Can Chickens Lay Blue Eggs? Chicken Facts by admin - January 25, 2020October 17, 20200 Backyard eggs Having grown up on store bought eggs, it surprised me the first time I encountered a ‘farm fresh’ egg. It was the same shape and size that I was used to, but the shell was colored brown instead of the white. “What kind of eggs are those?” I wondered. ‘Farm Fresh!’ the sign read. This left me confused with even more questions. Don’t all eggs come from a farm? Have the eggs I’ve been eating up till now NOT been fresh? What kind of strange bird lays brown eggs? Fast forward to today, and I’m a little more educated. While white is the predominant color for eggs, chickens can lay blue eggs, as well as, a variety of other colors. Brown is probably the most common after white, but there is also
Should Backyard Chicken Eggs Be Washed? Chicken Facts by admin - December 2, 2019September 21, 20200 Running Low On Farm Fresh Eggs Have you ever had one of those moments where you question something that you have been doing for your whole life? Mark Twain is often credited for saying, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure, that just ain’t so.” When you’ve lived your whole life eating eggs from the store, then it makes perfect sense that eggs should always be washed. After all, that’s all we’ve ever seen. But on this issue, the reality is that we may be doing something wrong. With eggs shells being porous, washing backyard chicken eggs can actually push detrimental material into the very yolk you are looking to consume. And one of these detrimental materials is Salmonella. The CDC estimates that this particularly nasty virus causes ‘1.35 million
Will My Chicken’s Eggs Get Bigger? Chicken Care by admin - November 25, 2019October 1, 20200 After waiting anxiously all summer, my flock of new hens is just starting to lay their first eggs. And it’s about time, if you ask me! I mean, I’ve only been checking every day for like the last three weeks. ‘Egg anxiety’ is a thing that affects almost all flock owners. Part of the reason for this is just how fast chicks grow. From hatched to big enough to be outside only takes about eight weeks. Unfortunately, most hens will spend another 4 months developing before they’re ready to lay eggs. And their first few eggs won’t be their best. Young hens that have just started laying, will not lay full sized eggs. Their ‘egg motors’ have just started running and it takes a little while for things to
When Do Chickens Start Laying Eggs? Chicken Facts by admin - November 5, 2019September 21, 20200 Mama hen watching over her eggs We received a batch of 15 chicks at the very beginning of June. This batch consisted of some Barred Rocks, some Orpingtons and seven Easter Eggers. As I write this, it is now November and for the record, we are still egg-less! No matter how many times I’ve checked the nesting boxes, the only thing I have found are the golf balls I put in there to give my new birds ‘the hint’. But, in their defense, I am a little early. On average, domesticated hens will start laying eggs around the six month mark. There can be a little wiggle room on this, with some breeds starting earlier while others won’t start until later. Also worth noting is the time of year. As we received our