Thursday, February 3, 2011

eggs


News Flash!
Did you know eggs come in other colors than white?
Brown you say?

What about blue?

Fortunately for us, one of the vet-techs, Ann, that works at the Daddy Bird's practice raises chickens.  Ann is more than happy to sell us her chickens' lovely eggs.  Ann's eggs come in a rainbow of colors and a variety of sizes:


If you have never tasted fresh eggs that are not what you buy in your local supermarket, PLEASE, do yourself a favor and find some!  Our family eats at least 2 dozen of these eggs a week.  They are that good folks.  I had no idea that there would be such a difference in store bought eggs and farm-fresh ones.  They are so rich and tasty.
I'm also just fascinated by the colors and sizes.
I mean, how beautiful are these eggs?


This spurred me to do a little chicken and egg research for ya'll today:
  • Do you know how you can tell what color eggs a chicken will lay?  Look at their earlobes!  Chickens with white ears will generally lay white eggs, while chickens with red ears will typically lay brown.  Another way to tell is just to know the breed of chicken.  Certain breeds of chickens will always lay the same color eggs.
  • Where do those blue and green eggs come from then?  They come from a breed of chicken known as the Aracuana, Americauna, or "easter-egger".  These breeds tend to lay eggs in varying shades of green to blue.  Some of Ann's chickens are Americaunas.
  • Certain breeds of chickens are better egg layers, and certain breeds of chickens are raised for their meat.
  • It takes a chicken about 24-26 hours to lay an egg, so chickens can lay about an egg a day!  The world record for egg laying was set in 1979 by a White Leghorn chicken that layed 371 eggs in 365 days!!!!
  • There are over 150 varieties of domesticated chickens.
  • A hen lives an average of 5-7 years but can live as long as 20 years!  She will lay eggs her entire life, with production slowly decreasing after year 1.
There you go.  Some fun conversation starters for your next party :)
Now go find some fresh eggs to enjoy, and if you really love chickens, go buy this purse.

4 comments:

Mommy Webb said...

I feel so eggucated now;). We eat a lot of eggs too. My fav is scrambled, but Lee likes them a little runny. Those eggs to look yummy.

Janie Forman said...

You know what I think? These last two posts make you sound like an Ag teacher!!!

melissaballard said...

Thanks, but no thanks, Mom! Just enjoy the trivia and keep the comments to yourself! I'm just kidding!! Sometimes I think it would be fun to actually use my college degree, but why do that when I can stay home with my little baby bird!

a. meredith said...

they are gooorgeous! and your camera is so great!