E-I-E-I-O
And on that farm he had some chickens
E-I-E-I-O...
Yep, we've got those too. And aren't they pretty? (FYI that hen is eating an apple peel.)
We have had laying hens for 4 or 5 years now, and are up to 41 hens and 1 rooster. That number has fluctuated quite a bit, especially the first couple years when the coyotes were outsmarting us. Did you know a coyote can climb a 5-foot sheep panel? But, since our chicken yard got a "roof", we have lost very few.
Our chickens are what I would call semi-free-range, but industry would qualify as completely free range. They always have access to the outside yard. Since they love to eat seeds and to peck at bright red fruit, they do have to stay confined when we have new seeds planted or ripe tomatoes. Otherwise, they can go as far as their little legs will carry them. I was surprised to learn that hens will always come "home to roost" around sunset. It doesn't matter how much free space they have to roam, they always venture back to the chicken house in time for the sun to go down.
When they are laying, our hens will produce almost 2 dozen eggs a day. However, they aren't laying right now. Half of our chickens are a year old, and we had separated the young hens from the old, just to make sure our old ones are still laying. But, the door that separated them had glass in it, and someone who shall remain guilty shut the door too hard, breaking the glass, intermingling the chickens and scaring the eggs right out of them. (Actually, it was the stress of the change that made them stop laying for a bit.)
What do we do with all those eggs, when they do start coming again? We sell most of them at the local Farmers Market or through direct sales.
How do the eggs differ from store-bought? The most noticeable difference is the yolk. The yolk of our eggs are a deep, bright yellow, making anything you cook with eggs a bit brighter.
And speaking of cooking, we do eat a lot of eggs around here. L and N (daughters 3 and 4) love scrambled eggs, K loves fried egg sandwiches, and M loves boiled eggs. My favorite is Eggs Benedict, but that takes a lot of work and a lot of butter, so we don't make it too often. If we had to vote on one egg recipe that we all love, it'd be Egg Pie, known to the rest of the world as a quiche.
Quiche Sleichter
Pie crust for a 9-inch pie
8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheese
1 small onion, chopped
5-6 spinach leaves, shredded
4 large eggs
2 cups heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Steam the spinach in the microwave, following the directions on a Ziploc steam bag.
3. Prepare the pie crust and put it in the pie shell. I use the Betty Crocker pie crust recipe, because it's easy and delicious.
4. Sprinkle bacon, cheese, spinach, and onion onto the pie crust.
5. Beat eggs.
6. Add cream, salt, and pepper to eggs and beat until well blended.
7. Pour egg mixture into pie crust, covering bacon, etc.
8. Bake the quiche in the oven for 15 minutes.
9. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. The recipe I base this off of says it will take 30 minutes, but it always seems to take 45 minutes or more to get it completely done in the middle.
10. Let it stand 10 minutes before serving. That will let it set up just a little bit more.
Yum, I love farm-fresh eggs! Wish we lived close enough to buy some. We get eggs and milk from a friend with a farm but he doesn't have many laying hens right now.
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