Our young hens (the chicks that arrived back in March) have started laying. They turned 20 weeks old on Monday. On Tuesday my sister called and told me she had found 3 small eggs in her coop that day. Three of the 6 hens we gave her had started laying! Since we hadn’t seen any small eggs, which is evidence that a young hen is laying, I started giving our girls pep talks. “What are you all doing hanging out here? You should be in the coop giving me an egg and earning your keep.” Today my husband found our first small egg. In the photo below the egg in the center is from a young hen. It’s about 1/2 the size of the other eggs.
It’s hard to say how many of these small eggs a hen will lay before their eggs become normal size, but as more of the girls begin laying I’m sure we will see more eggs like this.
There was a moment of hesitation when my husband asked if I would make devils food cupcakes for dessert on Saturday. Normally I am happy to make whatever he asks for, but when I saw that the cake mix called for three eggs, I had to check our egg supply. I found only four eggs in the refrigerator so I told him that I would make the cupcakes if the chickens gave us a couple more eggs that day. I didn’t want to sacrifice my breakfast eggs for cupcakes.
Since I really wanted to fulfill his request, I turned to the internet to see what I might be able to substitute for eggs in a cake recipe. I learned that there are many things that can be used in place of eggs in a cake recipe and with eggs prices as high as they are I thought some of you might find this information useful as well.
Since I still had homemade applesauce in our pantry from last year’s crop, I decided to use it in place of two of the eggs in the recipe – 1/4 cup for each egg.
These cupcakes came out super moist and delicious (sorry I didn’t take any pictures of them). I think I will make this a regular practice.
Today I’ll be canning. I expect to produce about 10 quarts of tomato juice but since my canning kettle only holds seven quart-size jars I will cook down the excess into sauce to be used in a meal later this week. Likely stuffed cabbage. Before I head to the kitchen to begin cutting up tomatoes and sterilizing canning jars let me tell you about the results of last week’s efforts.
Cucumbers Are Abundant This Year
Pickled Peppers
Last week I canned:
6 quarts garlic dills
4 quarts hamburger dill slices
6 pints pickled peppers
4 quarts sauerkraut (still fermenting)
7 quarts tomato juice
6 pints bread and butter pickles
Some of our garden meals.
We also continue to include some of the fresh-picked bounty in our meals daily, something that only happens this time of year.
Grilled steak with boiled potatoes, steamed Swiss chard, glazed carrots and boiled beets.
Pasta and Clam Sauce, Sauteed Swiss Chard and Eggplant
Pasta and clam sauce with sauteed Swiss chard and eggplant.
Not pictured: Tuna salad sandwich. I love to mix lots of veggies into tuna salad – chopped lettuce, diced tomato, shredded carrot, onion, diced celery, shredded or diced radish – mix it up with some mayo and spread it on your favorite bread.
Also not pictured: Another of my favorite summertime dishes is sliced cucumbers covered in a sour cream, dill and garlic dressing.
Other News
Last week our young hens began laying as evidenced by the tiny egg(s) my husband collected. First time layers usually lay a few tiny eggs before they begin laying regular size eggs. Inside the tiny egg is mostly or all egg white (there might be a small speck of yolk as well.)
The hens beginning to lay was kind of bitter-sweet as we lost one of the young hens to a prolapsed vent. Apparently, the egg she was trying to lay was too big for her. We are now down to just 5 of the 12 hens that started out as baby chicks this spring. Farming can often be heartbreaking.
Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a beautiful day.
We have had very spring-like weather this week – so much so that I did some work in the garden. As far a I can remember this is the earliest in the year that I have worked in the garden.
Thyme
After pruning last year’s dead foliage off some of the plants and raking dead leaves from their winter resting place I discover that the thyme is growing green leaves
Oregano
as is the oregano
Sage
and the sage.
It’s not only the herbs that are coming back to life. I also spotted dandelions, winter cress and some other UIP’s (unidentified invasive plants) which means that before long the weeding will commence.
In addition to my work in the prayer garden my husband fluffed up the straw mulch in the garlic bed in order to assist the shoots that are beginning to emerge from the ground. We also raked out the straw that was blanketing the strawberry bed and discovered bright green leaves forming on the strawberry plants.
The chickens have been loving this weather. They spend most of their days out scratching and pecking finding bugs and grubs and bits of green vegetation. They did however think that seeing me or walking towards their coop was their cue to fall in line.
Others came running to greet me.
I didn’t have any treats or table scraps for them but they were satisfied when I scattered some scratch on the ground for them.
I then went on to gather eggs – a full dozen that day. 🙂
We have come a long way since December when we were getting one egg every three or four days. In November our flock went through a late season molt. I didn’t take any pictures of the molting hens because they looked so pitiful with their half naked bodies and new feathers poking though their skin that I felt sorry for them. Molting takes so much energy from the hens that they stop laying during that time. It was some time in early January when egg production gradually began to pick up again.
In December, for first time in 5 or 6 years, I ran out of eggs. Thankfully in the spring of 2020 my sister and her husband started their own flock and by fall their hens were laying well. Chickens don’t molt their first year so they did not experience the egg drought like we did.
It was strange a strange feeling, and we had a good laugh, the day I called my sister and asked “do you have eggs?” The tables had turned. For many years she had been calling me every couple weeks and asking “do you have eggs?” I couldn’t have been happier when she replied “how many do you want.” 🙂
It is time to consider adding to our flock so that our egg supply will continue through this upcoming winter. Perhaps rather than buy chicks we will allow a hen or two to brood some chicks. I’ll let you know what we decide.
From the garden we harvested green beans, tomatoes, beets and cucumbers.
From one hive we harvested 8 frames of honey and wax. Now the bees are cleaning up the frames.
Honey is our oldest hen. She turned 7 this spring.
From the coop we collected 11 eggs. Only 8 of them made it home though. It seems that Ranger learned a new trick. He figured out how to steal eggs out of the egg basket. They didn’t break until he stepped on them. I’m not sure why he decided to take them – either he thought he had found a new toy or he was telling us he wanted to eat. Crazy Dog! LOL!
Don't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care 