New Year surprise gift :)

I'm so excited
When I went to let out the chickens this morning, there in the straw were the very first eggs they have laid.
We bought them at 3 weeks old and all they had been doing up to now was eating a lot and growing
There would have been 4 eggs from the 6 chickens, but one had unfortunately been trodden on. Still, it was a wonderful surprise

Fabulous New Year's Day present!!!!!!

How absolutely magical it must've felt for you to see those....even more wonderful than long-awaited flowers :-). I'm so happy for you Philomel! Congratulations on a lovely start to this new year! :-)

-Julie

Yes, it was amazing that they chose this morning
The best New Year to you Julie :)

great start to the new year for you, was it really that early for you ,? it says 5.54 am on here when you posted, could you not sleep? or is it the time difference? LOL
May the new year continue to be a good one.

Oh, that's strange Sue. It was 9.54am here when I posted and we're only 1 hour ahead of you, so yours should have read 8.54.

Wishing you the best 2005 :)

Even funnier is that I'm one hour ahead of you Philomel and mine reads 9:54 too LOL. Funny computers :-)

How weird Julie!
It's confusing enough when the clocks tell the right time.....
I noticed that I had to set mine peculiarly on DG when the hour went back in the autumn, can't remember the details now. I bet that's got something to do with it. I put a thread on Dave's forum, but I think he was busy and I didn't get an answer.

How wonderful!!!! Are the eggs for breeding from - or for eating? Or both?

At the moment just for eating Diane. We haven't a cockerel - yet......
I think it may have to stay that way for a while as the guests might not appreciate an early morning call when they're on holiday ;)

If I can set up a run far enough from the house I'd like to get one some time.

Ooooh! Fresh eggs!!! Lovely!!!!

Yes ;)

Yesterday one of my granddaughters came out to feed them with me and 'her' hen was sitting in the henhouse concentrating hard.
Before we finished, she emerged looking pleased with herself and Zoe triumphantly carried the egg, still warm, in for tea *grin*

It's fun for children to see farm eggs. My Auntie Greta's husband had family who owned a farm. When I was six we took a day out to see it. I was thrilled to pieces to come back with a real egg!!! I put it aside to hatch, but unfortunately it didn't. Just as well really; my Mum would have had a thousand fits if I've brought a chicken into the house!!!

They've got 2 eggs for tea tonight - one for each granddaughter :)

Home grown always tastes so much better!

Philomel,
You are in the best part of France to make the best omelet (not for children)
Take a 5FRECH!!! haha) egg, beat it in omelet and as long untill you obtain a nearly white mixture, you add a snif of salt, a little pepper and last but not least 6 / 7 drops of Armagnac. This will be the best omelet you have had in livetime.
Good apetit,
Albert

Your so right Diane :) and childhood experiences and memories are so precious. I can just imagine the look on your Mum's face if that egg had hatched!!
When I was about 6-7 we rented an apartment for a year on a smallholding. It really captivated me. I loved to help with all the animals and collected and cleaned eggs and helped to feed the chickens, ducks, pigs and geese. The most magical moment was the arrival of boxes full of day old chicks that I helped to unpack into their new home of clean soft straw and cosy warm lights.

albleroy, thank you so much for that recipe. It sounds delicious so I will certainly be trying it. I seem to be in the right part of France for an enormous number of good things, so I will add this to the growing list ;o)

Talking about your hens laying reminded me when our boys were small and we had a mini-farm yard..and yes, those baby chicks grew and we finally had our first eggs, the problems began when the baby ducks grew big and they started laying eggs..did not know what to do with those..we had never eaten duck eggs in our lives...so someone suggested the German/American socy., and I had one woman who was very pleased to take those eggs off our hands..this lasted until we got a male duck and new baby ducklings..
I finally got fed up with it all and gave them away to someone else..Those muscoveys were a hoot tho..got very attached to them but was just tired of the mess [they never ever came near our house or patio when they were let out..they learned that was off limits].. smart birds !! :))

hen and eggs bring back memories to me , mainly my grandmother . plenty of hen in a fenced off bit of native bush, also geese in the paddock, they became Christmas dinner. but she always used duck eggs for baking,
apparently When I were four ,( I am still reminded of this) the geese where vocal , and I told them ( it's all right, your mother hanging on the line with her head cut off ) not, now Ithat I think, thats, what they needed to know.
there is George down the road who has hens . I cut his hair for eggs, and he thinks he as won again, the vege section for the state houses , Vege everwhere . I thing he has.

hen and eggs bring back memories to me , mainly my grandmother . plenty of hen in a fenced off bit of native bush, also geese in the paddock, they became Christmas dinner. but she always used duck eggs for baking,
apparently When I were four ,( I am still reminded of this) the geese where vocal , and I told them ( it's all right, your mother hanging on the line with her head cut off ) not now that I think, thats, what, they needed to know.
there is George down the road who has hens . I cut his hair for eggs, and he thinks he as won again, the vege section for the state houses , Vege ever where . I thing he has.
I can see why you are so excited.

I've always loved duck eggs and would go out of my way to try and find them in the UK.
I'm thinking of getting some Indian Runner Ducks or Khaki Campbells to lay eggs - but need to sort out some more housing first. Apparently they lay more eggs than chickens do :O

Telling those poor little ducks that their mother was hanging out on the line with her head chopped off was not very kind
Boots [ just what those little ones wanted to know] kids are so funny..I think we can all relate to those tales [logic right] !! :()

Did try those duck eggs one time Hilary but never could quite get used to them..I remember doing an omelet, but used the same number of duck eggs as chicken eggs and had so much of it.. was sloshing around in the bowl [and no-one wanted to eat]...and yes, so many duck eggs; was almost overwhelming...
well, those folks at that club surely enjoyed...until the baby ducks appeared..

Cambells lay more eggs and they tend to be large but Indian Runners are fun!

Duck eggs are certainly larger than chicken's marion and also they taste richer and usually have really rich coloured yolks. I think they're fabulous for cake making etc.

What sort of fun Baa?
I love the muscovies, but they fly too much! Constantly finding them sitting on the swimming pool, and doing what ducks do most of all around it. Can't be doing with that when we have guests paying using the pool :(
Unfortunately Esmerelda found her own solution. She flew out once too often and the terrier helping with the vine pruning next door made short work of her..........
So now we only have Donald and 6 chickens

I've read that Runners and Campbells don't fly - is this your experience?
I'd like to get organised with some electric poultry fencing (do you know anything about that?) and move them round the field. At the moment they are in a static house and run.

I don't know really, might just be me, I find the way they run all over the place in lines amusing, Cambells are fun too but as they are bigger they seem a bit more lumbering. They all fly, we clip one wing when they first arrive here and by the time the feathers are back, they are usually too settled in to bother flying, ours tend to fly a yard or two if they are startled.

I'm the last person to ask about electric fencing LOL I hate it, I almost always get shocked even in wellies on a very dry day when flicking the switch. If you're ok with it, it is effective but you'll need quite a few metres, and you'll also need something I've never found to this day and that's a portable drinking water source the ducks don't sit in and muddy in two minutes, mucky little ducks!

Our muscoveys would fly off regularly around our neighborhood and then return, we thought it was funny and so did our neighbors..however got a little tricky when they started landing in one of our neighbours swimming pools [ this was before ours got built]..they were enjoying their paddling but our neighbours were not happy campers needless to say [grin] ..

We also had Pekin ducks, had planned one year to have for Christmas dinner but we couldn't bring ourselves to do it..[the same neighbor had the cutest black bull who regularly leaned against our 3 tier fence and brought it over]..he was so friendly like a little puppy..moral of this story is that they cut him up for the freezer, and we gave our ducks away to them...[ but not for THEM to eat..a fox got some of them OH :() !!!] poor ducks..

Hilary I still say duck eggs have a funny taste..kind of very strong and very eggy !!
I never found them 'delicate' like chickens eggs...:))

Back to the drawing board again then Baa LOL
Perhaps I should have a go at clipping Donald to keep him more in check.
The hens are fine - don't go a-roaming now.

Ah, got to go - have to go out with my daughter now. Will answer you further and you Marion later.

Hello , girls ! I'm back ! Sorry I've missed a lot of fun, but I was very busy at work and also at home, as my daughter is here and she is like a storm !
I've read about your chickens, philomel, I believe you must have been so excited about the eggs...I know I would have been too !

what a nice story about the ducks, Marion ! We eat duck eggs, but not very often, they are a little poisonous if you eat a lot, but very tasty and so big...In Romania only in the countryside one can found duck eggs.

How is weather in France, philomel ? We have a lot of snow and so cold , for about 2 weeks now and still goes on...we are all tired of all that cold.
Have a Happy Valentine's Day !
Adina