I ask myself what more can I write about these 8 chickens? After all some people would just call them fowl!
Not us. We love the gang of eight. We have come to a consensus that 8 is enough!
We have plenty of paying customers. Although we have demands for more, but that would mean trying to mix additional girls in with the original brood. This always disrupts the pecking order.
Right now the girls get along just fine, granted they have their moments, most often when broody Brownie persists on parking her butt in the nest box while the other girls are are lined up to lay their eggs.
Barney the cat called a meeting to reprimand Brownie!
A couple of noteworthy things that we have discovered over the past 2 weeks.
The Professor and Maryanne (both white Leghorns) are biologically linked. Yes, we believe they are sisters hatched and raised together. They quite often hang out or follow each other around looking for insects or other goodies in the yard.
Another kind of sweet note is when the girls put themselves to roost at night they mutter quietly to each other in whispers only they can understand. It is a little like listening to the "Waltons" saying good night to each other. Sweetpea is the first to head in for the night as she claims the nest box for her bed. Probably since she is the smallest it would be most difficult for her to get to the top of the roost. Sometimes her sister Shelley sleeps with her.
We averaged a little better on the egg collection this week right at 6 > per day. So overall that is about 42 this week.
We had our famous breakfast for dinner midweek of pancakes and eggs. Why is it that breakfast is so satisfying any time of the day?
The best thing about having these girls( besides eggs) is that they are hard workers. When we first moved here the ticks were just terrible, a battle every time we stepped out the door. No more! The girls have done a bang up job of keeping the insect population to a minimum. They do love a freshly mowed yard where the grasshoppers are plentiful.
The more we free range these gals the more orange the egg yolks have become. We have some people who claim that the eggs make them feel better. Perhaps they have even lower cholesterol than the store bought eggs. Don't have any proof of those claims, but it makes me happy to think the girls have had a positive affect on so many people that have never even met them.
Off they go into the sunset.
No purchases of note this week.
Recipe of the week!
French Toast.
Best if made with a loaf of stale French bread.
Slice bread into thickness desired and dip into a mixture of eggs beat together with fresh milk. Some people add a little vanilla to the mix.
Heat frying pan over med high heat drop dipped bread in pan. I usually cut the heat back to make sure the middle of the bread is thoroughly cooked. Flip when brown on each side.
Butter and add syrup or confectionary sugar or whatever makes you happy. Whalah!
That's it for now.
Stay tuned for next weeks Chicken Gazette🐓
All text and photographs owned by @mother2chicks