They go into recipes. Best eggnog I've had was some I made this year with fresh eggs. However, I'm the only one in the family that likes eggnog, soooooo.......
The Hamburg eggs are easy to spot in the store containers because they're so much smaller than the store eggs. I was thinking that Andalusian eggs would be more likely to fool her. And yes, I'm not above a little deception either. Like you, I'm not interested in commercial level production, but at the same time, I would like to get something for my feed bill besides eye candy in the yard. Although the eye candy is nice....
Oh, I guess I missed your point. Yes, Andalusians lay a nice large pure white egg. The problem with putting them in the carton though, is when she cracks one open, it's not going to be a pale, sickly yellow yolk. Then she'll be onto you.
When I mentioned cooking for her, I meant a plate of scrambled eggs or something where she would be eating the eggs directly, not mixed into a cake or whatever.
I guess I do not understand why breeders guard their stock so strongly. Even the best horse breeders in the world with 2 olympic horses don't have buyers knocking at their door. I would think, good breeders would want to share their stock to buyers . . .
I can only speak for myself but I imagine I'm in the same boat with a lot of other breeders.
I had a kid pestering me for a "show quality Andalusian" this past summer. Number one... anything approaching show quality is extremely hard to come by. Am I supposed to sell off the first one I get to some kid who can't keep roosters? In a situation like that, I know without a doubt that the genetics in that particular bird will go down the drain. No sale. That's fine.
Number two... a lot of people don't want to spend the money you ask, even if its a low price, for birds that you have spent a lot of years developing. My own experience: I can't sell an Andalusian. People read how flighty they are and though they admire them, they just don't want to have to deal with them. No, they are not Orpingtons that you can go out in your yard and pick up. You have to corner and catch them. Perhaps some people who raise Mediterranean breeds never spend any time in their pens and so when they do go out there, their birds are hitting their heads on the barn roof! I spend quite a bit of time with my birds and they are fairly calm... still not a pen full of Orpingtons though. I have put birds on breeder's raffles and the bags have been FULL (well, maybe half full) of tickets from people wanting to take them home. Well, the last time I did that, the winners were all excited about their new birds and were more than happy to take my phone number so they could call with any questions... no phone calls. The following year, I am perusing the sales room and who do I see laying in a sales cage, somewhat ratty and depressed? The rooster that went to these people a year before. I know my birds when I see them and I KNOW this was my bird. I don't believe he sold and once a bird leaves my farm, it stays gone because I don't know what it has been exposed to... I cannot afford to bring him back.
I'm even guilty of getting some really nice bantam Rhode Island Reds from Lacy Greer in Arizona. I had them for maybe a couple years and couldn't get the gyst of breeding them for the correct results. I had a lot of trouble with a neighbor and had to pare down on my numbers of birds/roosters and the reds were some that went. I really really like the reds and the bantams are really nice little birds. I still have a few around here but I'm not breeding them at all. My son has most of them and if they decide to go broody then I will let him hatch out a few and that's about the extent of it. He's not interested enough in chickens to allow him to hatch dozens of eggs. He likes them as pets, that is mainly all he is interested in and so that is the level of rhode island red bantam that we have. I would never sell any of them and tell the people where I got them... I know it would be an injustice to Mr. Greer and I won't do that to him.
