It has been so cold here, rarely above zero degrees, for the last few weeks that we are not getting many eggs. The chickens are laying them, they just freeze before we find them. Other years we have had older and wiser chickens who have been broody and sat on them to keep the eggs from freezing in this cold weather. This year the young hens we have just plop them out and walk off leaving the eggs to freeze which makes them crack. We have found about three eggs before they were frozen so - gasp - I have had to buy eggs.
It has been over four years since I bought an egg and I had forgotten what they looked like. I have heard people say that the yolks are yellow but this is a big difference. All I can say is what are they feeding, or not feeding, them? The egg on the left is one of the few we have left from our cluckers eggs and the one on the right is from the store. With the snow cover, our hens can no longer do their destructive scratching all over the yard devouring every thing they see that looks tasty, be it a beautiful before they got their beaks on it green pepper plant or a weed. Now they are getting mostly laying mash and a few kitchen scraps, very few because the goats think they should get first dibs on all treats, so the yolks are paler than usual. The one on the right from the store, well, I don't have anything to say about it except I hope it warms up soon so our eggs don't freeze.
You are very lucky to get such beautiful eggs. Wish we could keep hens, but there is a town ordinance in our area.
ReplyDeleteThis is from the depths of my memory, but I have heard that putting some kind of pepper in the mash (cayenne?) helps hens lay better in the winter. Maybe you could have the kids research it. ;o)
Peace and Laughter,
Cristina
my friend was telling me that even if your eggs freeze you can still use them. they are just a little watery, but as long as they don't crack open you should be fine.
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