Egg Accident

Soft Shelled Egg

We had our first "accident" today. I found this egg in the coop instead of the nest box. I'm not sure if it was laid there or if it was kicked out of the box by someone. It looks odd in the photo because it has a soft shell. It is squishy because the yolk and white are covered only by a membrane.

Oh well, these things happen. Noone will own up to who had the accident. These kinds of eggs are normal and only an issue if you are getting them all the time. My girls have plenty of shell grit, all sorts of food (spoilt!) and have been free ranging a lot lately.

A Tiny Thing

Teeny Tiny Egg

This is the tiniest egg I have ever seen. I can lay it sideways in the egg carton and it still sits on the bottom. I am looking forward to cracking it open and seeing if it has a yolk or not.

I admit that we just came out of a fortnight worth of hot weather and the girls didn't eat as much as usual. Elsie laid this little egg and she also has the excuse of being approximately a month younger than the other girls.

Now that it is cool again I hope we'll get a bit bigger eggs again. There isn't as much green about the yard either so we've bought them some sunflower, oats and linseed to suppliment their diet. What spoilt chickens!

Where Eggs Come From

Do you know where eggs come from? You'd be surprised how many people don't. I love taking photos of my darling girls and their crazy chicken antics, however a few weeks ago Hazel surprised me by laying an egg when I had my camera nice and handy... and I probably surprised her by shoving it in her butt! Poor girl. This isn't the first time she has been the subject of an egg video.

When a hen lays and egg she likes to find a nice dark quiet place which is why you should provide some nest boxes where they can hide to do their thing. They can sit for up to an hour or more before the egg emerges. They will nest and make themselves comfortable, then just before they lay, they stand up and lower their bottom toward the ground so the egg doesn't have far to fall.

Since this is a rather "graphic" video of Hazels bum... lets get technical!

Chickens and other birds have a common opening for both defecating and laying eggs which is called a Cloaca, however eggs are always clean when they are laid. They actually come out with a damp film which quickly dries and only get dirty if the hen contaminates it with her feet or feathers. The film that covers the egg is called the "bloom" and helps to keep the egg fresh, which is why I don't wash my eggs until I'm ready to use them.

There is an interesting article following the egg laying process step by step on the Domesticated Bird website, or see the process for your self in my video.

Food Lives In Here!

Stepping Inside

This photo is a bit of an old one, but it is a regular occurance now. I used to prop open the door fairly regularly to take out the washing or when coming in and out a lot, but now if I do that I am likely to have hens wander in. Just today I opened the door up to talk to Mark and had to fend off Gladys and Hazel. Notice again that Gladys was front and centre to do the cheeky naughty thing and lead others astray!

Now regular readers will know by now that I have six beautiful hens, and am regularly getting six eggs. Sometimes we only get five in one day. Occassionally two will slack off and we will get four eggs. Earlier this week we only had four eggs, followed by a five egg day when they were extremely busy in the garden and excited from getting a lot of attention from guests. The next day I collected five eggs in the morning and let them do their thing expecting perhaps one more...

We got SEVEN eggs!

Now either someone held one in overnight, or perhaps laid very very late in the afternoon, possibly just before going to bed. What surprising girls they are!

For the Love of Eggs

Giant Hen Egg

There is nothing like a fresh egg... and there is nothing like waking up in the morning to find a monster like this in the nest box. The egg on the right is an average size for the hens at the moment. The giant egg on the left barely fits into an egg box for large eggs. I bet it is a double yolker. We have 2 of these big eggs waiting to be cracked open at the moment!

You'll notice the photos of my eggs sometimes pick up some of the dirt on them. I don't wash my eggs when I bring them inside. We keep them in cartons on the bench at the moment because we're using them so fast.

Eggs have a natural "bloom" coating on the shell that seals the pores and keeps them fresh. Therefore with fresh eggs you should only wash them just before using them. Store bought eggs have been washed and coated with mineral oil to maintain freshness. Eggs straight from the hen are said to keep as long as 3 months and perhaps longer.

Reference: Georgia Egg Commission
Further Reading: The Humble Goog

Double Yolker

Double Yolk Egg

We had a bit of a fry up yesterday afternoon and made bacon and egg muffins. I had a feeling one of the large eggs we received last week may be a double yolker, and this proves it. All that egg came from within one shell.

I love double yolkers! I once got a dozen eggs from my mum's hens and all but two were double yolkers.

So how does this happen? Usually you will see this in young hens as their egg cycle is not well synchronised, though sometimes heredity plays a part too. Ovulation has occurred too rapidly and one yolk joins the next yolk and is surrounded by the same egg sack and shell. They’re a "mistake" of the chickens reproductive system.

I think they're a pretty cool mistake! Who’s had double yolkers from their hens?

Reference: Poultry Help

Four Dozen Milestone

Elsie and Gladys

As of this morning our girls have laid 4 dozen eggs in 3 weeks. I have been eating eggs like crazy now that they are plentiful, making quiches, omelette, boiled (hard and soft) and fried eggs for meals. They are laying beautifully now with an average of 5 a day this week.

Most eggs are laid in the nesting boxes. We have one who is laying on the ground in the coop. We know that it is the purple one, however Mark didn't quite have the time to try and coax her into a nest box before she squished out her egg when he caught her seeking a laying spot in the coop. I don't think it is a problem of not enough nest boxes because she has laid in the afternoon when no-one else was using them and on morning when I have only had one other egg. Hopefully she'll learn as she gets bigger that eggs go in nest boxes. I'll reduce the amount of straw we lay out in their coop to keep it clean and see if that helps.

We also had one incident with Gladys, who decided to hide her egg one afternoon in some bird netting laying on the back side of the vegetable patch. Luckily I noticed she was missing and we caught her exiting her special place and found her egg. It would have been an unpleasant thing to find in a few months time. For a little while we are leaving them locked up until the afternoon, or until we've had 5 eggs.

Little Elsie still isn't laying yet, but she is catching up to everyone now. Her comb is just starting to become larger and more colourful. When they all have their heads down eating it is harder to tell her from the others now as they all have big fluffy hen bums instead of the sleek form of young pullets.

Dust Baths and Eggs

Dust baths under the Orange tree

A beautiful day today, and we have had 5 eggs! Unfortunately one of those eggs was on the coop floor and one was laid in the afternoon behind the vegetable patch (where chickens aren’t supposed to be in the first place!) I was hoping we would be lucky enough to have very smart girls who would all use the nesting boxes, but Gladys is a little too clever and wants to hide her eggs now. We at least found out that she is the one laying the very, very speckled eggs.

Harriet has it all figured out. She laid an afternoon egg and went back to the nest box to do it. What a clever girl! She gave us a beautiful small brown egg.

So who isn’t pulling her weight? I think that Elsie is still a bit little to be laying as her comb isn’t anywhere near as big as the other girls. I think she may even be substantially younger than the other hens, even though she seems to be highest in the pecking order most of the time.

It is such a nice day that the chickens have spent a substantial amount of time dust bathing. They let me get right up close and take a video of their dirt flying everywhere.

Video - Dust Baths

I have been trying to use up some of our eggs and have made some quiches using our home grown silver beet and parsley. I even made my own pastry since that used up an egg as well. They’re still in the oven, but if they turn out I will share my recipe!

Do you have any favourite recipes to use up your spare eggs?

No Rooster Necessary

Egg Selection

Today we have celebrated our 20th egg. Most of them are brown, however we have also received three very, very speckled eggs. Their rate of lay is increasing with us receiving three eggs today. Soon I shall have to start baking with egg-heavy recipes or find some people who would like fresh eggs for a small cost which can help pay for the hen food.

Interestingly over the past couple of months I have been asked on three seperate occassions how it is possible to get eggs without a rooster. Much like with human and other animal biology, hens will still produce an egg even if there is no means to fertilise it. They taste exactly the same, the only difference is that they are not viable to be incubated for baby chicks.

And so for anyone who is interested in chickens for the production of eggs rather than breeding, consider leaving a rooster off your shopping list. If you're in an urban jungle like us, your neighbours will thank you for it!

Hazel Lays an Egg

Hazel explores the Laundry

Chickens are surely one of the most amusing creatures. This afternoon I had a visit at the back door from Hazel (with the red tag). She was clucking and standing on the back step and when I opened the door to say hello she came straight inside! After surveying the kitchen and the laundry she got a fixation with the shoe rack. Her behaviour made me think she wanted to lay an egg, but then she decided to head back outside with the other girls.

Not long after I walked outside, I had 6 hens following me around the garden, so I got them some grain and took them back to their pen. Clucky Hazel didn't want to come inside, and then spent some time walking up and down the fence wanting to come back out. Her behaviour made me think she may have laid an egg somewhere in the yard and wanted to go back to that "nest", but we haven't been able to find one.

Soon she started heading in and out of the coop and I peeked inside to see her hopping in and out of each nest box. She was scraping the straw aside down to the bare wood, so I got her some more and straightened out the boxes thinking she didn't have enough to make a nice nest. That got kicked out and pushed aside as well!

Hazel chooses a nesting box

I watched as she finally settled into a nest box and the other girls filed in to offer support. Harriet actually took a snooze next to her on the floor during her egg laying ordeal. I had been taking a couple of photos and videos and I noticed her stand up, so I pressed record and was surprised when I heard an audible *clunk* and realised I'd captured her egg laying. Listen out for the clunk at about the 6 second mark. She pushed aside too much straw and broke her beautiful egg when she laid it.

Hear the Egg Break

So now we know that Hazel is definitely laying eggs. I don't think she is the only one. We had one egg this morning as well, so that makes two for today!

Readiness to Lay

Hazel does the Chicken Squat

How do you know when you're due for your first egg? Watch for a chicken squat!

We first noticed this behaviour in one of our girls about 2 or 3 weeks before we received our first egg, however it is very hard to photograph!

The hen will lift both wings slightly, squat down to the ground and may also lift her tail.

Squatting seems to be an indication of readiness to lay (that is that they are ready for a rooster's attention), as well as a sign of submission. This behaviour is less common if there is a rooster present or if it is a dominant hen.

You can see the photo larger on flickr, or have a look at this video.

Three out of our six hens are now squatting and we have had 4 eggs in 5 days. Usually the squat will happen when I bend down to pat them, however on some occassions just walking up to the coop has initiated a squat from one of them. They quite like a pat on the back and will shake themselved happily afterwards.

Another sign that your hen is nearing laying age is to keep an eye on their wattles and combs. Young chickens have quite small, pale combs which get larger and redder over time.

First Egg!

The First Egg!

That's right! I found our first egg this morning. It was tucked right into the corner of a nest box so it may have been laid yesterday and I didn't notice. I shall have to ensure to look right inside every morning now!

It is a beautiful light brown egg with white speckles and quite a reasonable size for a first egg. I am not sure who laid it but my guess is the purple one. I think the red one will be next! Time to find some egg recipes!

We've had our girls for 8 weeks exactly. What a lovely way to celebrate 2 months of chickens!