The Egg and Us

Any of you readers out there who don't keep chickens may have noticed lots of postings with pictures of eggs lately . . . and wondered why. Well, the reason is because many of us "chicken farmers" are recently coming out of the usual molting period that comes upon hens sometime during the winter months. And when the chickens molt, they stop laying eggs. (Frozen egg ducts?)

After having as many wonderfully fresh, tastier-than-anything-store-bought eggs for most of the year, being eggless comes as a heavy blow.

But now with winter nearly past, and brief whiffs of spring in the air, (ta-dah!) we are getting eggs again.

Here on our little homestead, we've also been made aware that it's culling time once more. There are quite a few feathered bodies that have been coasting, stuffing their little gizzards with laying mash, but no longer producing eggs. I'm sorry, Chickens, but if you don't pull your weight around here, it's into the stew pot. (Wonder how long I have left?)

Realizing the situation, a week or so ago, husband took the bull by the horns, or the chicken by the . . . ah, um . . . back end, and checked to see which ones should be culled. He then put the nine non-layers and three surplus roosters in a separate housing area. We need to butcher this whole bunch and put them in the freezer, but as so often happens, "things" keep getting in the way and this ostracized bunch of birds think they're just on vacation somewhere in new facilities.

Also, it seems (ahem) that we have been getting about three eggs daily from this segregated group of . . . um, non-layers. Luckily, my husband has a sense of humor and says he's going to have to do a little more research on culling techniques before we proceed to the chopping block.

In the meantime, I've got a real craving for some deviled eggs. And since I've got a good surplus of eggs once again in the refrig, I'm gonna go boil some up right now.