The Chicken and the Egg

THE CHICKEN BLOG: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW FROM THE GROUND
Bingo! It’s midsummer day and there are six eggs in the hen house. Well actually there are five behind the curtain (a favourite spot) and one from the rugged individualist (there’s always one!) who insists on leaving her offering just inside the door on the floor to see whether I am clever enough to avoid stepping on it in the dark.

This is the first time for ages there has been a full “clutch” due to seasonal affective disorder (not enough sun, too much sun) broodiness or young hens wanting to gad about before settling down to their main purpose in life.

It is getting quite hard to give away the eggs as many expats are going to the UK now and the neighbours mostly have their own. There are two elderly Spanish neighbours who take them, but insist on paying 50 cents or a euro to contribute to the feed. They are both useful sources of information about hen care, but neither really understand the concept of hens as pets: If they don’t lay, they should be eaten….

Anyway, back to eggs. There are numerous sites on the web which give interesting views on egg shell colour. As a general rule, hens lay eggs the colour of their ears (yes, they have ears but definitely no teeth) which means that red hens lay brown eggs, white hens lay white eggs etc., but I have not yet encountered a black or grey egg, so it doesn’t always work out that way. Last year I was more or less able to tell which hen laid which egg but now it is difficult as the amount of sun also makes them lighter in colour. Incidentally the black hens lay white eggs and the greys, light brown.

About once a week there is a double yolk-er, or at least two that are about twice the size of the others. Sometimes there are eggs with no shell, which are jellylike, and occasionally there are broken eggs - I presume a fit of jealousy …. I have also found the odd egg right at the back of the pool equipment where an enterprising rat (or snake??) has rolled it, but has been unable to hoick it over the pipe to its private quarters.

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The Other One says she’s heard it said a lot lately that if you want to reach a certain goal in life, first you should imagine all the side benefits that might come along with the achievement of the goal; then you have to think of different ways you might get these same benefits or feelings. Apparently, The Other One says, creating these conditions first puts you in the right mindframe to have your goal become a reality. Sounds just like the chicken and the egg to me…
Mrs Black

Next blog will cover broodiness. Mrs Black is not interested in pursuing this topic at the moment!