Dublin Perkin, if you think eating blue eggs would be strange. You may be in for a shock when you find out that not only do silkies have blue skin, their meat is also blue. I found that out the hard way. After killing one for dinner, my family voted not to eat him after all when we discovered his meat was blue......
I am new to this board, so a short introduction is in order I suppose
I live in South Carolina, am Mom to one game type hen, one Russian Blue kitty, one Australian Shepherd, one green tree frog, one male betta and two Arabian Mares. I am also the caretaker of my daughter's dog and cat, and my SO's Miniature Pinscher.
In my life time I have done many things with chickens... 1) worked in a chicken processing plant 2) worked for a farmer that owned a commercial breeding farm 3) kept chickens for the use of their eggs.....and the best story of all....... 4) took advantage of the time in the early 80"s when everyone thought that "green" eggs had less cholesterol in them than brown and white eggs did
In the early 80's I lived in Virginia, near a housing development full of nice families that had a much, much better income than our family did. We gardened, had chickens, hogs for butchering and dairy goats. I was approached by one of the wives in the housing development and asked if I raised my livestock "organically". I told her, yes, basically everything was done organically on our little "farm". She wanted to buy "green" eggs since she had just found out that they had less cholesterol in them than "normal" eggs. I only had two little hens that laid "green" eggs, so I told her I didn't have a lot of green eggs, but I would save them back for her if she wanted me to.
She offered me $3.00 a dozen for them if I would do that.
Seems she had just found out that her husband had a lot of cholesterol, and she thought she had found the answer to her prayers when she found out I had "green" egg chickens.
e Immediately, her neighbors started clamoring for green eggs also.
e
So, I got the evil idea of crossing my two little hens with a Leg Horn rooster. I acquired an incubator, supplied the wife with enough eggs to keep the hubby happy, hatched lots and lots of chicks out. Saved the little hens (ate the little roosters) and when they were nearing the age of egg laying, supplied them with a light for part of the night. As I remember, they started laying when they were about 26 weeks old.
ALL of my little baby hens were white when they feathered out. (I didn't find out until later that Leg Horn white is very color dominant) I would say that about 75% of them laid green or blue tinted eggs. There was another advantage to the genetic cross, very few of them ever went broody and were easily persuaded to go back to laying again.
I enjoyed selling eggs to my neighbors for several years before we moved on to a bigger and better farm. However, my new neighbors were country folk and did not believe the "green" eggs = lower cholesterol theory.
I am new to this board, so a short introduction is in order I suppose
I live in South Carolina, am Mom to one game type hen, one Russian Blue kitty, one Australian Shepherd, one green tree frog, one male betta and two Arabian Mares. I am also the caretaker of my daughter's dog and cat, and my SO's Miniature Pinscher.
In my life time I have done many things with chickens... 1) worked in a chicken processing plant 2) worked for a farmer that owned a commercial breeding farm 3) kept chickens for the use of their eggs.....and the best story of all....... 4) took advantage of the time in the early 80"s when everyone thought that "green" eggs had less cholesterol in them than brown and white eggs did
In the early 80's I lived in Virginia, near a housing development full of nice families that had a much, much better income than our family did. We gardened, had chickens, hogs for butchering and dairy goats. I was approached by one of the wives in the housing development and asked if I raised my livestock "organically". I told her, yes, basically everything was done organically on our little "farm". She wanted to buy "green" eggs since she had just found out that they had less cholesterol in them than "normal" eggs. I only had two little hens that laid "green" eggs, so I told her I didn't have a lot of green eggs, but I would save them back for her if she wanted me to.
She offered me $3.00 a dozen for them if I would do that.
Seems she had just found out that her husband had a lot of cholesterol, and she thought she had found the answer to her prayers when she found out I had "green" egg chickens.
e Immediately, her neighbors started clamoring for green eggs also.
eSo, I got the evil idea of crossing my two little hens with a Leg Horn rooster. I acquired an incubator, supplied the wife with enough eggs to keep the hubby happy, hatched lots and lots of chicks out. Saved the little hens (ate the little roosters) and when they were nearing the age of egg laying, supplied them with a light for part of the night. As I remember, they started laying when they were about 26 weeks old.
ALL of my little baby hens were white when they feathered out. (I didn't find out until later that Leg Horn white is very color dominant) I would say that about 75% of them laid green or blue tinted eggs. There was another advantage to the genetic cross, very few of them ever went broody and were easily persuaded to go back to laying again.
I enjoyed selling eggs to my neighbors for several years before we moved on to a bigger and better farm. However, my new neighbors were country folk and did not believe the "green" eggs = lower cholesterol theory.
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