Monday, March 23, 2015

A Sure Sign of Spring


Eggs!!! The ladies are doing their thing again, and we couldn't be happier. It is so lovely to walk out to the coop in the morning and gather fresh eggs for breakfast.

55 comments:

  1. Yumm ! It surely is a sign of spring:)

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  2. Oh how wonderful! 2 years... in 2 years, that will be us as well. Such a lovely goal.
    Can I ask what you guys do for eggs in the winter when the hens are resting? Do you buy from other farmers? From the grocery store? Just curious... :-)

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    1. It is wonderful Yanic. There is nothing quite like walking out to the coop to gather eggs.

      We never buy from grocery stores. We have a little group of backyard chicken keepers around here that we have gotten to know, all of them have much larger flocks than we do, so we turn to them when our ladies aren't laying. There are times when none of us have any eggs, this winter with the cold was especially hard, and during those times we just go without.

      Hope that helps :)

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    2. Thank you for that... We never use to buy grocery store eggs, but with little man and all his intolerances and allergies, we are weary of his protein intake. When our local sources for farm fresh eggs dried up this winter, we ended up back at the grocery stores. We were lucky enough to find a company that has free range nest laid eggs. The company uses only colony housing with nest and perches. They are also a full green energy company so all and all, we didn't feel as bad. But still, we plan on freezing eggs when we finally get our flocks. All extras will get frozen and that way, we can always have them ready in case little man's dairy and gluten issues don't fix themselves.

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    3. No problem, always happy to share. That is wonderful that you found a good source of eggs at the grocery store, it isn't easy to do these days. And yes freezing them, it works. We found out the hard way a few years ago, when we left some eggs from our CSA farmer in the car during the winter :)

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  3. Hurrah for fresh eggs! Our five have all started laying again and there is nothing better than fresh eggs.

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    1. You can say that again. I wish all of ours were laying, we have nine, but only a few of them have gotten back into a rhythm. Soon, all of them will be there.

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  4. Hurrah! We might hit 50 degrees one day later this week :) That will be very exciting to me, I won't have to wear a heavy coat!

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    1. Oh Karen, that will be wonderful. We are a little chilly here again, for the next day or two, but then it looks like the real spring weather will be here...at least I hope so :)

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  5. ...looks like you have been visited by the Easter bunny...he.he. Beautiful colored eggs.

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    1. Haha, yes. I love the colour of eggs we get...a little blue, green, pink and brown. It always look so pretty.

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  6. Hooray for spring and fresh eggs! Enjoy.

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  7. Yeah! Mine have been laying up to 7 a day! We have started selling again, since we cannot keep up with the eggs all by ourselves! Cannot beat a fresh egg, tastes so very good!

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    1. That is awesome, ours are still trying to find their regular rhythm, but it is nice to have them starting up again. Soon, all nine will be laying. And there will be some additions to the flock this year...more chicks and a few ducklings :)

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  8. Look at the lovely color! Yummy!

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  9. Delicious! Enjoy those beauties!

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  10. Thanks Rosemarie. While the flock we have is a mix of breeds not known for laying eggs in the winter, they are known for their wonderfully coloured eggs, and we love that!

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  11. They look huge! But I think that is just because I am used to the little bantam eggs that my ladies lay...I am picking up 4 more this weekend and I can't wait as our little flock has lost a couple of members over the winter - they were 10 years old though and had long and happy lives - but I think the time has come for some new Easter chicks! :)

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    1. Not too big, but yes, big compared to little bantam eggs :) I know, I read that in your letter, and now you know we have chickens too. I wrote about in my letter to you, which was put in the mail today :)

      Chicks for Easter...just perfect!
      xo

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  12. Beautiful colours! What a treat!

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    1. A treat indeed, and one that we are very grateful for :)

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  13. Oooh how wonderful!! I miss that a lot, hope some day not too far I will have that pleasure again :)

    Have a great week!!

    Lluisa xoxo

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    1. It is something I think I would miss too if we ever had to give them up. I will look forward to your chicken stories once you get some ladies again :)

      xo

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  14. Ok, poultry novice here - I had no idea chickens did not lay eggs in the winter? What a fun fact to learn.

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    1. Well, they can. Some breeds are better winter layers than others. Hens need 14 hours of light per day to lay eggs, so once we change the clocks in the fall and the days get shorter they tend to stop laying. You can give them artificial light to make up the difference, which we have done, and during a mild winter they have continued to lay, although not nearly as regular as in the summer. This winter was so very cold, even with extra light, they wouldn't lay. So much energy expended just to stay warm.

      You can, of course, buy eggs year round at the grocery store, which is why a lot of people are surprised to learn chickens don't naturally lay in the winter. And that is the key world, naturally. We as humans can do a lot of things to take them from their natural rhythm.

      And of course, there are some breeds of chickens that handle the winter better. One breed being Rhode Island Reds...which is the breed we will be getting very soon :)

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  15. Us too! We're up to nearly a dozen a day, but of course we have about 20 hens. There is something about the return of the eggs that is as nearly as reassuring as the return of the sun ;) Happy breakfast to you three.

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    1. Nice!!! I am hoping that will be us next year, after we add to our flock this year, we will have 17 hens and 2 ducks. Although 6 of our hens will be three this spring, so we expect their production to drop quite a bit.

      Yes, I totally agree with you. Thank you, same to you guys. xo

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  16. Woohoo!! Definitely very spring like and they look delicious!

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  17. In our part of the year, they lay quite well in winter, January was a bit lower perhaps, but now it is regular : three eggs a day from our three lady... I love to pick up the eggs every morning sooooo much!

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    1. How lucky you guys are. I would think in warmer climates down south, they might lay more regularly through the winter...not sure.

      Enjoy your eggs :)

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  18. How wonderful, I too hope that one day we will have chickens.................

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    1. Thanks! I hope that for you too, they are such a joy, in so many ways.

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  19. Sounds awesome! What a great experience for Reece. :)

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    1. He loves his chickens. Although, he is getting two ducks, and keeps telling us they are his, that we can't help him look after them. It will be interesting to see what the chickens think about that :)

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  20. those are huge!!! How wonderful... tet the laying begin....
    xoxo

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    1. I think they might look bigger than they really are. They are pretty much regular size for eggs.

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  21. Yahoo! So exciting when they start laying again :) Beautiful eggs!

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  22. I would love to have chickens and get fresh eggs. Even though my son can't eat them, the rest of us still love them. Warmer weather should be arriving and staying pretty soon!

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    1. It is pretty awesome Darcel. I highly recommend anyone thinking about it, to do it. The chickens themselves are so much fun, and then the eggs, so darn good.

      I sure hope so, we are kinda done with the cold. Fingers crossed.

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  23. oh, i can't wait to have chickens again! i miss them so much. we lost our entire flock to a group of predators last year, and we have decided to make some changes before we get a new flock. i sure miss just popping out to the coop for some eggs :(

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    1. Oh no, so sorry Jenny. We lost three hens last spring, when they got out of the yard and got lost in the forest, it was hard, and we felt so responsible.

      Good luck once you get the new flock, you will really appreciate those first eggs :)

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  24. Nice! Good work, ladies :) We have been studying quite a bit over here about chickens. We are planning to add them into our lives. Originally we hoped for this Spring, but realized that would be a bit rushed for us considering different things we have going on. So we are studying, studying and will bring them into our lives next spring.

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    1. You will love having chickens, they are wonderful to have around, and of course the fresh eggs are amazing!!!

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  25. That photo has just made me fancy a boiled egg, even though it is quite late in the evening here! I will try and wait for morning. As someone who doesn't keep chickens it's not an obvious sign of Spring to me, as the buds and flowers and lambs are, but what a lovely sign it is.

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    1. Ha! We've got buds here too, no flowers yet. Happy spring Sally!

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