Our young batch of hens (finally) started laying, they are about 21
weeks old now, so I have plenty of 'pullet' eggs at the moment - in
fact all my egg trays in the fridges are full <veg>, and I am now using
up old egg cartons that I have been hoarding for this purpose. Five of
them are laying every day now, which should go up to about a dozen a day
in the very near future - there's 14 of them). I will, of course, be
giving some away to family and friends, but that's still going to leave
quite a surplus until I can find somewhere to sell them off...

So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
anyone?

BTW, to give you an idea of 'how small' they are at the moment you can
take a look he

http://www.recfoodcooking.com/images/2202.jpg
--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:38:09 +0200, ChattyCathy
> wrote:

>So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
>anyone?
>
I see souffles, frittatas and quiches in your future!

American Egg Board - http://www.aeb.org/Recipes/
Iowa Egg Council - http://www.iowaegg.org/eggrecipes.asp
Good Egg - http://www.goodegg.com/dinner.html

From Safeway Grocery store
http://holiday.safeway.com/blogcfm/

Mashed Sweet Potato Pancakes

Make sweet potato pancakes with your leftover mashers. They are
perfect for breakfast, served with a side of Canadian bacon, or
leftover ham you grill in a pan.

4 cups mashed sweet potatoes
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
12 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil, for frying

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.

• In a large mixing bowl place potatoes and eggs and mix until
combined.
• Thoroughly whisk in flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and salt.
• In a large heavy skillet, heat 1/8-inch of oil over moderately
high heat until it is hot but not smoking.
• Fry heaping tablespoons of the potato mixture, flattening them
slightly with the back of the spoon, for 1 minute on each side, or
until they are golden brown.
• As they are cooked, transfer the pancakes to paper towels to
drain off some of the oil.
• To keep each batch warm, set on a baking sheet in a preheated
250° F oven while you cook the rest of the pancakes.


Bread Pudding
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bread-P...II/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS

* 3 slices day-old bread
* 1 tablespoon butter, melted
* 1/4 cup raisins (optional)
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 cup milk
* 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C).
2. Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.


Bourbon Sauce:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archive...ad_pudding.php

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 cup Kentucky bourbon whiskey

In a saucepan, melt butter; add sugar and egg, whisking to blend well.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Whisk
in bourbon to taste. Remove from heat and let cool. Whisk before
serving. The sauce should be soft, creamy, and smooth.


I forgot you don't drink much, so you probably won't have any bourbon
on hand...

How about a nice Crème Anglaise (Custard Sauce)?
http://www.joyofbaking.com/CremeAnglaise.html

Crème Anglaise:

2 cups (480 ml) light cream or half and half (12 - 18% butterfat)

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (can be found specialty food stores)
or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar

5 large egg yolks


Hmmm. Crème Anglaise is pretty rich.... a lemon sauce may be more up
your alley.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1640...225206,00.html

LEMON SAUCE:

1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
Dash of salt

Mix gradually and add 1 cup water. Cook over low heat, stirring
constantly until thick and clear.

2 egg yolks
2 t. butter
2T. lemon juice

Stir small amount hot mixture into 2 beaten egg yolks, return to hot
mixture. Cook and stir 1 minute; remove from heat and add 2 teaspoons
butter and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, pour over pudding.


Last but not least: Dutch Baby (I bake it in my cast iron frying pan)
They are so easy, you'll wonder why you don't make them more often

BIG DUTCH BABIES
Printed from COOKS.COM

Great for Sunday Breakfast.

FOR 2 TO 3 QUART PAN:

1/4 c. butter
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk
3/4 c. flour

FOR 3 TO 4 QUART PAN:

1/3 c. butter
4 eggs
1 c. milk
1 c. flour

FOR 4 TO 4 1/2 QUART PAN:

1/2 c. butter
5 eggs
1 1/4 c. milk
1 1/4 c. flour

FOR 4 1/2 TO 5 QUART PAN:

1/2 c. butter
6 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 c. flour

Select the recipe proportions to fit your pan, and get out the
ingredients you will need.

Put the butter in the pan and set it into a 425 degree oven after
first dusting the pan with nutmeg, then mix batter quickly while
butter melts. Put eggs in blender container and whirl at high speed
for 1 minute. With motor running, gradually pour in milk, then slowly
add flour; continue whirling for 30 seconds.

(With a rotary beater, beat eggs until light and lemon colored;
gradually beat in milk, then flour.)

Remove pan from oven with the butter melted and pour batter into the
hot melted butter. Return the pan to the oven and bake until puffy and
well browned, 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve at once with any fruit topping, i.e. canned pie filling, hot
fruit, fresh fruit. (Best - fresh strawberries then topped with
whipped cream.) Syrups or powdered sugar is good, too.

A tip: Have everyone waiting at the table when the Dutch Baby comes
out of the oven, while it is puffed up. Also I use cast iron skillet
for the cooking.

--
See return address to reply by email
remove the smiley face first

sf wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:38:09 +0200, ChattyCathy
> > wrote:
>
>> So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
>> anyone?
>>
> I see souffles, frittatas and quiches in your future!

<snipped for space>
Wow! Thanks sf! Gonna be busy


--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

ChattyCathy wrote:
>
> Our young batch of hens (finally) started laying, they are about 21
> weeks old now, so I have plenty of 'pullet' eggs at the moment - in
> fact all my egg trays in the fridges are full <veg>, and I am now using
> up old egg cartons that I have been hoarding for this purpose. Five of
> them are laying every day now, which should go up to about a dozen a day
> in the very near future - there's 14 of them). I will, of course, be
> giving some away to family and friends, but that's still going to leave
> quite a surplus until I can find somewhere to sell them off...
>
> So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
> anyone?
>
> BTW, to give you an idea of 'how small' they are at the moment you can
> take a look he
>
> http://www.recfoodcooking.com/images/2202.jpg

You might consider figuring out how to pasteurize, homogenize and store
the liquid frozen rather like the commercial liquid eggs from Sysco and
the likes. Will certainly store more compactly and longer that way. I've
been told be a baker I know that uses them that they look a little funky
/ lumpy after you defrost them, but it doesn't have any detectable
effect on the end products. Might not want to use them for creme brulee
though.

Janet wrote:

>
> Lucky you: my girls (16 of them) are only producing about 2 eggs per day
> since their molt in the fall. I was getting more like 6-9 a day. (This was
> with an original flock of 12--one killed when run over by the neighbor's
> tractor--augmented the next year by a second flock of 8--one killed by my
> dog who chased her and picked her up, one killed by an unknown predator, and
> one horrible accidental rooster that I finally had someone come and take
> away.)
>

Heh. We started out with 21 chicks - a mongoose got 7 of them... Our
older hens went off laying in winter too - which I gather is where you
are at the moment. The locals around here and the poultry discussion
groups I read say that hens need a minimum of 14 hours of daylight (and
must be kept quite warm) to keep laying in the colder months, and this
can be gotten around when the shorter days set in by putting in
lighting/heating in their coops... Have you done that? We don't bother
here (South Africa), as our climate is fairly warm most of the year and
our winters fairly short. So I just let them "have a rest" for a month
or two...

I hear ya about the rooster - got rid of ours too, he was a "monster"
with sharp talons - ask me I know. The little bastid would "attack" me
when I went to feed them... I have scars to prove it

> I was selling about 4 dozen per week to friends for $2/dozen (extremely
> cheap for free-range eggs), but now we've actually had to buy eggs
> occasionally for the first time in 3 years!

Yes, that's cheap. "Free-range" eggs are expensive in our stores too.

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

ChattyCathy wrote:

> Janet wrote:
>
> >
> > Lucky you: my girls (16 of them) are only producing about 2 eggs per day
> > since their molt in the fall. I was getting more like 6-9 a day. (This
was
> > with an original flock of 12--one killed when run over by the neighbor's
> > tractor--augmented the next year by a second flock of 8--one killed by
my
> > dog who chased her and picked her up, one killed by an unknown predator,
and
> > one horrible accidental rooster that I finally had someone come and take
> > away.)
> >
>
> Heh. We started out with 21 chicks - a mongoose got 7 of them... Our
> older hens went off laying in winter too - which I gather is where you
> are at the moment. The locals around here and the poultry discussion
> groups I read say that hens need a minimum of 14 hours of daylight (and
> must be kept quite warm) to keep laying in the colder months, and this
> can be gotten around when the shorter days set in by putting in
> lighting/heating in their coops... Have you done that? We don't bother
> here (South Africa), as our climate is fairly warm most of the year and
> our winters fairly short. So I just let them "have a rest" for a month
> or two...
>
> I hear ya about the rooster - got rid of ours too, he was a "monster"
> with sharp talons - ask me I know. The little bastid would "attack" me
> when I went to feed them... I have scars to prove it
>
> > I was selling about 4 dozen per week to friends for $2/dozen (extremely
> > cheap for free-range eggs), but now we've actually had to buy eggs
> > occasionally for the first time in 3 years!
>
> Yes, that's cheap. "Free-range" eggs are expensive in our stores too.
>


Interesting discussion...

When I was a kid (I'm 50} on the farm we had chickens and a hen house, many
US Midwest (I grew up in rural Illinois) farm families did so...

We kept guinea fowl, they are are very noisy and kept the foxes and raccoons
and other predators somewhat away from the laying fowl...

Mongooses (Mongeese?)...Riki Tiki Tavi....

:-)


--
Best
Greg

On Fri 28 Dec 2007 11:38:09a, ChattyCathy told us...

> Our young batch of hens (finally) started laying, they are about 21
> weeks old now, so I have plenty of 'pullet' eggs at the moment - in
> fact all my egg trays in the fridges are full <veg>, and I am now using
> up old egg cartons that I have been hoarding for this purpose. Five of
> them are laying every day now, which should go up to about a dozen a day
> in the very near future - there's 14 of them). I will, of course, be
> giving some away to family and friends, but that's still going to leave
> quite a surplus until I can find somewhere to sell them off...
>
> So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
> anyone?
>
> BTW, to give you an idea of 'how small' they are at the moment you can
> take a look he
>
> http://www.recfoodcooking.com/images/2202.jpg

Lots of eggnog, custard pies, puddings, mousse, pickled eggs, omelettes,
and egg ice cream...

http://haverchuk.blogspot.com/2006/0...oject-egg-ice-
cream.html

Probably lots more things you could do with them as well.

--
Wayne Boatwright

*******************************************
Date: Friday, 12(XII)/28(XXVIII)/07(MMVII)
Countdown till New Years
3dys 40mins
*******************************************
Jealousy is all the fun you think they
have.
*******************************************

Gregory Morrow wrote:

> Interesting discussion...

<evil grin> Suppose it can still be considered 'food related'...
>
> When I was a kid (I'm 50} on the farm we had chickens and a hen house, many
> US Midwest (I grew up in rural Illinois) farm families did so...
>
> We kept guinea fowl, they are are very noisy and kept the foxes and raccoons
> and other predators somewhat away from the laying fowl...

We have plenty of wild guinea fowl around here - and yes they are noisy
- LOL - our cats are terrified of them - but I was warned by various
locals (who know far more about raising chickens than I do) to keep them
away from the chickens. Apparently wild guinea fowl can carry some
nasty diseases, which of course is not a good thing... I took their word
for it.

>
> Mongooses (Mongeese?)...Riki Tiki Tavi....
>
> :-)
>
I say mongooses. <giggle>

Heh. I am fairly new at this 'raising chicks' business. It all started
out with the darn rooster... he wandered in here from somewhere about 3
years ago. When it looked like he had no intention of leaving, and kept
trying to come into the house, we decided to get him a few hens to keep
him company. We got two, from a place that sells off older hens (usually
for the pot) once they are past their their egg-laying prime. One died
(of 'old age') about 6 months later and we were down to the rooster and
one old hen (who still lays), for quite a while. Eventually I had enough
of the rooster's demeanor and decided to get rid of him and get some
more hens instead.

Sooo... we ordered some proper 'laying hens' from a reputable chicken
farm in September - but they only sell day-old or 4 week-old chicks,
with a minimum of 25. I opted for 4 week-olds. We only got 23 and two
died the day we got them (won't bore you with the details of that).

Maybe I should have kept the rooster - I was told after losing those 7
to the mongooses (by far more knowledgeable locals) that he probably
would have protected them. Sigh. I live and learn. We have now made
their coop 'mongoose-proof', so when we close them up for the night we
know they are safe. We also built them proper 'nesting boxes' in the
coop with a good perch for them to roost on. They seem to like it. Had 4
eggs already today and it's only lunch time here We may even get
another rooster; with 15 of them (including the old hen) to 'keep him
busy' he may not be as aggressive as the last one, and if they have
chicks, he should help protect them. We'll see... Either that or we'll
have to train our cats to 'guard' them - stop laughing - one of them has
already killed a mongoose and brought it into the house to show it off...
--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

....talking about eggs, I saw something for the first time today. I've had
them in soup before, but I never saw them in the market. This morning, I
was taking pictures in market in Thailand and saw "reng khai", literally
translated as "nest eggs", but they're really unborn eggs harvested from
a hen when it is butchered.

http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/.../reng-khai.jpg

--
Clay Irving
Clay's Kitchen: http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook

On 2007-12-28, ChattyCathy > wrote:

> So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
> anyone?

Sorry, I forget this:

http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/...tents.cgi?eggs

--
Clay Irving
Clay's Kitchen: http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook

Clay Irving wrote:
> On 2007-12-28, ChattyCathy > wrote:
>
>> So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
>> anyone?
>
> Sorry, I forget this:
>
> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/...tents.cgi?eggs
>

<grin> Many thanks!

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

Clay Irving wrote:
> ...talking about eggs, I saw something for the first time today. I've had
> them in soup before, but I never saw them in the market. This morning, I
> was taking pictures in market in Thailand and saw "reng khai", literally
> translated as "nest eggs", but they're really unborn eggs harvested from
> a hen when it is butchered.
>
> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/.../reng-khai.jpg
>
Reminds me somehow of Balut, so I am not sure if I'd try it... I give my
hens names <lol> so I always give them away when it's time for the
pot... I know, silly of me...

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

ChattyCathy wrote:
> Our young batch of hens (finally) started laying, they are about 21
> weeks old now, so I have plenty of 'pullet' eggs at the moment - in
> fact all my egg trays in the fridges are full <veg>, and I am now using
> up old egg cartons that I have been hoarding for this purpose. Five of
> them are laying every day now, which should go up to about a dozen a day
> in the very near future - there's 14 of them). I will, of course, be
> giving some away to family and friends, but that's still going to leave
> quite a surplus until I can find somewhere to sell them off...
>
> So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
> anyone?
>
> BTW, to give you an idea of 'how small' they are at the moment you can
> take a look he
>
> http://www.recfoodcooking.com/images/2202.jpg

Yesterday the kids and the dogs and I drove out to Canine Country to
purchase my Christmas present - a full membership. It is, in fact, a
country club for dogs and their people. 225 fenced acres with trails
for hiking, a pond with a gravel beach for swimming and a regulation
dock for dock diving, sheep for herding, agility and flyball. They've
got homing pigeons for use in training hunting dogs - the dog points,
the hunter triggers some sort of mechanism and the birds come exploding
out of their cages, then fly back to their coop.

And, just for the fun of it they've got a big flock of beautiful
bronze-colored laying hens (and a couple of roosters that I'm scared
of). They eat bugs and grass and pretty much anything they can scratch
up in the fenced yard, along with commercial chicken chow. I don't know
if that counts as free-range or not but they've got pretty good lives,
all things considered.

The woman who took my check and application handed me a carton with a
half dozen petite brown eggs and said there were probably more by now,
if I wanted to drive up to the barn and check.

So we drove up there and sure enough, collected a half dozen more out of
the nesting boxes. Tres cool. My daughter picked one up and grimaced.

"Ew. It's warm."

"Yup. Fresh out of the chicken's bottom."

"Oh, thank you so very much for that."

This morning I made a cheese omelet with five of them. Smaller than
store bought, about the size of those in the OP's photo, but the yolks
were a much deeper gold, almost orange. Excellent flavor, too. Worth
reserving the fresh eggs for use in omelets and scrambled eggs, and
using up the store bought ones for baked goods, etc.

ChattyCathy wrote:

> Clay Irving wrote:
>
>> ...talking about eggs, I saw something for the first time today. I've had
>> them in soup before, but I never saw them in the market. This morning, I
>> was taking pictures in market in Thailand and saw "reng khai", literally
>> translated as "nest eggs", but they're really unborn eggs harvested from
>> a hen when it is butchered.
>>
>> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/.../reng-khai.jpg
>>
> Reminds me somehow of Balut, so I am not sure if I'd try it... I give my
> hens names <lol> so I always give them away when it's time for the
> pot... I know, silly of me...
>

Nah, nothing like Balut. No embryo, and not much of a shell yet,
either, IIRC.

When I was 12 I went with a friend to spend a weekend at her
grandparents' farm. We ate fresh eggs for breakfast then went to help
dig potatoes and pick green beans.

At lunch time we were told that our supper was running around over there
across the yard. I was appalled... I thought she meant *we* were going
to have to kill the chicken. But no, grandma went over, grabbed that
chicken and chopped off its head. She served it up for dinner that
night with the cooked, unlaid eggs along side.

I wimped out and declined my share of what everybody else seemed to
regard a a special treat. My friend just shrugged and said, "More for
me, then." The chicken was really good, though.

Kathleen wrote:
>
> Yesterday the kids and the dogs and I drove out to Canine Country to
> purchase my Christmas present - a full membership. It is, in fact, a
> country club for dogs and their people. 225 fenced acres with trails
> for hiking, a pond with a gravel beach for swimming and a regulation
> dock for dock diving, sheep for herding, agility and flyball. They've
> got homing pigeons for use in training hunting dogs - the dog points,
> the hunter triggers some sort of mechanism and the birds come exploding
> out of their cages, then fly back to their coop.

Sounds great...
>
> And, just for the fun of it they've got a big flock of beautiful
> bronze-colored laying hens (and a couple of roosters that I'm scared
> of). They eat bugs and grass and pretty much anything they can scratch
> up in the fenced yard, along with commercial chicken chow. I don't know
> if that counts as free-range or not but they've got pretty good lives,
> all things considered.
>

Well, I think ours would probably be termed "yarded/free-range"
chickens, not bona fide "free-range" chickens. We have a coop which is
in a large fenced in area. They love scratching around in the
grass/weeds/soil for part of the day but go into the coop to lay, take
naps and to sleep in at night. We have to keep them fenced in otherwise
they wander over onto other people's property.... which can be
inconvenient. We also feed them layers mash/pellets and corn too that we
buy at the local feed stores. They get kitchen scraps as treats now and
again - they love leftover cooked rice, so it's probably bad for them
<lol>... they almost fight each other for it! One of them loves tomatoes
too.

> The woman who took my check and application handed me a carton with a
> half dozen petite brown eggs and said there were probably more by now,
> if I wanted to drive up to the barn and check.
>
> So we drove up there and sure enough, collected a half dozen more out of
> the nesting boxes. Tres cool. My daughter picked one up and grimaced.
>
> "Ew. It's warm."

LOL! I can imagine the look on her face.
>
> "Yup. Fresh out of the chicken's bottom."
>
> "Oh, thank you so very much for that."

Yep. Takes a bit of getting used to if you've always lived in a city
>
> This morning I made a cheese omelet with five of them. Smaller than
> store bought, about the size of those in the OP's photo, but the yolks
> were a much deeper gold, almost orange. Excellent flavor, too. Worth
> reserving the fresh eggs for use in omelets and scrambled eggs, and
> using up the store bought ones for baked goods, etc.
>

Yes, pullet eggs are supposed to be the "tastiest", but as I read
somewhere, people are often led to believe that "bigger is better"...

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

On Dec 29, 9:44�am, Clay Irving > wrote:
> ...talking about eggs, I saw something for the first time today. I've had
> them in soup before, but I never saw them in the market. This morning, I
> was taking pictures in market in Thailand and saw "reng khai", literally
> translated as "nest eggs", but they're really unborn eggs harvested from
> a hen when it is butchered.
>
> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/.../reng-khai.jpg

Nothing new... can't make genuine Jewish penecillin without it.
And they're not unborn eggs, they're incompletely formed eggs... and
most commercially raised hens never meet a cock, so they are
unfertilized eggs, they'd never be "born".

http://www.aeb.org/LearnMore/Eggcycl....htm#Formation

Local food pantries would be thrilled to get any extra eggs you can't
use -- same goes for garden vegetables, fruit, etc.

My mother has chickens and she freezes her eggs in ice cube trays. Once
they are frozen, shes stores them in plastic bags and in containers.

Becca

On 2007-12-29, ChattyCathy > wrote:
> Clay Irving wrote:

>> ...talking about eggs, I saw something for the first time today. I've had
>> them in soup before, but I never saw them in the market. This morning, I
>> was taking pictures in market in Thailand and saw "reng khai", literally
>> translated as "nest eggs", but they're really unborn eggs harvested from
>> a hen when it is butchered.
>>
>> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/.../reng-khai.jpg
>>
> Reminds me somehow of Balut, so I am not sure if I'd try it... I give my
> hens names <lol> so I always give them away when it's time for the
> pot... I know, silly of me...

Balut, which I've tried, is a whole other experience! The "reng khai" are
basically eggs yolks from eggs that haven't been laid yet.

--
Clay Irving >
EGOTIST, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.
- Ambrose Bierce

On 2007-12-29, ChattyCathy > wrote:

> Yes, pullet eggs are supposed to be the "tastiest", but as I read
> somewhere, people are often led to believe that "bigger is better"...

Texas?

--
Clay Irving >
Hope is the lease of submission.
- Raoul Vaneigem

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:32:08 +0000 (UTC), Clay Irving >
wrote:

>Balut, which I've tried, is a whole other experience! The "reng khai" are
>basically eggs yolks from eggs that haven't been laid yet.
>
I have no idea what reng khai is, but real balut has pin feathers.

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See return address to reply by email
remove the smiley face first

On Dec 28 2007, 1:38*pm, ChattyCathy > wrote:
> Our young batch of hens (finally) started laying, they are about 21
> weeks old now, so I have plenty of 'pullet' eggs at the moment *- in
> fact all my egg trays in the fridges are full <veg>, and I am now using
> up old egg cartons that I have been hoarding for this purpose. Five of
> them are laying every day now, which should go up to about a dozen a day
> in the very near future - there's 14 of them). I will, of course, be
> giving some away to family and friends, but that's still going to leave
> quite a surplus until I can find somewhere to sell them off...
>
> So... *I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
> anyone?
>
> BTW, to give you an idea of 'how small' they are at the moment you can
> take a look he
>
> http://www.recfoodcooking.com/images/2202.jpg
> --
> Cheers
> Chatty Cathy
>
> Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

Notice how healthy these young pullets are as they start to lay
eggs. Their combs are bright red, their eyes and feathers are shiny,
their legs are bright yellow and they are very energetic. Soon you
will get the first double yolk eggs. They are called "Spring Chickens"
and there is the English expression "She ain't no spring chicken
anymore". You could sell the eggs unless you live in Ontario, Canada
where selling fresh, free range eggs is a criminal offense. Old
European ladies with blue rinse in their hair make good customers as
they use fresh eggs in baking various ethnic cakes etc. Try feeding
your biddies some boiled cracked corn everyday. You will get a superb
egg with a bright yellow yolk that does not slump when cracked into a
pan. That egg in the picture must have caused some poor bird a lot of
vent strain. Better get out the needle and thread!!!! You should give
your hens some individual names. I name some of my birds after female
relatives and female rock stars. I have a Madonna, JLow and a
Britteny.

Farmer John

wrote:

>
> Notice how healthy these young pullets are as they start to lay
> eggs. Their combs are bright red, their eyes and feathers are shiny,
> their legs are bright yellow and they are very energetic.

Yes, I have noticed all of the above...

> Soon you
> will get the first double yolk eggs. They are called "Spring Chickens"
> and there is the English expression "She ain't no spring chicken
> anymore".

Well, 8 of them have started laying now, no double-yokes yet, but I'll
soon see.

> You could sell the eggs unless you live in Ontario, Canada
> where selling fresh, free range eggs is a criminal offense. Old
> European ladies with blue rinse in their hair make good customers as
> they use fresh eggs in baking various ethnic cakes etc.

Nope, I don't live in Canada...

> Try feeding
> your biddies some boiled cracked corn everyday.

I do that already - they love it.

> You will get a superb
> egg with a bright yellow yolk that does not slump when cracked into a
> pan.

Yep. I do

>That egg in the picture must have caused some poor bird a lot of
> vent strain. Better get out the needle and thread!!!!

Well, that egg was laid by "Flappy" - and she's one huge hen
(BTW, the "rule" in the picture is in centimeters, not inches)

> You should give
> your hens some individual names. I name some of my birds after female
> relatives and female rock stars. I have a Madonna, JLow and a
> Britteny.

So far I have come up with Flappy (as mentioned above) Daisy, Brownie,
Spotty, Polly (she thinks she's a parrot - she flies/jumps onto your
shoulder if you give her half a chance)... Petunia, Petal and Lily are
still learning to respond to their names, and I'm still working on the
names for the others... But "Hey Chicky, Chicky" seems to work too...
--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Garlic: the element without which life as we know it would be impossible

ChattyCathy > held forth in newsnbdj.69$Cb2.48
@fe105.usenetserver.com:

> Our young batch of hens (finally) started laying, they are about 21
> weeks old now, so I have plenty of 'pullet' eggs at the moment - in
> fact all my egg trays in the fridges are full <veg>, and I am now using
> up old egg cartons that I have been hoarding for this purpose. Five of
> them are laying every day now, which should go up to about a dozen a day
> in the very near future - there's 14 of them). I will, of course, be
> giving some away to family and friends, but that's still going to leave
> quite a surplus until I can find somewhere to sell them off...
>
> So... I want some ideas on how to use them up.... recipes/suggestions
> anyone?
>
> BTW, to give you an idea of 'how small' they are at the moment you can
> take a look he
>
> http://www.recfoodcooking.com/images/2202.jpg

Cathy,

You might try pickling them. I make pickled eggs when they start
piling up in the fridge. Hard boil them, shell them, Make a pickling brine
to whatever suits you. I make a very simple brine. Salt, cider vinegar,
water. I usually add onions, sometimes celary, cauliflower, be creative. I
brought a jar to christmas dinner. I got a lot of eww's. They were the
first thing gone.
Now this is what would be considered a refridgerator pickle, I do not
process them.

Don't expect a rooster to defend your flock, especially at night.
100% Poultry netting containment at night is the only sure way. You can
walk into your chicken coop at night and take birds right off the roosts
becasue they are pretty much blind at night.
I have a white silky hen in the house right now as she hatched out
four chicks the week before christmas. What was she thinking?!

good luck, Harry