Thursday, January 20, 2011

A Tale of Blue Eggs


Funny story. My farm girl daughter, Kathi, keeps me apprised on how her chicken brood is doing; I’m perhaps more informed about the chicks that I am about my grandkids. Recently she sent an email showing the huge egg that one of the feathered girls had lain. In comparison to the standard 2-inch eggs this whopping 3-inch beauty was a monster.

photo above and below...The largest egg yet, a whopping 3 inches. Turns out it was also a double yoker.



Some of you may recall that a few months ago I mentioned Kathi had purchased a baker’s dozen (13) of baby chicks  . Of those 13 chicks they thought 3 were roosters. A few months later she purchased a few more baby chicks to bring the number of her flock up to either 16 or 17 (and that’s another story for another time).


As it turns out my animal loving daughter went to the local farm supply store to purchase supplies for the horses. Our grandson, who is at ease talking with people, started a conversation with the lady running the store. He told her about their horses, the dogs, the cats, and the hamsters. Patiently the lady listened and occasionally asked a question or made a comment.  Never being at a loss for words, our verbose grandson then proceeds to tell her that they have a flock of chickens.  Well it so happened that the farm store had a couple of rescue animals in their midst, one of which was a rooster.  Casually she inquired if they would like a nice little rooster for their flock of hens.  Her query was met with a smile as he replied; "No we've got 3 roosters".  Then our grandson went on about their chickens and, eager to impress, told her about the huge egg and how the other eggs were so colorful, from a soft light red-brown to green and a pretty blue.

At this the lady’s attention perked up. “Blue eggs?” She questioned. Grandson nodded. She questioned him some more asking the color and description of the different chickens. He proudly describes them. When she asked; “How do you know that you have 3 roosters?” He confidently started describing the color of the males and how they had this muff or beard of feathers that stuck out from under their beaks.



Hearing this the lady smiled and replied; “Honey, those aren’t roosters. They’re Ameraucana chickens and Ameraucana’s lay pretty blue eggs.”


I have a feeling that the 3 Ameraucana hens were probably relieved that the truth of their femininity was out at last . Wonder if the kids are going to rename them now but then I suppose Sam isn’t such a bad name for a gal.

Postscript…Kathi left the Farm Supply store with 2 rescued animals: a Lop Eared bunny and a real, true rooster. Just what she needed, more animals for her mini farm.

15 comments:

  1. Glad they found out they didn't have any roosters and acquired 1. But, I don't envy them hearing the rooster crows in the morning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a cute and touching story! My grandmother raised Araucana chickens (with others) when I was a child for the Easter egg colorings of blue, green, and pink. They were tasty eggs. Sweet of your daughter to rescue the Lop as well as the rooster. :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. heehee, I love that she keeps adding onto the zoo! What a way to find out they were girls all along! So did the owner say why the color of the egg's shells are so different with the different types of chickens?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cathyrn - It was interesting to hear that your grandmother's flock of chickens also included Araucanas. From what I gathered on the internet the Ameraucana and the Araucana are similar in that they both lay pretty blue eggs. However the Araucana that is recognized by American Poultry Association's "Standard of Perfection" as not having a rump (the last vertebrae in the chicken spine) or a tail.
    The Ameraucanas have rumps and tails along with a muff and beard. The APA considers the perfect Araucana to be one that sports very notable ear tufts without the muff or beard.

    Yea! I learned something new today. But I still find it humorous that there are so many governing bodies that decide what is acceptable or unacceptable in the different breeds of animals (such as birds, cats, dogs,horses, cattle and other livestock ).
    Thank God we haven't a body that governs what human characteristics are acceptable or unacceptable. Oh wait we do have that and they're called beauty pageants !


    Jenn - Good question. Not sure if the lady at the farm supplies shop knew the answer to that. It maybe the same reason that some chickens lay white eggs and others lay brown eggs...either that or the Ameraucana is a cross between a chicken and a robin. :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. The eggs are lovely! Having a farm, mini or not, is certainly a learning experience! Thanks for visiting Buttermilk Cottage today.
    Please come again.
    Best,
    Susan

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow Anna, you are now my resident chicken expert :) I had no idea. I'm still jealous they have horses. I raised a chicken I named Binky in the 10th grade as part of a biology experiment to see how animals imprinted on who they thought was their mother. Binky thought I was his. Eventually he ended up on a farm because the neighborhood we lived in didn't allow people to raise animals they considered livestock. I still want one of those pretty eggs!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very cool! I love the colored eggs...they're so pretty. I'd love to have chickens just to have the fresh eggs all the time...though the rooster crowing...that I'm not so sure about. We were in Kauai a few years back and there are roosters everywhere...literally everywhere and they crow SO loud!

    ReplyDelete
  8. As a city bred person, I learned something today! Cute story. At least your grandson quite knowledgeable on farm animals unlike my former colleague's city born nephew who thought cows had penises!

    ReplyDelete
  9. How interesting. I now know more about poultry than many of my friends! She's a beauty, and your grandson must just be a dear!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Same exact thing happened to my mother! This woman wanted to get rid of her "rooster" and my bleeding-heart mother took it in. Turns out it's an "easter" hen and lays pretty blue eggs. :3 This is a great story! Very cute and funny. ^__^

    ReplyDelete
  11. WOW Anna, I am loving this story. What a little sweetheart your grandson sounds :)

    Kathi's farm seems to be growing at a fast rate. But what beautiful hens and the colours of their eggs are so cute :)

    Hope you get to enjoy them at some point.

    Have a lovely weekend, T. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. How cute! So I guess it was all ladies after all!
    And might I add, that is one huuuge egg, and so pretty in colour too.. they won't have to colour them for easter. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. touching story!


    http://design-elements-blog.com/

    ReplyDelete

Nothing makes me happier than to hear from those who have dropped by my blog for a visit. I love hearing from you.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...