Michigan

[chickflick]

Good Morning! Boy, was I glad to come home last night and see no snow!! Those of you in the Lansing area,especially Holt, keep your snow there. Messed with it all day yesterday. Why doesn't Holt plow their streets?? 127 was pure hell!!! They closed it down for several hrs becuz of a bad accident. My son's neighborhood has never been plowed and there were cars stuck everywhere. I was late in getting my GD to school, and late picking her up. What a difference a few miles make!
Those pictures of hens with their chicks are soooo adorable! Nothing cuter.
Hope you feel better, Sarah. Knew exercise wasn't good for you!

Take care, all. Have a good one.

 

[YakLady]

I have two really dumb questions. Curiosity prevails, though, so here goes....

1) How does one tell the difference between an Ameracauna and an EE?

2) Does anyone know a trick or two for peeling hard boiled eggs? My husband and I love to have a supply of them on hand for quick and easy snacks. When I was using store-bought eggs, we never had issues with being able to peel them easily. Nowadays, though, I can't peel an egg without losing half of it. They taste awesome, but they just fall apart when I peel them. Is it just me, or is this a common issue with farm eggs?

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Quote:
iluvcks, I am supposed to see Dr.Gary Gurden in Muskegon. I haven't seen him yet. I am an hour away from both Muskegon and Grand Rapids so usually if I have to see a specialist it will be in one of those locations. I don't get a lot of headaches but do get the occasional migraine. Double vision has been just over a year with the doctors saying it was sugar related. However my sugar always checks out in the normal range. I had an MRI done in January, the films are on my dining room table, waiting to be read by the neurologist. I haven't looked at them because it would just make me worry more. After all it just might be a pic of empty space

Thanks for the well wishes.

 

[zephyrcreek]

Quote:
1. EE's are Ameraucana mutts. They look very similar, but they can be a mixture of who knows what. They are generally very good layers and can lay blue to green eggs. One of my girls lays a beautiful shiny blue egg and the other lays a gorgeous olive egg with a more porous texture. Most of the confusion is caused by the hatcheries themselves. They sell the chicks as Ameraucanas even though they do not meet any of the breed standards. John Blehm has written some really good articles about this that can be found on the breed website (there is a link on my website if you go to the EE Ameraucana page). While it's aggravating to unknowing chicken owners, I do have some sympathy for the hatcheries. It was a shock to me coming from the horse world where to get an arabian you must breed an arabian to an arabian, have the documentation, and possibly DNA testing to prove it. In the chicken world it is common to add in a little something else here and there to improve the breeds (at least within the hatcheries). UGH! talk about confusing to a newbie. Anyways, I love my EE's they are great girls and I would not mind a few more of them. The sad truth is they will probably be relegated to the layers pen as soon as Michelle hatches some Wheaten pullets for me.

2. Eggs, yes there is a trick, but I don't remember it. Hmmm, hopes someone else chimes in. Maybe I should call my mom. We always had hard boiled eggs when I was a kid and never had a problem peeling them.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Yak Lady, there was a post somewhere on BYC about hard boiled eggs.
It said to bring the water to a boil first then put the eggs in. After cooking immediately put eggs in cold water. I then usually peel them under cold running water.

 

[Whatshisface]

YakLady - I had the same issue with hard boiled eggs, at least the eggs that I got from my chickens. I believe the difference is that farm raised chickens actually get a daily supply of calcium. My family and I also like hard boiled eggs as snacks and hate peeling them. What I did was bought a microwave poaching dish for about 2 bucks and now I poach the eggs as I want them in the microwave, you simply cook them all the way through like a hard boiled egg – No peeling.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

I found the post, it's #78
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=24428&p=8

 

[Opa]

The problem with peeling eggs comes from the thickness of the membrane. As an egg ages the membrane becomes thinner and the egg easier to break because of that. Store bought eggs, while still safe to eat, are much older than the eggs we would typically use.
I don't refrigerate my eggs but if you do I suggest you let them return to room temperature before boiling. I add 2 tps of white vinegar to boiling water and then lower the eggs into it, cover and remove from heat. After 15 minutes I replace the hot water with ice water. Allow to set 10-15 minutes then peel under cold running water. I rarely have trouble.

Also use your oldest eggs

 

[shelleyb1969]

Morning everyone!

It's been busy around here...chicks popping out of eggs everywhere!

13 chicks hatched yesterday and last night, so this morning I had to vaccinate them all. I've got 4 bantam Cochin chicks that are available if anyone is interested...these were hatched yesterday. They're from my BBS/Mottled pen.

And here's 1 of the Silkies from this hatch.

 

[YakLady]

Thanks, HBH and Opa. I'll give it a shot.

ZC, I just spent over half an hour looking at your webpage. LOL! You've got a lot of great information on there! Love your story about Topic-that's wonderful that you found him.