Ovulation

Ovulation

Jul 24th, 2009

by Dan.

Due to a pretty crappy day at work yesterday I didn’t have sufficient levels of optimism to check to see if the chickens had started laying. Which meant that when I had a look today I was greeted by a rather impressive bumper crop of first eggs.

By the looks of it I’ve got at least three hens laying at the moment, and hopefully the remaining three should start pretty soon too. Six chickens laying aprox five eggs a week should keep me in omelets very nicely indeed.

I hope the whole process wasn’t too distressing for them. I worry that it was like that locker-room scene in Carrie, with the poor naive chickens flapping around and panicking at the strange things emerging from their bottoms. Sometimes it’s hard to be a chicken.

I made myself some lovely fried eggs for tea though. And I’m convinced that their superior taste was based in reality rather than any prejudice on my part. The yokes were certainly a lot yellower than the ones I buy from the farm down the road.

Great stuff.

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Who am I?

My name's Dan and I live near Huddersfield in the North of England. I’m a 34 years old part time stay at home dad. For three days a week I'm also a community mental health nurse but you won’t find me blogging about that here. I’m married to Kerry and we have two children - Amy (6) and Evan (3). I keep chickens, grow veg, and take the occasional long walk. If you want to know how other's describe me then take a look here. If you haven't been here before feel free to say hello in the comments.

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22 Comments on “Ovulation”

#1 Xbox4NappyRash
on Jul 25th, 2009 at 8:28 am

Are the pink one girl chickens and the white ones boys?
Xbox4NappyRash´s last blog ..Shotgun weddings & bastard avoidance

Dan Reply:
July 25th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
@Xbox4NappyRash, hopefully neither as I don’t have a rooster so they should all be infertile.

Hey… you don’t think that was where you were going wrong before do you?

Xbox4NappyRash Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
@Dan, you saying there was something wrong with my co…er…rooster?
Xbox4NappyRash´s last blog ..Shotgun weddings & bastard avoidance

#2 Preseli Mags
on Jul 25th, 2009 at 9:29 am

Great stuff indeed. I’ll bet they had a good old cackle after parting with that lot. I hope you like eggs, though and have friends who like them too. Six hens means six eggs a day. The novelty soon wears off! Will you be putting out an ‘eggs for sale’ sign?
Preseli Mags´s last blog ..Simple things please simple minds

Dan Reply:
July 25th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
@Preseli Mags, I think we’re going for the “give them free to our neighbors” option. But I do eat a lot of eggs, but possibly not 30 a week.

#3 Mark
on Jul 25th, 2009 at 10:55 am

Try making cakes with those yellow yolks and see what a difference it makes. Home produced eggs are the best – sadly, we have no chickens but neighbour does.

Dan Reply:
July 25th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
@Mark, I’ve bee making a lot of banana bread recently so no doubt they will be thrown in to the mix at some point.

#4 Catherine
on Jul 25th, 2009 at 12:51 pm

Wow! I love the white ones. I’m sure you’re right and they do taste a million times nicer too. I’m sure they taste better in proportion to the hen happiness and feed quality.

You’re eating very well this week :D
Catherine´s last blog ..Early Birds

Dan Reply:
July 25th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
@Catherine, the white ones are actually a little bit blue tinged. The photo is a little bleached.

#5 Jeff
on Jul 25th, 2009 at 3:29 pm

Now just get a few pigs and you can have bacon and eggs every morning. Oh and a cow for the milk and cheese too. Shouldn’t be a problem… you’ve got several acres behind your house, right?
Jeff´s last blog ..Hoping to get wired

Dan Reply:
July 25th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
@Jeff, I haven’t got several acres, but if you count my neighbors gardens I do. i’m sure they won’t mind if I park a cow on their land.

#6 James (SeattleDad)
on Jul 25th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

Mmmm. Making myself a 5 egg omlet right now. Might share with the family too. I’m sure it won’t taste nearly as sweet as yours.
James (SeattleDad)´s last blog ..Art (Over) Appreciation

Dan Reply:
July 25th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
@James (SeattleDad), probably not, but my eggs were rather small so I don’t think they’d feed a family. thy fed me very nicely though :)

#7 dadwhowrites
on Jul 25th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

They really look that colour? Marvelous! Almost worthwhile getting some (if only to see the expression on the faces of our very-OCD neighbours with who we share a garden).

How many are they managing a day?
dadwhowrites´s last blog ..More on adoption and the self

Dan Reply:
July 25th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
@dadwhowrites, these are the first eggs, so I’m not sure how many they are producing as yet. I only got one egg today, but the day isn’t over yet.

As for the colour. the photo is actually a little bleached out. The brown ones are a bit browner, and the white ones actually have a blue tinge to them.

#8 cartside
on Jul 25th, 2009 at 9:15 pm

oh fab! Friends of ours have chicken, and I was amazed to hear that they do actually lay one egg a day! How impressive is that?

Dan Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
@cartside, pretty impressive indeed. A chicken’s body is simply a mobile egg producing factory. Think how much they must have to eat to lay one egg a day. amazing.
Dan´s last blog ..Carry My Stuff Across England

#9 Steve
on Jul 26th, 2009 at 8:35 pm

Ever since taking this picture after breaking two locally sourced organic eggs and one supermarket (albeit free range) egg into a pan, I have been a convert to the cause. The supermarket yoke just looked a strangely artificial shade of yellow in comparison.

Happy breakfasting!
Steve´s last blog ..A short essay on time

Dan Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
@Steve, they feed commercial chickens yoke colouring food, even the free range ones.
Dan´s last blog ..Carry My Stuff Across England

#10 Jo Beaufoix
on Jul 26th, 2009 at 11:42 pm

Oh they look beautiful. In an eggy kind of way. Well done Dan and Kerry’s hens. Fabulous stuff. You will be like Mr Strong. Maybe you’ll turn all square and red.
Jo Beaufoix´s last blog ..Swine Flu – The Real Thing

Dan Reply:
July 27th, 2009 at 8:05 am
@Jo Beaufoix, surely Mr Strong is triangular these days?

#11 Erin
on Jul 27th, 2009 at 8:33 pm

How do you get the eggs that color? Is it like with carnations—if you feed the hens colored water, the eggs come out to match?
Erin´s last blog ..I imagine this is how Brangelina’s children must treat them

22 Comments on “Ovulation”

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