Of Chickens & Eggs & Cheese & Roosters

Just a few little bits of misinformation I read elsewhere today that I thought I’d clear up. Both made me smile, but please know, I am in no way making fun of anyone by posting these. (HaHa! You thought this was gonna be a recipe post, didn’tcha?)

So many people have so many wrong ideas when it comes to chickens, and those who have never raised them before don’t always know if what they have heard or read is true or false. Here are three falsehoods I came across today. Now, I know most of ya that are readin’ this already know that these are falsehoods, but just in case a new and, as yet, uninformed chicken owner ventures by the coop to visit, I thought I’d set the record straight for ’em. So, to that end, here we go:

1. You can’t eat the eggs if your hen(s) is/are being kept with a rooster. FALSE

Hens kept with roosters will lay fertile eggs, but it is perfectly okay to eat those eggs. They won’t begin to develop into babies unless the hen has started setting on them round the clock. They won’t stay very fresh if left in the nest for several days, so it is best to gather them every day, and refrigerate any you don’t plan to use within a few days time. And, just so ya know, if left in a hot hen house in the heat of summer, they WILL get rotten…(Not that I’ve ever had that happen. lol)

2. Your hens won’t lay if you don’t have a rooster. FALSE

I guess no one ever told my Granny’s layer flock about that rule! All 50 of ’em laid almost every day. lol
Your hens will lay without a rooster, but the eggs will not be fertile. They will only be good for eating. If you want eggs that will develop into baby chicks & hatch, either under a hen or in an incubator, you’ll have to have a rooster.

3. Cheese will make chickens sick because chickens do not produce milk. FALSE

Okay, Henny Penny, just get away from my grilled cheese sandwich. While it’s true that cheese should not be part of a chicken’s daily maintenance feed, there’s no harm in them having cheese as a treat once in a while. Like all treats, tho’, it should be given in moderate amounts. And cheese IS kinda expensive to be feeding to chickens anyway. That being said, most chickens love it, and it is a good source of an extra bit of protein & calcium. So if you do have a chunk of cheddar that has kinda dried out & gotten hard, or your favorite hen is trying to steal a bite of your grilled cheese sandwich, it’s okay to let her have it, if you want to. Personally, I don’t share my grilled cheese with anyone, not even the Farmer. 🙂

Those are the just a few of the bits of misinformation that can cause confusion for newbie chicken owners, & bring a smile & chuckle to those that have become old-hands at it…and let’s face it, we were all newbies once, & didn’t know any better, either.

Be Blessed Y’all! Until next time….

COUNTRY BREAKFAST BOWL

Serves 4 (Unless you’re a teenager or a very hungry adult, then it only serves 2…LOL)

Ingredients:
1) 1 small (5 count) can jumbo buttermilk biscuits, baked as directed on can, then split and buttered. (Or you can whip up a batch from scratch, but mine aren’t very good, so I let the Dough Boy do the hard part)
2) 6-8 eggs, scrambled & cooked to your liking
3) 1 recipe Bacon Cream Gravy (see below)

Directions:
Break warm biscuits into bite sized pieces, divide evenly between four soup/cereal bowls. Next, divide the eggs evenly between the bowls on top of the biscuit pieces. Top with Bacon Cream Gravy, and enjoy!

Bacon Cream Gravy
Ingredients:
8 slices bacon, fried crisp & crumbled into “bits” (of course you can use more if you really LOVE bacon)
4 tablespoons bacon drippings
4 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 – 2 cups milk (less for thicker, more for thinner)
2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
salt and pepper, heavy on the pepper
A shake (or two!) of garlic powder ( YES, GARLIC! It really makes the gravy taste a lot better.)

To make gravy:
Put drippings in a skillet over med-high heat. When hot, whisk in the flour until well blended; cook & stir constantly for 3-4 minutes, until bubbly & light golden brown. Add milk & spices, whisking constantly; cook & whisk until the gravy comes to a rolling boil and thickens; add bacon pieces, whisk in the cream if using, remove from heat & serve.

ANOTHER GREAT EGG RECIPE: SIMPLE STRATA

The strata – a member of the custard family – is the ideal make-ahead breakfast or brunch dish. Assemble it the night before to allow the bread layers time to soak up the savory custard. Bake it in the morning while the coffee brews and the table is being set.
Like its cousins the quiche and bread pudding, the strata has endless variations. It can be made with almost any firm bread, enhanced with vegetables, meat and cheese, and flavored any way you like.
As with French toast and bread pudding, the strata is a good use for bread that has become a bit dry.Here’s a good basic recipe to get you started…variations are only limited by your imagination, & what your family likes.

Simple Strata
What You Need
4 slices dense white OR whole grain bread
4 EGGS
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. dried thyme OR oregano leaves
6 slices Canadian-style bacon, chopped
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz.)
Here’s How
PLACE bread in single layer in greased 8-inch square baking dish.
BEAT eggs, milk and thyme in medium bowl until blended; pour over bread. SPRINKLE with bacon. REFRIGERATE, covered, at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight.
HEAT oven to 350°F. REMOVE strata from refrigerator; uncover and let stand while oven heats. BAKE in center of 350°F oven 30 minutes. SPRINKLE with cheese. BAKE until puffed, golden and firm in center, about 5 minutes longer.

Substitute: 6 strips regular bacon or turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled, can be substituted for the Canadian-style bacon. Can also substitute about 4 ounces cooked crumbled sausage or 4 ounces diced ham.
Or omit dried herbs, bacon & cheese, and add 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle 1/2 cup raisins over top. Continue as directed and serve with butter & syrup or honey. (Actually I use regular bacon, cooked & crumbled, and sprinkle it AND the raisins over the top!)

Pickled Eggs

Too Many EGGS?? Pickle ‘em…that’s what this farm-wife does from time to time…they make great hi-protein, low-fat snacks (bantam eggs are perfect little “2-bite” nibbles) Pickled eggs can be used to make egg salad, they can be added to potato salad, macaroni salad, pea salad, just about any recipe where you’d use a plain boiled egg, you can use a pickled egg instead…except maybe in giblet gravy or to make creamed eggs on toast…

Now, I like to take short-cuts, and I also hate to let anything go to waste, so I “cheat” and just use leftover pickle juice…my favorite is bread ‘n’ butter, the Farmer prefers dill, li’l brother likes the juice from pickled jalapenos…Of course, if you don’t have leftover pickle juice, here’s a basic recipe:

BASIC PICKLED EGGS FROM SCRATCH
INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 cup white vinegar
3 teaspoons table or pickling salt
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1 Vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced
12 medium size hard-cooked eggs, peeled

DIRECTIONS:
Boil water, vinegar, salt and peppercorns together for a minute; then pour over hard-boiled eggs in quart jar. Add sliced onions on top. (I usually put the onions into the vinegar mix and let the “cook” while I’m bringing it to a boil and boiling it. Then I just pour it all in on top of the eggs.)
Cover with canning lid and band. Ready to eat in 12 hours. Refrigerate.

This BASIC RECIPE can be tweaked to suit your taste: add a dash of red pepper flakes; add a couple peeled garlic cloves; or a Tablespoon of pickling spice…some folks like to use cider vinegar or half cider/half white. Possibilities are limited only by your culinary creativity…My Granny did assorted colors of pickled eggs one year for Easter. She used the basic pickle solution and added food coloring to it.

Speaking of colored eggs, some folks like to use the liquid from cooked beets in place of the water to make pink pickled eggs…and the the bread ‘n’ butter juice will give you lovely chartreuse colored eggs…lol…For my “Bread ‘n’ Butter Pickled Eggs” I like to leave them set about 2 days before using and they make THE BEST deviled eggs with a nice tart-sweet tang…

Hatch-a-holics

I think the Farmer & I have become hatch-a-holics. We’ve hatched two batches of barnyard (mixed breed) chicks from eggs produced by our hens, 21 the first time & 12 the second time. And now, we are closing in on the hatch dates for the duck eggs & goose eggs that have been incubating in one corner of our cottage’s kitchen. Being too big to fit in the auto turner, the Farmer has had to turn them several times a day, which he has done faithfully. (I suspect he’s turned ’em at night a few times, too.) But, today (Monday) is the last day to turn the duck eggs! They should start hatching on Wednesday…7 of them, 2 from our Fawn/White Runner Duck & 5 from the the Rouen Duck. Since the two lovely ladies lay eggs that are markedly different in appearance, we will definitely know which ducklings came from which duck, it’s the sires that will be questionable (monogamy is not practiced in our barnyard). Drakes are Runner, Rouen & Pekin…curious to see what the babies will look like. Goose eggs will still need to be turned for a couple more days, since they take a few days longer to hatch. Figure they should start hatching on Friday. 🙂
Then the incubator will given a rest…maybe….I’m thinkin’ about ordering some hatching eggs…any of y’all have some Black Copper Marans??? LOL

Blessings Y’all!
We’ll catch ya later!
The Farmer’s Wife