What We've Been Waiting For!

At last! My Welsummer hens have started laying. We got our first egg from them on Tuesday, December 14th. They aren't the dark "chocolate" color I was expecting, but they are very, very pretty with their freckles and dusky color. I took WAY too many pictures of them, and of course, had to share them with you. Who else would appreciate egg pictures?!

There are four Welsummer eggs in the basket. The bigger, lighter brown egg is from my Brahma hen, and the white eggs are from the game hens that were supposed to be Americaunas.

I just love my colorful egg basket! I'm so glad I don't have all one breed of chicken. Now that I have this assortment, I never want to go back to all one color.

Eggs!

This spring I bought 8 Welsummers because I wanted their beautiful chocolate brown eggs. They are now 9 months old and have yet to lay a single egg. On top of that, my three mature hens started to molt in August, and were laying sporadically. Then they quit. We haven't had a single egg since September first. Last night when I went out, there were three beautiful eggs waiting for me! After a three month long wait, we finally have eggs!

The chickens spent the summer in our chicken tractors so they could "free range" without danger of predation, or at least to minimize that danger. When they hadn't laid in 8 weeks, I remodeled the bachelor pad and moved them there, to a more traditional chicken house with a yard. I increased their feed from a 16% protein feed to a 20% one. I am also using a heat lamp on the nights that the temperature dips below the freezing mark. Which of these factors broke the strike? I don't know, but I sure am glad about it!

These are the first eggs from our little hens we raised from chicks. It's so gratifying to see the fruition of our labors!

Egg Drop Soup

Tonight I made egg drop soup for the first time. I was inspired to do this by this post: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/?s=egg+drop+soup I saved the bones from a whole chicken that Wayne had fried a couple weeks ago. (I kept them in the freezer until I was ready to use them.)I put the bones of the chicken in a stock pot about half full of water. I had to top up the water twice, but I cooked the bones for three hours. This created my broth. I added four green onions, chopped coarsely, and plenty of salt and pepper. I scrambled four eggs and Wayne poured the eggs through a fork while I whisked like a crazy woman! That was a LOT of eggs! I would just do a couple next time. When I tasted it, it tasted like it had fried wan tons! I guess the flavor from the chicken being fried was imparted. I served it alongside stir fried veggies on a bed of rice. DE-lish! This will definitely be a repeat in our house!