An Odd Egg and Courgette Cake

We had our first strange egg laid yesterday. Not bad going in 12 weeks between the three girls (over 250 eggs!). I have had a good Google around and found some information about shell-less eggs from this website. These can be caused by a number of reasons, the main ones being lack of calcium in the diet, or a sudden shock leading to a glitch in the shell forming process. I gave the girls oyster shell grit as usual and added Life Guard tonic to their water. Today we have had three perfect eggs with strong shells, so I am hoping this is a one off.

So what are we doing with these scrumptious eggs? Below is a picture of the Chocolate Courgette Cake (with Chocolate Butter Cream filling) that used up 3 eggs. It was really tasty and an excellent way to use some of the many courgettes we have at the moment. I will post the recipe later as a separate page if anyone wants to have a go... We also made melt in the middle chocolate cookies to use up 1 egg.

And what have the girls been getting up to? 

We were out the other evening and back a little after the chooks bedtime; unfortunately the wind had blown the door to the run closed and they couldn't get to bed. We felt really awful, but we found two of them roosting on the roof of the run looking a bit put out. Omelette was hiding in the ivy bush at ground level. We very quickly got them tucked up into the coop so they could settle down for the night. Since then Custard has been climbing to new heights, standing on the run, and the recycling bin. These birds are not as dumb as people think! We will have to watch them closely in future; our fence is no higher than the run!

Below are a couple of pictures of them enjoying their shared dust bath next to the curry bush. They spend hours in this spot and the hole is getting quite deep. We secretly joke that they are tunnelling to get into next doors garden, where the grass is apparently greener!

And in this picture, Custard (Alpha-Chook) meets her "sister", Lauren was very interested in her and did make a grab for her floppy comb, but we told her to play nice (and moved her out of arms reach)... Just wait til she's walking girls...

Here is Custard posing for her close up. She is the only one that doesn't mind being handled too much, which is why all the pics are of her. Omelette and Bennie seem to get stressed at being handled still.

Custard with me, having a cuddle...

I'll include the egg stats next time, when we celebrate our 300th egg :-)

Which Came First: The Chicken or the Egg?

Well, I am not about to start discussing the great philosophical question of which really did come first, although, I believe that the egg must have come first as dinosaurs and reptiles laid eggs, and these came before the chicken. However which came first the chicken or the chicken egg is a different matter. There's the joke to consider about a chicken and an egg laying in bed one of them smoking, but that not only is a little cheeky, it also condones smoking. Anyhow, in my life the chickens came and then they laid eggs. This post is a closer look at the miracle that is an egg...

 View the source of this diagram by clicking this link

Eggs are amazing creations. They take between 24 and 26 hours to make. They are made from the inside out. The chicken releases a yolk from her ovary, and is held in the funnel for 15 minutes to allow for fertilization (which would occur if there was a Mr Chicken around). It then passes to the magnum where the white forms after 3 hours. The yolk rotates as the white (or albumen) is added and fibres form to make the chalazae which holds the yolk suspended in the centre of the egg.

The shell membranes take 1 hour 15 minutes to form in the isthmus. The egg is now its full shape and size. It passes along to the uterus to form the shell after 19 hours, its colouring and protective coating are added here. After a few minutes in the vagina the egg is laid through the vent.






Random facts about eggs:

• A hen has 2 ovaries like all female creatures, but only use the left one. The right one stays dormant.
• Like human females, a hen is born with all the ova (yolks) she will use in her life.
• Size of eggs increase as the hen gets older.
• Laying is known as oviposition.
• A hen has a 30 minute break after laying, then the whole process starts again.
• The egg moves through the hen small end first, but it rotates just before laying and comes out large end first.
• The colour of the yolk depends on the hens diet, for yolks that are more orange she should eat more grass and plants.
• Egg shells are made from calcium carbonate.
• Eggs are 40.5*C when laid.

Eggs are very versatile and I love being able to collect them each morning. Considering that our girls are "spent" commercial laying hens, we have had at least 2 eggs every day between 3 of them. And we have had 3 eggs on a lot of days. I'll work on some egg stats for another post. We've not managed to get a huge surplus of eggs, we have sold a few and given a few away and eaten loads! Yummy :-)