Last year we were curious about coloring brown eggs, so we decided to try it. This year, since I decided to make deviled eggs for today, I thought I would color them first and share my results, in case anyone else is curious.

I used regular food coloring, something I vaguely remember doing as a child, before Paas came out with the egg coloring kits.

The eggs I colored were varying degrees of brown. I follow the directions on the food coloring package – 1 tps. of white vinegar, 20 drops of food coloring and 1/2 cup of boiling water. Since I didn’t have 20 drops of red food coloring I mixed 15 drops of red and 5 drops of blue, which gave me the maroon color. The two on the top left are blue, the two on the top right are green, the two on the bottom left are maroon and the two on the bottom right are yellow. The eggs that were darker brown going into the dye came out in darker shades than the ones that were lighter going in. The answer is:  while brown eggs don’t make pretty, pastel Easter eggs, they indeed can be dyed.

I’ll also add a quick chicken update.

This past Monday as our  Buff Orpington chicks turned 4 weeks old, and are now feathered out,  we moved them to the farm. They seemed to be getting bored in the hutch on the deck and needed room to roam.

They rode in this crate to the farm.

The Chicken yard was busy when we got there, but when the big birds realized that we did not bring them treats, most of them went off to find their own goodies.

My husband had added new roost space inside the coop, enough to accommodate 30 chickens. Before bringing out the young ones today  he also penned in an area around the small chicken door to keep the young ones close to the coop.

The big birds will use the big (people) door for now.

Some of the big birds were curious.

Some even came and visited. The big hens gave the little ones an occasional, intimidating, peck, but it was mostly if they got too close to the food (treats).  We had to move the big hens out of the penned area because they could not find the way out on their own. At night my husband put “the group of 8”, as he is fondly calling the young buffs, into the coop where they huddled together in one of the nest boxes. “The Group of 8” spent their fist couple of days mostly inside the coop, and my husband found it necessary to open up the penned in area because the big birds would get in and be trapped there.

Yesterday “The Group of 8” spent the day out on their own. They mostly stayed together and sometimes with the rest of the flock. There has been no signs of aggression from the big birds, but I wouldn’t think there would be from a group who will share their living quarters (food and all) with 20 or more starlings during the winter. “The Group of 8” is now in training for their nighttime routine which includes returning to the coop at night and using the ramp to get inside. I’m sure they will catch on quickly.

After Monday’s move, we decided to make it a full house (coop). Since we only had 24 birds we went to the farm store for 6 more. Again they did not have the breed we were looking for (Buff Orpington) so we decided this time on Barred Rocks.

Upon adding this “six pack” we comment that our flock is becoming very diverse.

And with that I wish you all a Beautiful and Blessed Easter. Until next time 🙂