Monday, March 7, 2011

Eggs, eggcups and other silly things!

Hard boiled egg with a wee sprinkling of
fresh ground organic pepper
and Celtic Sea Salt
I bought some cute little egg cups for Easter this year
and used a couple at breakfast one day last week.
Poor Gentleman Farmer quite often has to wait
for his meals as I take a picture just in case
I need to post it along with a recipe!
He needed a little more than two hard boiled eggs
and a couple of pieces of toast for his breakfast
this morning, so he fixed himself a little addition.
He grabbed the camera and took a picture and
said I needed to post this on my blog,
'cuz' two can play this game! (silly boy!)
(Photo by GF)
He loves graham crackers and milk!
(I have been thinking of making my own graham crackers.
Does anyone have a good recipe?
And can anyone tell me why 'graham' crackers
are NOT made with graham flour? Why are they named
Graham?)

And then I find eggs like this one on the left
every now and then in the chickens' nests!
I did a little research on odd shaped eggs ( and
eggs with blood spots and/or meat specs) to find the
cause. I wondered if perhaps I was not providing
something in their feed (I feed only organic chicken feed)
or how I could prevent this from occurring.
The consensus from the sites I visited were
that both the odd shaped eggs and the spots
were generally caused by heredity
or
age in the hens ~
either being young and just starting to lay
(Not the case in my hens) Or old and production
and quality goes down.
All my hens but one,
are about six ~ eight years old. Old by most standards,
but they are laying quite well. In fact, as far as average
life span for my girls, this is quite young! I have been
keeping chickens for nearly 50 years, and most of my hens
have lived to a ripe old age if not killed
by coyotes, raccoon or bald eagles.
My oldest hen, Granny, was 13 years old when she passed,
and was still laying well. She was a beautiful Black Austrolorp.
I caught a glimpse of her one day out my window, sunning herself on an old
gate in the chicken yard. I thought to myself that I should go
out and give little ol' Granny a treat. I grabbed a crust
of bread and headed out to the hen house.
I found Granny dead!
In the time that I had seen her and grabbed that bread,
she, I later assumed, had flown off the gate and the
gate fell over and hit Granny on the head
breaking her neck!
I wasn't sure if she was dead, so looking cautiously around,
proceeded to .....
(WAIT FOR IT)
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
...give her mouth to beak resuscitation!
( I can hear you laughing!)
The CPR did not revive my poor little Granny!
All this to say ~ I don't think we should 'cull' our
older hens because they don't lay as well!
She was still producing eggs and was a
dear little companion, as well.
These little creatures feed us with
more than food for the stomach,
but with food for the soul ~
gracing our lives with companionship
and a little humor as we watch
their daily capers!


and the others for
Homestead Barn Hop #3.

~*~
"Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the white of an egg?"
Job 6:6





16 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL :-)

Poor granny ...

But I thoroughly enjoyed the story!

Rebecca said...

I, too, like to crumble graham crackers and eat them like cereal--with a little milk.

Interesting facts about eggs, too - and never "caught" that Job 6:6 verse before (though I've read the book several times)!

Camille said...

You are too cute for words Raeann! Mouth to beak resuscitation???!!! Your poor granny...what a blessing she had such a long life. :)

Have a lovely week my friend!
Blessings,
Camille

Simply Heart And Home said...

Dear old granny - what can you do!

Love your egg pictures. :)

Gina

Sue said...

There is no telling how long granny might have lived if not for the accident. I always feel so sad when I lose one of my hens.
I had to smile, as I thought I was the only person who soaked her graham crackers in milk. I love this better than cereal.lol.
I am in very good company!
Thanks for sharing such a sweet post.
Hugs,
Sue

Farming On Faith said...

Oh~ i so enjoyed reading this post. You husband wanting to post his creation is too~ cute. Only a blogger would understand the importance of capturing that photo.

Poor Granny~ I lost a hen a couple of week ago and I so understand the measures we take to keep our girls safe.

You have a lovely day!

Marqueta (Mar-kee-ta) G. said...

Dear Lady Farmer,

Poor Granny! Aren't chickens the most dear little companions? I sure miss having some around, and am excited thinking of moving to a real homestead again with all the critters.

I know that Graham Crackers USED to be made of Graham flour, and that the Mr. Graham (Sylvester?) advocated vegetarianism and eating whole grains for moral and physical health.

Love,

Marqueta

Jennifer said...

Mouth to Beak??!! I have never in all my citified days heard of such a thing. But it did give me quite a chuckle as I tried to imagine it!

KayC. said...

I have just started to raise chickens...my hens are now about a year old. I started with 12 but sorry to say that I lost two. (so, I know how you feel...I probably would have done mouth to beak, too)The 10 hens have survived our cold Wyoming weather and are now enjoying the beginning of spring. I love to watch them...this morning one was just outside the kitchen door just making all sorts of noise, my daughter went to see what was going on, she opened the door...only to scare the poor hen down the stairs! I didn't see but I heard my daughter laughed and laughed. Comic relief and fresh eggs...can't beat that!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

I've been trying to make soft boiled eggs for Dave but no success. They always come out hard boiled; good, but not what he wanted!

GratefulPrayerThankfulHeart said...

Graham crackers and milk... that is new to me. I like graham crackers with peanut butter. That's probably new to you :)

Cheri said...

What a sweet hubby you have! And I love your dishes. I think the china under the egg cup is the same pattern as mine.

Sorry about granny. I wish we could raise chickens here...but it is against the covenants (silly covenants).

Blessings!

Linda Stubbs said...

Awww so sorry about Granny............and I am truly sad........but you made me laugh. Can only imagine.........thank you for the precious picture in my mind.

Thank you so for coming to the party. I thought that my baby chicks were going to be born on Wed on party day. They are suppose to come on Tues. read the calendar wrong. Oh that will be even better. Can't wait!!!!!!! to see who wins and see how many babies I will have.

Hugs, Linda

Gina said...

Raeann,

Just wanted to let you know that I decided to close my other blog and start fresh on Blogger. Too many "issues" involved with the other one.

Gina

Camille said...

Stopping in to let you know I'm thinking of you. Trust all is well? :)

Barb J. said...

Poor Granny! What a way to go! That's interesting that you said the chickens still laid well into their old age. I have always heard that after two to three years they don't lay well anymore. I'm actually glad to hear that. I never could actually eat my old chickens, I always just gave them to a friend when they got old.