Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Chickens Lay the Best Surprises

Do you think eggs are boring?  You know, identical white ovoids lined up by sixes in cardboard cartons.  Not so!  Our little backyard flock is always coming up with surprises; it really makes collecting eggs fun.  Our collection of seven is a mix of one- and two-year-old hens.  Last summer when the chicks finally started laying we got a few pee-wee eggs.  The pee-wees were so tiny compared to the eggs from our older hens, the kids (and parents) got a kick out of it.


Once all the girls were laying the same sized eggs we were amazed by the variety in their shapes.  Check these out.  The long skinny ones are the most grin-inducing, but they do make it hard to close the egg carton.


About a week ago one of our poor hens laid a honkin' huge egg.  Here is the shell compared with a normal egg.  The size discrepancy makes the normal egg look like a pee-wee!


Out of those two eggs came this deliciousness:






Yup, that's right.  That ginormous one housed two yolks, twice the best part (in my opinion).  When I was growing up we just called them "double yolkers".  The kids were very excited.  I cooked them sunny-side up and served them to the kiddos, the double yolker to BuggaBoo and the singleton to Doozer.  And, as usual, they both ate their favorite parts.

Doozer's egg.  Notice missing yolk.

BuggaBoo's egg.  Notice missing white.

They're always like this.  This morning I had a saute of bacon ends, mushrooms, onion, sweet potatoes, and chard for breakfast.  Like birds the kids picked from my plate;  BuggaBoo sticking to the veggies and Doozer consuming the bacon (the fattier the better).

How did that ditty go again?

Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His sister could eat no lean...

Anyways, get some chickens.  They always give you something to look forward to.


2 comments:

  1. A blog post about chicken eggs. How perfect! It sure brought back some memories. I love fresh eggs from free range chickens. And I LOVE the yolk; it's MY favorite part. You guys are fortunate to be able to raise your own chickens in your backyard.

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  2. Wow, that is so funny that the kiddos like different parts! I am with BuggaBoo....I love the white part!
    So does this mean you are getting a lot of produce from your garden now?

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