A new year already?
On January 1st the egg total for the day was six! Last month when the laying began, the chickens laid exactly six dozen (72) eggs. There are already more than that this month! BUT there are still only twelve in the fridge because we eat at least two a day and the cats get one. We have given a few away and cook with them often. It's amazing how different they are from the store bought ones.
Bridget noticed one thing right off the bat - the membrane between the shell and the albumen is extra tough. You have to really whack them on the bowl and then, if you aren't careful (sometimes even if you are), the tiny shell bits from the high impact fall into where we all don't want it. You bite down on your nice tender basted egg, after already savoring several previous tender bites, and deep in the crease of your back molar you feel the grating crunch of calcium. Eggshell soufflé, mmmm. So you have to pull them apart to keep the eggshell on the membrane. Also, they sort of 'POP' as you open them and rush out of the shell. All of this is because they are SO fresh they haven't formed any air pocket (ala boiled egg dimple) to notice, and the membrane hasn't dried out.
When we first were getting eggs we had some store bought "free range brown eggs" to use up. I did some cooking and needed four eggs so I mixed them for comparison. The difference in yolk color was like the difference between fresh squeezed orange juice and the cheapish of cheap frozen concentrate. Come to find out, the taste comparison fits that picture too. It is hardly fair to compare them because for the most part, your general store eggs are AT LEAST 2 weeks old and our eggs are not even a week old.
Other notable events -
I saw the rooster getting busy with one of the reds. Jumped up, wiggled for no more than 3 seconds and it was over. Typical.
On our second Christmas day (two families, yadda yadda), I popped out to look in on the chickens before we left and saw blood on the head of Matida (Brahma). On initial inspection it looked like several of them were bleeding from the head but further observation proved otherwise. Matilda was pecking Enid (other Brahma) in the foot and it was bleeding profusely. Being the top bird, she then pecked everyone else with her bloody beak and hence all the head blood. We separated Enid (into the garage) and after trying to put her back two days later with the same bad results set her up with some nice digs in the garage until she really heals and I can have more time to observe them when she goes back to the flock. She has laid an egg every day, so I assume she isn't too stress about it. She can still hear the others through the garage wall.
That's all, done.
