Spring is Almost Here!

Some of us watch for those first tulips or crocuses to pop out of the ground. Some wait until we set the clocks ahead an hour and get more daylight and some wait until the first day that you can walk outside and smell spring in the air.

This is not how I know spring is coming. I guess you may have figured it out but I know spring is on my back doorstep when I start getting a lot of eggs!! Yes, Eggs!

I went out this afternoon to feed all my girls and I was soooo happy to find 10 eggs! This is a awesome number for this time of year and for having 13 chickens, 10 is a wonderful number to have in 1 day.
Now how do I tie eggs into spring you may ask? Well, chickens stop or slow down their reproductive cycle when they loose daylight. So in the winter some hens will stop laying all together and some will lay every once in a while. Once the daylight hours start getting longer the chickens reproductive cycle kicks back in again and they start laying again. So now you understand why I am so excited about getting 10 eggs. I was only getting 2 or 3 all winter and then the other day I had 5 and now 10!! Yea!!!

My girls are wonderful. Believe it or not every one of them has a different personality. I know, who would think that stupid chickens would have personalities. They really do. Some not so nice and others just totally lovable. The 3 in this picture are Ginger on the left, Sesame in the middle and Sage on the right. Ginger and Sesame are so friendly and Sesame will actually talk to you! I will talk to her and she has her own way of answering back. I always know when she is near me. Mostly all of them will let you pet them. Miss Paprika, aka Paps, will let you pick her up carry her around and she will even help me garden! They are also a lot smarter then you think they are ;)
Here is a real treat for me to show you. Ok, maybe not a treat but let me explain. You are looking at an egg. Yes, a shell-less egg. Every time I have found a shell-less egg it has always been destroyed and I end up having to clean all that yolk out of the nests. This egg was perfect. It was fully formed but just no shell. This picture shows how the membrane is fully intact and why it has a "tail" I have no idea. But this was so awesome to find!

A missing shell is when a hen's shell forming mechanism malfunctions or for some reason and one of her eggs is rushed through and laid prematurely. A shell of an egg forms just before an egg is layed so if it passes through to quickly then the shell never has the chance to form. This is something that is common this time of the year because the chickens cycle is getting back into motion and it can sometimes move the egg faster then it should.

Just another piece of information, it takes 25 hours for a chicken to produce an egg. I have read that it takes a bit more but that is an average time.

Well that is my egg laying lesson for today...LOL. I hope you all enjoyed it :] Maybe I will have to fill you in a little more on where your eggs come from in the future. It is really fascinating to know where and how you get some of the items you use all the time and are always in your fridge.

This is a very happy time in our household knowing that the girls are starting to lay again and that spring is just around the corner! Thank you girls!

Never to Early!

So I am a little hopeful as of today about spring being here soon. It is now January 20 and we just watched Mr. Obama the 44th President of the United States be sworn into office and what a better day to start thinking the best of things. One of those things on my list is Spring.

Last year I watched the crocuses come up at the end of February into the start of March. I do realize that is very wishful thinking this year but now is the time to start thinking about your spring gardens!

I have started receiving mail order catalogs for seeds and seedlings! This is very exciting for me since I am a warm weather person. I may have been born and raised in the Northeast but I'm still not used to it! I am now trying to figure out what to plant in my vegetable garden and where I should put everything. You need to rotate certain plants, like tomatoes, so they don't develop root disease and such.

Last year my husband made me 3 wonderful raised beds to put my veggies in and last year was the first year I had a wonderful crop to harvest (the chickens helped too). The only problem was I had too many things shoved into these boxes and smothered some plants...Ooops! I have learned my lesson this year.

So anyway, I am starting to make a list of what I want to grow and what I need to get. Some places, like Gurneys or Henry Fields, have such a wonderful collection of plants but you need to make sure you put your order in early so you will be guaranteed your plants. I usually don't order from catalogs since I am a strong believer in supporting our local farmers. If I do order anything it is usually just seed packets. I have a wonderful but small nursery not to far from me and I also go down to a local farm market and get plants there. I got the best celery plants at my local farm market this past year. You better believe I will be going back there!

I know the snow has a while to go before it is done but I think it is never to late to start thinking about spring and new growth. Today, being such a historical day and waiting for change and hope for our country, made me start thinking about all sorts of stuff that made me smile...Spring being one of them.