Monday, September 25, 2006

Our First Egg













Pretty exciting day around here!

One of the chickens has been hanging around the nests inside the chicken coop and even though it's pretty early (our chickens are 4 months old and usually they start laying at about 5 1/2 or 6 months), I have been wondering if she was ready to lay an egg. Today when I went in to change the water I glanced at the nests and there it was- a small, but perfectly shaped brown egg. The chicken looked pretty proud of herself.

All of this proves that if you get chickens through the mail, peel the poop off their butts, stress about whether they are warm enough and are eating right, check on them at 2am just to make sure, and then invest hundreds of dollars into a hen house and chicken run, and save their favorite kitchen scraps to give them, you will eventually be rewarded with a small, but beautiful, brown organic egg.

11 comments:

tlwest said...

I Love it!! Congratulations!

meno said...

That egg really is beautiful. I hope it's the first of many for you. There's not much nicer than a fresh egg.
What will you do with it?

Tracy Helgeson said...

Thanks! We are pretty giddy here.

Meno, I was actually thinking that we should save it somehow, maybe blow out the inside. But when the kids get home from school I suspect we will end up breaking it open and inspecting the yolk. Then we'll give it to Penny our dog, who will hoover it right up!

I am pretty sure that in a few months I will be begging for egg recipes from everyone!

Chris Rywalt said...

If you skim this article here and then this one here, you'll be set to get the joke made at my expense in this comments section (just read the first two comments).

It sounds like you're set to ride out the next economic depression, Tracy.

Tracy Helgeson said...

Ha! That was good Chris, thanks!

I can give you some tips, if you're interested. I clearly have a talent for raising chickens as I only lost one out of 27:-)

Anonymous said...

well it must be lovely to get your first organic egg ... hope you get many more!

you've been sooo busy while I've been away that I feel quite exhausted just catching up with your posts!

don't know how you do what you do ... but keep on doing it!

Tracy Helgeson said...

Welcome back Lesly! Hope you had a nice vacation.

I was hoping for a few days off before preparing for a show in November, but it was not meant to be!

Chris Rywalt said...

Tracy offers:
I can give you some tips, if you're interested.

Alas, I don't have a garage I can convert. Also, I'm allergic to bird feathers.

I might try raising possums, though. Or raccoons. Or squirrels. Something urban.

Anonymous said...

I found myself trying to remember the name of some book: "The 64 dollar tomato" or something where the authors kept exact records of spending regarding their garden and eventually calculated the cost of their homegrown tomato. Labor of Love.

Tracy Helgeson said...

Keeping close track of that kind of stuff is a sure way to go crazy! Labor of Love is right.

Tracy Helgeson said...

Or carrier pigeons!