I try and describe how rich the eggs are that my chickens lay. But it’s impossible to describe them with just words. It’s like the hens manage to stuff miniature suns inside their eggs. Can you roll your egg yolks like the video below? You can do so many wonderful things with egg yolks. You might as well use the best.
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So that’s what a rich, healthy egg yolk looks like. It’s not hard to imagine that it can nourish a growing chick.
Month: April 2014
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Egg Yolks from Paradise
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Lucky Lays an Egg
It’s a fresh, Sunday April morning. When I fed the dogs this morning, I saw that Lucky was already in one of the dog houses. So while the dogs were eating, I closed the gate to their kennel. A few minutes later while I was making coffee, I heard Lucky clucking. She’d laid her egg.
Getting Lucky’s egg before the dogs do is a game I play nearly every day. Lucky insists on using one of the doghouses as her nest. Some mornings, she lays the egg before I even get up, and the dogs get a pre-breakfast snack. This Sunday morning, I got her egg.
There used to be more hens who liked to lay their eggs in the dog houses each morning. Now, Lucky is the only one. Most hens change their nesting spots from time to time. They’ll use one nest for a month or two, and then switch to another nest. I suppose it’s an adaptation to hide their nesting spots from predators. -
Svenda in the Woods
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So what do chickens like to do? One thing they really like is to go hunting in the woods. The underbrush is full of good things to eat. Chickens evolved from red jungle fowl of southeast Asia. So it’s not surprising that chickens enjoy spending so much time in the woods. This is what chickens like to do. So why pack them by the tens of thousands into chicken houses where they never see the outdoors?Here at a man and his hoe®, what the chickens want is paramount. It’s not about trying to produce the most eggs and meat at the lowest cost as possible. It’s about providing a farm where chickens experience the maximum amount of happiness. And after observing them for eight years, one of their favorite things to do is to spend hours in the woods. This is what humanely raised chicken look like. You can’t raise them humanely in a densely packed chicken house.
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Chicken Love – Blink and It’s Over
Ten seconds. That’s usually all it takes. When there is no chase, knock off five seconds. But the rooster doesn’t get the hen every time. Sometimes she out runs him. Sometimes another rooster steps in the way. Sometimes another rooster will knock him off the hen. Sometimes another hen will chase him off. It is what it is.What do hens say about human love? That it takes forever? That they’re stuck with the same man over and over again? That there’s no variety?
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Beauty is Everywhere – Do Chickens See Beauty?
Beauty is everywhere. When the chickens make their rounds, do they see beauty? When they walk over fallen cherry petals, do they just see good things to eat, or do they think it’s pretty? When they walk by moss covered rocks, do they just check to see if there is something to eat on the moss, or do they pause and enjoy the lush green?
I’ll never forget the day I ran into Madeleine taking a walk in the woods. She was the first hen I had who hatched and raised a clutch. A day or two after she was done rearing her brood, she was strolling down a path through the woods.
I watched her for some time. She seemed to be more than just looking for good things to eat. She seemed to be taking a much needed rest from having spent twenty four hours a day for over a month rearing nine chicks. It was like she was out enjoying being alone for the first time in a long time.
That was back in 2010. Madeleine is no longer living. But I’ll never forget her. Watching her care for her chicks convinced me that every chick deserves a mother.
