The Front Porch Swing

[Beekissed]

Guess what!?!?!?!!?

It's time for more egg photos!!!!!

I know you've all been waiting.

Here is a big egg from my overachiever duck ...



(I'd hatch some of those, but they are double yolkers. Her biggest was well over 4 ounces, this one is not that large.)

And a small chicken egg ...


That one is only 22 grams. Yes, I really do arrange my eggs by color. And I catalog them. Every day.

I LOVE those off-white eggs. They are new this year, so they are might be from the mutts we hatched here last spring/summer. Or maybe the Silver Laced Wyandottes, that looked so miserable from bad feathering last year I doubt any of them had the heart to lay (they look awesome since they molted!) I need to check my egg charts to see what breeds lay off-white eggs.

I've gotten a full dozen of the blue/green eggs two different days in the past week.

That has been one of my goals. Next I'd love to get a full dozen each of blue/green, white, and Maran's eggs.

This is what us gals without kids/grandkids get up to.

Oh, LJ....I'm sorry!

You know, they have fantastic meds that will help with that nowadays........

Okay...you can slap me now! Just had to make fun of you this morning because you were due. You know I LOVE your egg pictures!! They are so very beautiful!

So, what's up with the egg sales and the competition on that now?

 

[Triple Willow]

@Leslie... I LOVE your "Egg Reports" w/ pics!!! Beautiful! If I had a big barn I would have a load of layers. I believe I could sell every egg they would lay. All kinds of barns around where I live not even being used. I wish somebody would let me use one out of the goodness of their heart.

 

[LindaB220]

I came home this evening to find that something had killed one of my chicks. I thought they were all safe and sound, but it looks like one of them got too close to the wire and a possum pulled its head off. I thought it was just dead, but when I checked to make sure his eyes were closed (I prefer for them to look like they are sleeping when I bury them) he didn't have a head or a beak. It was so upsetting.

Instead of tempting fate, I brought the smallest of the chicks in (the one that got killed was a tiny polish chick) and my new ducklings inside. I'm paying my older brother to come in and cover the larger 1x1 inch wire with .5x.5 inch wire. That should keep the grubby little paws of predators away until I can do some modifications to the coop.

Do chicks that have gotten their heads pulled off still move? The 1x1 wire is by the door of the coop but the chick was at least a foot and a half away from the door. I'm thinking it was still moving when it got killed and ended up there, but I'm not entire sure.

I might put my dogs in the pen where the coop is and let them have at it. If that possum comes back, I want them to kill it and have it at my door by the afternoon. I hate possums. If I had a proper gun, I'd be hiding up above the coop, waiting until it was stupid enough to come back. Grrr, I'm so angry I could spit!

Laura, so sorry for your lost baby. I'm getting ready to predator proof my dog kennel coop and was debated on .5 or 1" Now I know. Maybe your tragic accident will save me from losing the same. Thank you.

 

[lindz8504]

Quote:
LJ, don't feel too bad! I write the date laid on every single egg I get, and put them into cartons the same way... then put a sticker on the carton with the laid date on it.....

 

[LindaB220]

Well, Tony and I both live with our parents (we both in our early twenties and work is a little shifty around here) and Tony is...kinda weird. He always "lends" money, never gives money. I don't him on it much because he is only working part time and he keeps his money pretty balanced. He pays his loans, pays for gas, takes me to work, etc. I sometimes pay him for gas because he'll take me somewhere if I really need him to.

However. tony is a young buck and he still lacks a lot of tact. He was ready to help me out as soon as I told him, but hen weds something out of it. He told me yesterday that he was going to use part of his tax refund for his game system, but he didn't want to use it all because he wanted to put some away in savings. I get it, I just don't like it.

Our garden isn't really ready yet...at all. It's full if weeds and junk wood that I need to burn. I'm thinking of borrowing a friend's goats so they can clear out the area. It'd help me get things done way faster. I'll probably pay Tony $50 for helping with stuff, though, and maybe later if he helps me till the garden, that'll be another $75.

Not all families need payment for helping each other out. If I ask my sisters for help on something, all I need to do is provide food and they'll help me out. My older sis, Olivia, said she'd borrow a chainsaw and help me cut down a tree if I went to a bar with her and paid for her, haha! Or she said I could sing karaoke and win her a bucket of beer.

I realize that family is family and should help out. But it doesn't always happen. In fact, Tony sounds responsible for his financial worth. The idea of the $50 and $75 payments sounds just about right. He gets the money he needs and you get the benefit of his labor. And he'll always be more ready to help out in future endeavors.

 

[Beekissed]

LJ, don't feel too bad! I write the date laid on every single egg I get, and put them into cartons the same way... then put a sticker on the carton with the laid date on it.....

Oh, boy....you guys would freak at my house.

I gather eggs, put them into a basket on the counter and then when that gets too full I'll put some into a carton and give them to family. When I used to sell, I'd put the eggs in the basket on the counter until I had time to place them into cartons then would deliver them to customers. No dates, no knowing which eggs were laid when because they are constantly being rotated out and never an egg stays on the counter for longer than 2 wks. now, and no more than a few days to a week when I had a bigger flock and was selling.

Rarely do they ever stay around long enough to make it to the fridge....I hate the smell/flavor of a fridge egg.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Oh, LJ....I'm sorry!

You know, they have fantastic meds that will help with that nowadays........

Okay...you can slap me now! Just had to make fun of you this morning because you were due. You know I LOVE your egg pictures!! They are so very beautiful!

So, what's up with the egg sales and the competition on that now?

I was going to suggest I take some meds ... I'm thinking that cute little Maran's egg is just about the right size to swallow whole.

WELLLLLLLLLLL ... egg sales. Hmmmmmm.

The members of the buying group (our main customer) do seem to prefer the "soy free organic" eggs, but the farm that offers that option, their birds aren't producing as well as mine are, or the farmer has lots of other clients, so those eggs are "rationed." They tend to sell out first, and then people start to sigh up for my eggs, but it has been a while since that group wanted more than I could supply.

Nobody has reported any "problems" with my eggs (off flavor, broken eggs) and I'm pretty sure that's because I'm being so careful with the feed for the birds and the way I handle the eggs ... I consider those things my responsibility, and I take them very seriously. There have been some problems with the "soy free organic" option eggs from the other supplier, but that doesn't seem to dent the customers' loyalty to that product. I find that interesting and informative!

The more I researched switching to a "soy free" or "organic" feed, the more I discovered those feeds are comprised of things I don't exactly trust ... as in Camelina meal, which is a waste product of the jet fuel industry (!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!) and has only been approved as a protein source for livestock feed for a few years, and is only approved in limited quantities (tests indicate it makes meat from poultry and pork taste bad, and it also makes eggs taste bad). I just don't feel we have the whole story on that yet, so even though I have reservations about soy, at least I know it's FOOD.

I really don't wish to offend anyone who has chosen to use soy-free/organic feeds for their chickens, I TOTALLY understand that ... I just haven't settled on a supplier or formula yet. I'm still looking.

And suddenly, just when I'm getting at least one egg per day from each duck, people have stopped buying the duck eggs. Le sigh.

I think I might do a marketing push for just the duck eggs ... I don't know what to expect from the ducks in terms of productivity. We sell the duck eggs for a lot less than grocery stores charge ... and not many grocery stores even have duck eggs.

I've been able to donate a fair number of eggs this spring, and that makes me feel good and Dad really loves giving things away, too. We decided we'd rather donate our temporary surplus than sign up a bunch of new customers that we'd only have to disappoint when the laying surge ends. That gets stressful for everyone.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

You guys are tooooooo kind. Group hug!

 

[Triple Willow]

Leslie... I have probably already asked you but... how much do you get for your chicken and duck eggs and what do you do about cartons?

 

[Triple Willow]

I need to start giving a few eggs away. Sold nine dozen yesterday. Well I did give one of those dozen away. But that was my egg "drug dealer" move... the first dozen is free then when I get them hooked they have to buy . lol