Monday, January 31, 2005

Eggs



These are some of the eggs from our chickens. You can probably tell that I'm fascinated by the whole different-color-egg thing.

From front to back, these were laid by:

White Leghorn
Lakenvelder
Dominique
Dominique
Buff Orpington
Easter Egger (Ameraucana)

Egg color varies not only by breed but by individual.

Most of the Dominique and Buff Orpington eggs are indistinguishable, but a couple of individuals lay darker or lighter brown eggs, and one lays the pinkish eggs like the one 3rd from the top.

One of the Lakenvelders lays tinted (cream) eggs like the one shown here, and the other one lays pure white eggs.

We only have one Easter Egger pullet left but the other one we had laid green eggs of this same color. They are not true Araucanas or even true Ameraucanas/Americanas, they're just hatchery Easter Egger mutts.

I read online that most hatchery birds lay green eggs instead of blue, but true Ameraucanas lay only blue eggs... not sure if that's true or not.


11 comments:

Ed said...

Wonderful lighting and color...that's a great image. I think the best thing is that it's like "found poetry," right there all along waiting to be discovered. The statue is in the marble, you know...

Rurality said...

Thanks Ed. I probably need to get something better to use as a backdrop than a black t-shirt. After a few washings it really isn't black enough anymore you know. :)

I really love surprising people with all the different colored eggs when I give them a carton for the first time.

Ed said...

Did you use a macro? A 60mm is actually my primary lens...they're more versatile than I thought possible. You can do landscapes and that little specialty they're known for, all with one lens. I'm lazy. I like that. No, wait...the light changes so fast. Yeah, that's it.

Rurality said...

The camera I'm using is a Sony Mavica MVC CD1000 digital... can't change lenses unfortunately but it does have a macro setting (which I used here).

There are a lot of things that drive me crazy about this camera but the macro part works pretty well. I'd love to have one of those $8000 Canon digitals, but that will have to wait til we win the lottery I guess.

Rurality said...

No, they all look the same on the inside and they all taste the same too. But fresh eggs are different than most store-bought eggs.

The yolks are a darker, richer yellow or orange color. That's primarily due to the chickens being free-ranged... they eat bugs and wild seeds and grass and such.

These eggs have a lot more flavor too. Most people think they taste better. They can be very difficult to hard-boil though. The shell doesn't want to peel off well. That's a characteristic of really fresh eggs.

Rurality said...

Well right now we're getting way more eggs than we can eat. So of course I had to order a few more chickens. I'm getting Cuckoo Marans (for dark dark eggs) and some more Easter Eggers. Hoping that we'll get some blue layers.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful egg photo! You are definitely not alone in being excited and intruged by all the various egg colors and sizes. I love how our hen's eggs look with all their varying shades of brown/green/turquoise.

I sell our extras to my coworkers at the library, and they are always shocked at the intense golden orange hue of the yolks and the flavor.

I'm not sure about the whole Easter Egger thing. I have 7 hatchery "Ameracaunas" and they lay eggs that range from intense dark olive to a pale bluish turquoise....but no true blue.

-Sarah http://www.slaphog.com/sarahblog/

Rurality said...

Thanks Sarah! At this point I'd be over the moon for pale blue or turquoise. Maybe by next summer... we've ordered more chickens for March delivery.

Anonymous said...

Darnnnnnnn, I thought bunnies laid eggs! CJ

Rurality said...

Only the chocolate ones CJ!

Anonymous said...

This picky professional photographer says "Bravo!"

Way to improvise on the background, too, R.