I know I do not own the only chickens on the planet, and I know they're only hens, but damn it is fun going outside each day and finding the day's yummy output. It is even more fun having eggs to share with friends & acquaintances.
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| My Black Copper Marans, Godiva and Dove who lay chocolate colored eggs |
My Marans are interesting. Godiva and Dove's eggs are darker than when they first began to lay, but I now doubt they'll ever get as dark as their breed is famed for. One of my Marans lays medium sized dark eggs, but the other Maran specialized herself in the laying of large, fat, ROUND eggs; darkly speckled. The dark speckles are the color the entire egg should be if they were laying 'true' to breed. Oh well! Getting speckled eggs makes me feel like I'm collecting eggs from wild jungle fowl.
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| Lovely fat, round, chocolate speckled egg |
So this is what a dozen of my hen's eggs look like. On the far left are Lucy, the wild Americana hen's, turquoise eggs. Lucy's eggs are the largest of the flock. The medium chocolate colored eggs - 6 of them - are from my pair of Marans. The remaining four pinkish beige eggs are from my dainty Faverolles hens, Adele and Babette.
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| Chez Claire Eggie Ensemblé |
Do you have a strong stomach? If not, you're done reading. Really. Stop.
A couple of days ago, one of my Marans produced an amazingly scary egg. At first I thought the egg was dotted with insect eggs on it, but research revealed the tiny pimples were just calcium beads. Happily, the little beads easily scraped off the egg. Thank heavens! The dots really grossed me out although they are only the result of over production of calcium. My over productive feathered darlings!
Oh yeah... I love my adorable, fractious chickies!
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| GAK! A truly scary looking egg, but easily scraped of offending calcium nodules |
