Finally the hens started laying again.
Actually, they’ve been laying for a while, we just didn’t know it till we saw the white hen sitting on top of a hay bale. When we looked under her there were at least a dozen eggs.
Not knowing how long they’d been there, we broke three for the hens to eat and I threw the rest in the woods. Either someone will eat them, or they’ll be good fertilizer.
That was yesterday and today there were two eggs in the roost.
I just bought a dozen eggs at the Cambridge Co-op when I worked there on Thursday. They come in fresh every few days, but there’s no comparison to eggs laid and eaten on the same day.
A same day egg doesn’t peal easy no matter how much cold water you run over it. That’s the first sign that it’s going to be good. The yoke is big and a rich, bright yellow and whites are creamy.
Jon boiled the eggs as soon as I found them and we each had one as an afternoon snack.
Oh, and the gray hen seems to be doing just fine these days. I’ve seen her out in the pasture pecking round for bugs with the rest of the chickens. Maybe she was just broody and, like us, didn’t know where the eggs were.
Wanna a peeling tip? Here’s what I learned from my Gram and what I now do with our girl’s fresh eggs—Bring your eggs to room temperature – this is the most important part according to Gram. Get a pot of boiling water going and drop them in for exactly 12 minutes. Then you strain out the water. Put cold water in just to the bottom edge of the middle of the egg. Jiggle the pot around. You don’t want to do this too hard or the eggs will crumble apart. But what happens if you do it gently enough, and also hard enough (Goldilocks comes to mind) is that the eggs will get tiny cracks in their shells and a bit of water will get inside. This makes them easy to peel. And then we get to taste those riotous orangery yolks!
Wow Ellen, that’s impressive, I want to know how he figured that out. And I know myself too well to think that I’ll ever do that. Although I’d love if someone did it for me! I do give the pieces of shell with the white stuck to it back to the hens for a snack.
It’s 9:30 pm on Monday night. Do you know where your eggs are? I know where mine aren’t! lol! ( Sorry, I couldn’t help myself )