First of all, I totally warned you. Right up front I said there may be weeks or months that I can't find the time to write an entertaining and witty ode to the egg. So, I refuse to hear any complaints about the fact that it has been three and a half months since my last post.
Ok, that is my grumptastic opening to a more informative post that is less about eggs and a little more about chickens. You see, chickens - just like all birds, really - do this thing every year where the lose all their feathers and grow in new ones. They look positively awful when it is happening. My hen Alabama looked so pitiful that if anyone who didn't know better had happened to see her, they might have reported me to PETA or the ASPCA or something. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting to get a good photo of her (she would have been the best example) but I did snap this photo (above) of Mrs. Featherbottom. Now, Mrs. Featherbottom is a Black Australorp - one of my largest and fluffiest chickens. However, in the photo above you can see how patchy her feathers are, how very sad and scruffy her tail is... THIS is moulting.
Here's how things go down around my little chicken zoo:
March - August: Yay! EGGS! Many EGGS!
September: Hey! Hens! I only got five eggs this week... What gives?
October: No offense, ladies, but you all look like zombie chickens and I'm not getting any eggs. You better make this up to me later.
November - December: Hallelujah! I got two eggs this week! It's a miracle!
Mid-January: FINALLY. The chickens are slowly starting to lay again... Maybe two a week from some of the best layers... Still none from the wimpier ones.
February: We're getting there...
March: Yay! EGGS! Many EGGS!
So you see, during the late fall and winter months, I'm basically eggless. And since I shudder at the thought of paying for eggs at the store, I can't be as frivolous and awesome with my egg recipe testing. The few eggs I get from newer/younger chickens are just enough for me to have a couple weekday breakfasts.
You probably don't care about any of this... Really, I'm just trying to give you some good news and I'm taking a very long-winded approach in delivering said news.
THE EGGS ARE RETURNING!
Yes, having put all their energy toward shedding and re-growing their feathers... and having suffered through only the shortest hours of daylight (Educational sidebar - the number of hours of light in a day is what triggers the chickens' laying... some people put artificial lights in their chicken coops during the winter to boost egg production but I don't wanna. Running electric out there can be a fire hazard, if you lose power and the temperature in the coop plummets some of the chickens could die, AND I kind of think they deserve a break for a little bit - don't you?), THE CHICKENS ARE STARTING TO LAY AGAIN!
It helps that I added four new chickens in 2012 that only matured during the "no egg" months. So they're downright excited to get their breakfast machines started.
Now that I have eggs again, I'm anxious to get back to my 365 egg recipe quest. Check back soon for the first recipe of 2013!
Love & Eggs,
Laura
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