Every day, our six lovely ladies lay six fresh eggs.
One of these is often gigantic (last week, we had one that weighed in at 74g), while the other five are medium sized, usually around the 54 – 56g mark. But as you can see from the photo above, all the eggs have huge yellow yolks! The colour derives in part from their layer mash (it’s almost impossible to buy a decent mash without some colouring in it), but mostly from their large intake of garden greens.
Our chooks eat all the surplus garden foliage – armfuls of weeds, nasturtiums, cabbage leaves, spinach, whole broccoli plants and a variety of other miscellaneous vegetables. They’ll eat any skinks that wander into their enclosure and all of Maude’s snails, as well as the bugs and worms they dig up. Their diets include the odd treat of oven-roasted tuna and salmon, as well as cucumbers, zucchinis, corn and the occasional bowl of pasta soup or risotto. They adore a little ricotta cheese or homemade Greek yoghurt, often swooping at Pete when he brings it to the coop.
In return for their dinner, they till our soil, fertilise our plants, meticulously pick out and eat all the oxalis and onion weed bulbs, greet us cheerfully whenever we get out of the car, and lay perfect, large yolked eggs for our breakfasts and baked treats.
Life has been a bit crazy and stressful around here lately, but cracking open an egg, laid by one of our beloved and blissfully happy chooks, is guaranteed to make my heart sing.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I am so happy that you derive so much pleasure from your chickens. It is restful just to read about your ‘chook’ adventures- thanks for sharing.
Sorry to hear about your stress- life has a way of dealing it out, doesn’t it? Prayers coming your way! :)
Thanks Heidi! November is always hectic, but December is promising great things already. :)
Bless your chooks for their multi-tasking ways! What do you do with 42 eggs a week, you can’t eat them all surely?
Jo, my mother takes 12, another half dozen or so usually gets given away to the neighbours, and we eat/bake/icecream our way through the rest. It’s surprising how many different uses we’ve found for them – homemade mayo, meringues – and Big Boy’s new favourite pizza is simply tomato, mozzarella, Italian proscuitto and egg! :)
If you ever have a few eggs to spare, I’ll sell them at market :-0
It is the one thing that 100% sells out at the markets, whatever the weather.
Gill, thanks love, but I’d rather give them away than sell them. It’s one gift that almost everyone adores!
Bliss! So enjoyed this post!
Thanks Kavey, for so intuitively understanding – it really is blissful! :)
Celia your chooks must be the best fed girls around with your delicious ‘scraps’. I’m really glad they give you so much pleasure. There is nothing better than your own eggs, bought ones really are no comparison.
Brydie, I can’t wait until you have your own chooks, and I’m absolutely certain it will happen one day! :)
I love spending time watching the chooks forage in the garden; the little clucks of satisfaction they can’t hold back when they are happy, the excitement when they find a tasty morsel, their supreme ignorance of anything that does not concern them. When you’re stressed Celia, go and watch your chickens. They can teach us a lot about contentment. Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks R! Things will calm down soon, and in the meantime, I’ll indulge in a little chook therapy! hahaha
“Mindfulness” is the latest buzzword in the psychological world, and really, chooks could teach us a lot about it! :)
As an old chicken farm brat, I know what a fresh egg should look like, and yours are perfection! Very beautiful.
Chooks really are so very satisfying, aren’t they? I am in awe of our girls who laid faithfully all through this last, very cold, winter – and they really are quite small ladies. I recently read that, during their lifetime, a hen can lay up to 30 times their own body weight in eggs – that is quite a feat!
Ooh, those eggs look good. It seems like a win win situation for both you and your chooks.
I love your chooks. I had one called Farrington who used to occasionally lay an egg with 4 yolks. She was a star.
Doc, thank you! I’m going to try poaching them in milk as you suggest!
Amanda, I hope they can keep laying for years, but I’ve already told Pete that even when they stop laying, we’re pensioning these chooks out. No way are we going to get rid of them – they’re too lovely!
Choc, I hope so! It’s marvelous how little wasted food there is now in our house!
Deb, that is amazing – I’ve never seen anything more than a double. Farrington’s eggs must have been huuuuge!
The thought of waking up to fresh eggs every morning is so exciting. You guys have a dream set up there with your vege garden and chickens. I’m very jealous!!! One day…
Claire, don’t think “one day..”, think “one day soon…” :)
Ah life is good at the chicken spa isn’t it? And you used to laugh at me with my chooks. Who would have thought that you would be growing veggies specifically to feed your chooks…and taking out tasty treats for them all day?! Soon you will start baking special treats for them…..that’s when I am going to get worried about you! :)
They are lovely little beasties aren’t they? After all these years I still get a little thrill everytime I collect the eggs. I always thank them for their efforts too….so yeah, I am nearly/just as mad as you :)
Oh puhlease. You are much madder than I am.. :)
Celia, this is just going to be torturous for Soy!!! She has been reading the Linda Woodrow book from cover to cover though (very rare for her) and you keep feeding us little enticements every so often……………. we might just have to move in next door to you after all!! ;)
Honey, so glad to hear Soy’s enjoying the book! Now there’s someone who’d have no trouble using 42 eggs a week! ;-)
Their diet sounds great, can I have some too?!
Fresh eggs are the best. Mum and Dad live on a farm and have about 8 chooks, so we are supplied with fresh eggs constantly.
Fresh eggs are simply the best. No, we don’t have our own chickens. But I’ve got several sources–including fresh pintade eggs nearby. A lunch or dinner of eggs, salad, and a glass of red wine–that’s my idea of sheer heaven.
How wonderful Celia. Your chooks have an incredible diet, it’s no wonder they reciprocate with such beautiful perfect eggs.
You should think of writing a cookery book around eggs ;-)
:-) Mandy
Celia aren’t chooks wonderful!! We have 4 in our suburb backyard and I sure my neighbours think I’m crazy ~ when things get a little stressful I can be found in the garden often having a ‘chat’ with my girls.
Susan, they’re just so lovely – how wonderful that your folks keep you in fresh eggs! :)
Mark, you’re the egg king – your scrambled egg recipe is the absolute best! (Check out the recipe here!!)
Mandy, that would be fun! Big Boy tonight said, “now that we have fresh eggs, how about making chocolate mousse? Like right now?”.. :)
Suz, you’re absolutely right – chickens are so therapeutic!
Oh, I’m jealous of you and your chooks. One day…. :-)
Don’t be jealous, Bee! “One day soon…” :)
Having met these ladies, I have to concur that they are indeed six lovely ladies! :D
I can here your heart singing from here, Celia! What beautiful eggs… I love the way they are so plump when this fresh. Your girls will lay larger and larger eggs as they grow older. So glad to hear you are enjoying their presence. :)
Waw, those eggs do look amazing, fresh & darker yellow in colour!!
I just tagged you with 10 foodie questions!! Come over, Celia & check it out!
I know the peace and harmony while cracking home grown fresh eggs…. it’s a clear joy and humble experience :)
Your eggs looks organic and healthy. I definitely love to have something like this for breakfast :)
Lorraine, you and Mr NQN certainly caught Rosemary at her best! :)
Chris, I know you of all people understand what sheer, unbridled joy it is to have eggs like this! :)
Sophie, thank you!!
Tes, you’ve nailed it actually – it is both a humble and humbling experience.. :)
Am envious of your fresh eggs! I often wonder how far the eggs have travelled that I buy. We actually have a chicken coop at the house but fear chickens should really have daily attention. What happens if you don’t collect the eggs?!
Anna, they really do need daily attention! We collect our eggs twice daily – I don’t think they’re great left out for more than a day, particularly if the weather is hot. I’d also be worried about predators if they were left on their own for any length of time. Then again, I’m an overprotective mother hen. ;-)
Celia,
Chickens are delicious animals to live with, they are adorable and I totally envy you and your fresh laid eggs and their magical yolks, I wish I could grab some eggs like those sometime around here, but not yet…
I am amazed by their taste for good food, so your chickens “adore a little ricotta cheese or homemade Greek yoghurt”, really? They know how to choose a meal, don’t they?
By the way, your garden is magical, loved those cherry tomatoes!
Cláudia
C, they’re quite the gourmand chickens! They adore earthworms, but turn their noses up at manure worms, and they prefer their fish cooked rather than raw. Pete saw me deboning a roasted salmon head for them recently, and just shook his head.. ;-)