Category: eggs

Different

On By CarynIn chickens, eggs, Tools
Photo description: three eggs held in my hand outside the coop, with egg weights digitally added: 45g, 54g, 31g

I found a small egg in the nest boxes. Although it is a different color than the other two eggs collected that day, it is in the normal coloration of my hen’s eggs, just small. I broke it open and there was a yolk (which surprised me), but very little white.

On the tech side of things, I just discovered that my photo app can add actual text now. I’ve been scribbling with markup, or porting to a different app for text adds for years. I’m not sure when that feature slipped in there, but it does help streamline my workflow. Yay!

Egg!

On By CarynIn chickens, eggs

A few days ago I noticed one of the hens exhibiting squat behavior, which usually means they are getting ready to lay eggs. Sure enough, I found our first egg of Spring! It is a month later than last year, which was a month later than the year before. The hens are nearly 5 years old, so not terribly surprising. Spring tends to have a higher mortality rate as their reproductive track kicks back into gear, so I’ll need to keep a closer eye on them. We are down to five hens at the moment. They all weathered the Winter just fine, although I’d hesitate to call the last three months “winter” here in TX. It was more of a long wet fall.

Morel mushrooms

On By CarynIn eggs, Fungi

I went to check the trail cam and found morel mushrooms growing in our woods!

Morel mushroom
Three more morel mushrooms

I did a triple verification of identity: I cut one in half length-wise to verify the inside was hollow, I put them on a dark colored sheet of paper to verify the spore was light in color, and I sent a picture to my Dad, who confirmed the identity.

Morel mushrooms are completely hollow
Spore from a morel mushroom

Once identified, I washed the mushrooms and sliced them, then sautéed them in olive oil. I read that morels need to be cooked or risk stomach upset.

Sautéed morel mushrooms

To complete the meal I added eggs from our chickens to make a mushroom scramble. Breakfast was provided by items gathered from the yard, which is always neat.

Egg and mushroom scramble

Strange egg shape

On By CarynIn eggs

This egg is nearly round. I’m not sure what caused my hens to lay a round egg, when I cracked it open it only had one yolk. It also happened on a day that six of the eight chickens produced an egg, which is unusual. My hatchery quality Faverolles usually lay every other day or so.

Nearly round egg