Appleseed Farm

Now that "my girls" are up in the barn's Chicken Penthouse for the winter, they're making lots of eggs, 

but sometimes there are surprises in the nests, like these 2 eggs, laid a few days apart.

On this antique egg scale the huge one is off the charts! (I don't envy the mom--ouch!) 

The teeny one is smaller than a pullet. These must be the Alpha and OMEGGA of eggdom!

YES, the tiny one actually had an eentsy-weentsy yolk, and THE OMEGGA EGG was indeed a double-yolker!

Seriously now, how does this happen?

Firstly, keep in mind that eggs sold in the grocery are machine-sorted so you'll never see

oddly shaped or off-size eggs.

The motto of American industry is, after all, conformity. Henry Ford's genius in devising the assembly line

was ensuring a standard, predictable product.

Fast forward and apply these values to American food industries. Commercial egg layers are all one breed

(White Leghorns, for white eggs) and they are so genetically similar that they are almost clones.

Their breeding, and everything else about their short lives, is designed to guarantee sameness.

At about a year old, when egg production naturally falls off in the hen, the layers are "replaced"

en masse with a new cohort.

Appleseed Farm's hens come from four different breeds, all old-fashioned, dual-purpose, "heritage" breeds.

Chickens like these have a degree of innate genetic diversity that commercial breeds lack.

Age is also a variable; my hens range from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years old. As hens age (in chicken terms,

"older" means over 1 year old), they lay fewer eggs and sometimes produce eggs that look less than perfect.

They are great eggs, but they may look lop-sided. I don't mind. Those are the eggs I keep for myself.

Occasionally, a hen produces a double-yolker or (rarely) a teeny-tiny egg (actually this is the smallest one

I've ever seen from my hens). I don't mind keeping hens that aren't producing. They're beautiful,

healthy, personable, and are fine conversationalists! Best yet, they are always glad to see me.

Look at the rich orange color of those yolks! Big egg, small egg, that’s always the same!

With a bitterly cold nor'easter blowing the snow sideways, I looked outside this morning and saw my 3-year-old minus his blanket. Not only that, but he and Miles were playing tug o' war with the blanket. Then Miles got bored and Louie ran around the paddock holding the blanket in his teeth and swinging it from side to side, wheeeee!  I went out there and told him that he could just stay naked for the whole winter if he was going to rip and shred his blanket!     [You do know I'm talking about horses, right?]

  Addendum, winter 2010: I don't put blankets on the horses any more. Can you guess why??  Do I feel guilty? Well, a little at first, but my guys are 1/2 Belgian. Have you ever seen a Belgian wearing a blanket? Draft horses grow really long winter coats and my guys inherited that trait. Their hair is a couple of inches long, all over. Everything I read says they do better living outside (rather than in a stall) with no clothes. OK, then!