I went on an egg hunt and look at the variety of eggs I found! . . Aren't they eggs-traordinary!
Most frequently asked egg question: "Since you have 100 chickens, do you get 100 eggs everyday?"
Good question! The answer, quite simply, is nope, not ever.
Why not?
There are many reasons:
* No hen naturally lays an egg every day. The best layers lay an egg one hour later each day, until that hour later is after sundown. Then she will take a break, and starts again a couple mornings later. *Some breeds lay as many as 280 eggs a year, others as few as 90, and we have a wide variety of breeds. * Although we may have 100 chickens, some are roosters, who obviously don't lay eggs. *Some are pullets, hens that have not gone through puberty and haven't started laying eggs. *Some of our hens are "senior hens" who have gone through "egg-o-pause". That is, their egg laying days are over. They are in egg retirement and spend their days hanging out with their friends. *When hens are broody, hatching and raising chicks, their egg production stops, so they aren't laying during that time. Plus other hens will add eggs to a sitting hen's nest, you know. law of survival stuff, and we gather a few less eggs when that happens. *Hens need 12 hours of light on their retinas to produce an egg. As the days get shorter during fall and winter months, some hens lay fewer eggs, many others stop laying altogether.
So how eggs do we get?
As you can see it varies a lot. In winter, some days we might get only 1 lone egg. In the spring we might get as many as 4 dozen eggs in one day.
As you can see it varies a lot. In winter, some days we might get only 1 lone egg. In the spring we might get as many as 4 dozen eggs in one day.
And what do we do with all these eggs?
Of course, we eat some. The dog and cat eat some. We give some as gifts, we sell some and we also donate eggs to several charities that feed to homeless and needy. One way or another, we find a home for all of them.
November 8 Give Us This Day Our Daily Egg I like starting my day in the chicken yard, letting everyone out of their night time confinement as close to sunrise as possible. Opening the lower flap door of the main chicken house, the very energetic Angelica Frederica Chickadoo, a Transylvanian Naked Neck mixed pullet, is always the first to come shooting out.
Then, I open the enclosed and secured courtyard that extends from the south side of the chicken house. Three ducks sleep there; Adela, a Crested Blue Swedish female, Daffodil, a Crested White Duck female, and a nameless mallard drake from the neighbors' who has taken up residency in our yard. Once the courtyard gate is open, the ducks waddle out quickly, heading straight for their blue, Wal-Mart swimming pool partially full of yesterday's water, now stale and dirty. They are not in the least bothered by it, and they get a drink then jump in quacking noisily and dunking excitedly. Adela Della duck, a Crested Blue Swedish female,
lays large pale green eggs Along the top of the courtyard's supporting frame roosts three large adult turkeys. They begin moving around, positioning themselves for the brief flight to the ground. Nagi Nagi, the Bourbon Red turkey hen and Loner, the Bourbon Blue tom, land, stiffly walk out of the courtyard and head for food. Tadoko, the Bourbon Red tom, has a different approach. He eases his way to the Mom and Chick house on the far side of the courtyard. I hear the familiar percussion of his toenails tapping the galvanized aluminum roof as he nervously paces, positioning and repositioning himself for dismount. After ten minutes or so, he'll fly down into the adjoining willow tree enclosure. I'll come back, open the gate to that area and he'll join the rest of the flock.
Daffodil, Adela and their visiting drake enjoying
a swim in their Wal-Mart pool
Last, I open the lattice wood door of the 4 ft x 8 ft Mom and Chick house. Four roosters and two dozen hens sleep inside. Some immediately fly and flutter out. Others linger waiting for the rush to subside and the for overly-testosteroned young roosters to get the morning's angst out of their systems.
And, now comes my reward, Adela's daily duck egg. During the early morning hours, one year old Adela Duck lays a large pale green egg. She is not broody, so the egg is laying on courtyard ground among the mulch and morning dew. I pick it up, brush off any debris. I thank her as I put her precious duck egg in my pocket for safe keeping. Once in the house, it go into a yummy omelette for me or scrambled, it's a complete day's food for Sabrina, the finicky cat.
Adela Duck's Daily Egg
As the sky simmers with the colors of the rising sun, I move on to the rest of my chores, changing waters, filling feeders and petting the goats. Ahhh, life doesn't get any better than this. Sunrise in the chicken yard is a beautiful, serene experience
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