Day 844: I give up

And for the first time in 844 days, I've BOUGHT some eggs! I only plan on doing it once so went the full hog and bought 15.

Poor girlies haven't laid for... well weeks. I think Sophia's egg from a couple of weeks ago was her swansong LOL

So if you have to buy eggs, what do you look for? Well you know my thoughts on freerange versus barn/battery (barn = battery in my eyes, given the dreadful condition our poor ex-barn girls were in)... so aside from that...

Pick the eggs with the darkest shells you can find - a chicken's eggshells get lighter/paler as she ages and it's a known fact that the egg quality (consistency, shell thickness and possibly flavour) decline with age.

Did you know that if a boiled egg peels really badly (as in, the shell sticks and comes away in tiny fragments, not in one complete piece), then the egg is really FRESH and it'll be worth the effort!!! Eggs that are over 3-4 days old peel in one piece.

Oh and I had a boiled egg this morning (peeled in bits so that was good news!)... and I was really surprised as how pale the yolks were and how the flavour just wasn't like our homemade ones :o)

Come on girls, we're missing your eggs! That's OK, the days start to get longer from Thurs 22nd in the UK - yes it's the winter solstice in a couple of days. YAY!

Day 832: Sophia's laying again!

Oh WOW! At the ripe old age of 2.5 years, about 8 months after she last laid (apart from the odd half dozen between April and June this year), SOPHIA laid an egg today! And boy, didn't she let us know!

We think it's because we've redesigned the run. It now has nice hardwood verticals and a clear insert in the roof so they get a lot more light :o) Not only that though - we've also swapped the feed to a new brand and they seem to be enjoying it :o)

Kittens are enjoying the chickens too! And the chickens are enjoying scaring off the kittens (who are 30 weeks old tomorrow) :oD