Monday, March 25, 2013

The Fifteen Egg Omelette?

We've always had a soft spot in our poultry-raising hearts for bantam chickens.  They eat less feed than standard sized breeds in proportion to  the number of eggs they lay, and the fact that they often go broody and do a great job of raising their young is a real plus for us.

A year ago when we placed our order for some new chicks, we chose to include some bantams because our remaining bantam pair (one hen, one rooster) of Golden Laced Cochins was getting up in age.  We've kinda lost track but we know our hen is either 5 or 6 years old.


Sad to say, the hatchery couldn't supply the ordered bantam chicks, but in late summer, our dear old bantam hen went broody and sat on five eggs.  She succeeded in hatching out four of the eggs.  The picture above shows two of the chicks when a day old (and obviously camera shy).  Of the four chicks, glory be, they all turned out to be hens.  (Now that's a ratio you don't often get!)


Those four little girls have grown to nearly full size (for bantams) and are starting to lay eggs.  You all know pullet eggs start  small and work up to a bigger size, but these eggs give new meaning to the word "small." 

I wonder how many it would take to make an omelette for two people?  I know they sure would look cute dyed and in an Easter basket, wouldn't they? 

18 comments:

Susan said...

I love bantams! In a moment of complete temporary insanity (and because I was unchaperoned), I came home from the feed store with six assorted bantams. I can't wait to see what they will become. Those are almost as small as quail eggs!

Tombstone Livestock said...

How can you dye a dark brown egg??? Maybe you could decorate with stick on dots .... Congrats on getting your own new banty hens.

Kelly said...

I love my bantams! It takes about a dozen eggs to feed just three of us LOL! They have the cutest eggs on earth! I haven't got any in over a month since five of my little hens are broody!

Sparkless said...

Those are tiny eggs. They would look really cute decorated in a basket for Easter. We used to use felt pens to draw designs on our eggs when we were kids.

DFW said...

I want to see them as Easter Eggs! I don't have children but my friends & relatives that have them usually invite me over the night before Easter to dye eggs because I love it so much. Happy Easter!

Mama Pea said...

Susan - You do realize you are dangerous when it comes to putting you in the same place with any kind of an animal or fowl, don't you? I think if you happened to be at a place where they were offering baby saber tooth tigers, you'd come home with one. Or two. (Lucky tigers.)

Mama Pea said...

How can you dye a dark brown egg? Not very well. They always come out muted. You can't get a bright colored one no matter how long you leave it in the dye. Ask me how I know this.

Mama Pea said...

Kelly - Don't they make the cutest hard boiled eggs, too? I have a friend who loves to get them because she tells her grandchildren the hard boiled eggs she makes for them are from hens who laid the small ones just for them. (Ooops. She may be messing with their little minds!)

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - The felt pens would be a very good idea for decorating the brown shelled eggs!

Mama Pea said...

DFW - You are hereby invited to my house to decorate all the Easter eggs! I've never gotten overly enthused about the job myself. Uhhh . . . can you come?

Katidids said...

Wow! Those are small? OK, educate me, as the hens age will the eggs be larger or normal size rang? Sure are pretty hens, I see why you like them so much

Mama Pea said...

Katidids - Just as the eggs from standard sized pullets start out smallish, the eggs from bantams start out smaller than they will be eventually. In other words, first you get pullet sized (smallish) eggs but as the hens mature (whether they be bantam or standard sized), their eggs get up bigger. But bantam eggs will never be nearly as big as those from standard sized hens. You'll always be easily able to tell them from eggs from standard sized birds.

Lisa said...

I am so glad you included a ruler, because they 'look' like full-sized eggs! So cute!!!

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - Yes, without something for comparison, they just look like regular eggs!

LindaCO said...

As far as eggs go, those are adorable!!

Mama Pea said...

LindaCO - Makes me think . . . exactly what does an egg have to distinguish itself? (Poor egg.) ;o)

Erin said...

that hen is pretty!

Mama Pea said...

Erin - She has a sweet personality, too. Most bantams do in our experience.