Hard Boiled

I've got a quick little tid-bit for you this week. I was clicking around on Pinterest and came across a tip about hard boiling eggs. Any of you who have chickens know that it's a real pain in the butt to peel fresh hard boiled eggs. The fresher they are the more of a pain and mess you have on your hands. I feel like I'm in one of those bad infommercials where the person can't peel a potato without hurting herself or who makes a mess of straining pasta like she's never heard of a collander. Well, put your hate for peeling fresh hard boiled eggs behind you. I have the tip to answer your prayers and it won't cost you three easy payments of $19.99.

In every egg, there's a thin membrane in between the shell and the egg white. When you buy eggs in the store you never really encounter this membrane because your eggs are likely a few weeks old (at least). The older the egg, the thinner this membrane becomes. When you crack a fresh egg from your backyard chickens, you may notice it's a bit harder to get the shell to break. It's this inner membrane. It's thick. When you hard boil a fresh egg, this membrane seems to fuse the shell to the egg white. Peeling the shell tears up the egg white. As you can imagine, forget about pretty fresh deviled eggs. Mine usually end up looking like they went through a weed wacker. It's a painful task. I usually end up swearing at least once during the process. Okay. More than once.

So what is the miraculous tip that is going to change your life you ask? Baking Soda. Put about a teaspoon (or a little more) of baking soda in the water you are using to hard boil the eggs. Now hard boil your eggs like you normally would. Watch it though because when I tried it, my water seemed to boil up fast. I had to turn down the heat quickly. When you get ready to peel your eggs, rotate the egg all around while you gently tap the shell on the counter or the side of your sink or wherever you peel your eggs so that it becomes cracked all over.

Now peel. Voila! It will be remarkably easier than without the baking soda. I'm not a science genius, so I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it does. It somehow loosens that membrane from the shell.

*I only hard boiled four eggs just to see what would happen, so if you're doing a large batch, you may want to increase the baking soda a little. I've not tried it yet, so I'm not sure if the teaspoon would be enough.

I've peeled three eggs over the last few days that I hard boiled with the added baking soda and they've all been pretty easy. They weren't perfect, but much easier than usual.

Remember, if you're using store bought eggs, you are unlikely to have this peeling problem and my exciting tip won't be so exciting for you. You may want to store the little tid-bit away somewhere in your brain for when it might come in handy some day. With Easter coming up, I'm pretty happy about this new found information. Hard boiled Easter eggs here I come!

My Secret Quiche Recipe

I've been racking my brain for the perfect egg recipe to share. I mean, if you're reading this blog because you have chickens, you have eggs. And if you have eggs, you're always in need of good egg recipes. I know I am. I'm so obsessed with yummy egg dishes that I started a Pinterest board called Eggs! You're welcome to check it out at https://pinterest.com/lovinchikn/eggs. 

My favorite on the board so far is a Bread Omelet. It looks delicious. And, it seems genius. I haven't tried it yet, but it's slated for breakfast quite soon. Basically, you cook the omelet on top of bread that you toast in a skillet. It sounds like a winner to me.

By far the best egg dish I make is quiche. It's a secret recipe that I never share with anyone mostly because its deliciousness comes from all the heavy cream and I don't want to spoil anyone's thoughts that my quiche is healthy (eggs and veggies equal super healthy right?). It's delicious, so it's the egg dish I figured I have to share as my first recipe.

I first made a quiche around six months after our hens started to lay. I searched for recipes that call for a lot of eggs and quiche is one of those recipes. This particular recipe is a mash up of Betty Crocker's Quiche Lorraine (except I've never actually made a Quiche Lorraine) and a recipe I found on Pillsbury's website. I didn't exactly like either recipe, so I took a little inspiration from each combined with my own preferences and came up with this yummy quiche.


Your choice of pie crust (You can purchase pre-made pie crust or make it from scratch. I've done both. Homemade tastes better, but if you're in a time crunch or just aren't good at making your own, by all means buy it!) For homemade crust makers, this is considered a One-Crust Pie.
5 eggs
1 cup heavy cream or half and half
1 cup shredded cheese (I prefer medium cheddar or a Mexican style mix)
dash of salt
dash of pepper
dash of ground red cayenne pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup spinach, washed and roughly chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms (If you aren't a mushroom fan, it is just as delicious without them)

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Make one-crust pie crust (or unwrap prepared crust and follow directions for a one-crust pie). If making your own crust, fold dough into fourths so you have a small triangle. Place in 9 inch quiche or pie dish. Unfold carefully. Press dough firmly against bottom and side of dish.

Spread cheese in dough-lined dish. Now spread spinach over cheese. Set aside.

Beat eggs with fork or wisk in a large bowl. Beat in heavy cream. Beat in remaining ingredients. Gently pour egg mixture into pie dish. The spinach will rise up throughout the egg mixture. Don't worry. I find it comes out prettier and works nicer to lay the spinach in the dish rather than mix it in with the eggs. Bake 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Cover crust edge with strips of foil (to prevent burning). Bake approximately 30 more minutes or until egg mixture doesn't jiggle and springs back when pressed slightly. Let stand 5-10 minutes before cutting or serving.

I often remove the foil strips in the crust edges a few minutes before I take it out of the oven, depending on how golden brown it is or isn't. For more brown, remove the foil.

You can replace the vegetable ingredients and type of cheese as you like. Just follow the same basic ingredients and you'll have a delicious quiche every time.

I guess I can't call it my secret quiche recipe anymore. Unless you keep it a secret too. Trust me. You'll want to. Everyone will say it's the most delicious thing they've ever eaten and you can claim it as your own secret. Enjoy.

Winter Eggs

We're usually in a horribly tight spot when it comes to eggs throughout the winter. Last year I went into a tirade about how I refused to buy eggs from the grocery store when I had perfectly good laying machines in my backyard. I may have even gone as far as to threaten our hens with the oven if they didn't get to it. Don't get me wrong; I understand that egg production drops in the winter. Does that mean I like it. No. Does that mean I enjoy getting two eggs a week? No. But, I also understand that it's important for chickens to have a break. I'd want a break too if I popped an egg out of my butt once a day.

This winter has been different. We had an early drop in eggs around November. The girls all seemed to molt early, so they stopped laying early. We were barely getting any eggs for easily two months. December egg laying was abysmal. Then January hit and the girls starting laying like it was April or May.

We're getting four eggs from our five hens about every other day. The other days we'll either get one or two. It seems Ocho is the only one who realizes it's still winter. I don't think she's laying yet. If she is, it's so infrequent that I can't tell she is. We've got a dozen eggs in the fridge right now. At one point last week I think we were nearly at two dozen. That's an egg miracle in January.

Now that we're launching into February and Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow, we might even get up to five eggs a day! With our extra girl this year we're going to have even more eggs that we don't know what to do with. Belle, our newest edition, has been an excellent layer so far. She's our first girl to ever start laying in January; the others all waited until spring.

As for last winter, after my tirade I kept my promise not to buy eggs. I haven't purchased a single egg since our hens started laying. Now, did I make a quiche or a frittata last winter? You bet I didn't. But I didn't have to buy any eggs either! You have to bend to your supply.

So cheers to an early spring and delicious eggs. Now why have I only gotten this one egg today? They're just trying to prove me wrong. Freaking chickens.

Crazier Chicken Lady

One of my most popular posts is about being a Crazy Chicken Lady. Apparently, when you write about being crazy, people want to read about it. I get it. It makes you feel better about yourself. You can say, "Well, at least I'm not that crazy. You're right. You probably aren't.

Because I'm a Crazy Chicken Lady, the crazy keeps on coming. It's gotten worse since the original 2011 "Crazy Chicken Lady" post. I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise. So here's a crazy update.

- This past Christmas I got the most amazing chicken cookie jar. She's all set up in my kitchen. Amazing present! Thanks, Mom and Dad.

- I also got a rustic "Farm Fresh Eggs" wooden sign with a nice big white rooster on it. Another great Christmas present for a crazy chicken lady thanks to my sister.
- Then there's the beautiful rooster painting that my husband's late Aunt painted. It was a birthday gift from my husband's parents.
- I have a big chicken candle on the entertainment center in my living room.
- On a trip to Goodwill, I found a nice chicken plate. You know I bought it. It was like $1.50.
- There's a rooster stake in one of my plants.
- I have three chicken magnets on my fridge. One was a birthday present this past year. It says, "I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned." Oh, that makes me smile. My best friend knows me well.
- Said friend also gifted me with a rooster pen and set of notecards for my birthday. Gorgeous!
- There's the spoon rest. It has a rooster on it.
- I almost forgot about the rooster olive oil bottle and little bread plates.

I'm sure there are more chicken items that I've bought or received since that first post. And I never went through and listed every single chicken statue in my house, but I'll spare you.

I have notice that a fair amount of chicken items are actually roosters. What's up with that? I think it's because most laypeople don't know the difference.

It seems like the crazy chicken lady thing is kind of out of the bag now. But it keeps me in chicken related items. Now maybe I need a chicken apron and maybe even some sort of chicken related jewelry.

Chocolate Eggs

Our coop is starting the new year off right. Belle's comb had been increasingly reddened lately and I'd started stalking her in anticipation of her first egg. (If you haven't tuned in lately, Belle is the Marans hen that we hatched this summer). Yesterday she laid her first chocolate egg!

We started off yesterday's especially cold morning with Belle squawking the morning announcement. Our girls generally get loud for only two reasons: they've either laid an egg or they've been spooked and they're sounding an alarm. I was crossing my fingers for reason number one, so I rushed to the coop to look for an egg. No luck. I'm sure you're confused now because I just got done saying she laid her first egg. Stay with me here.

Later in the afternoon, my husband had to kick Belle out of the coop a number of times while he was cleaning. As soon as he was done, she jumped right in there and got to sitting. I'm not sure how long she was in the nest box, but it felt like forever. You can believe that as soon as she came out of the coop, I ran right to the egg door and found a tiny chocolate-colored starter egg.

For any newbies out there, a starter egg is what people call the first egg a chicken ever lays. It's usually pretty tiny; it's Mother Nature's way of easing hens into laying. Over the next few weeks or month as she lays more frequently, her eggs will start increasing in size until they even off to be the size she'll continue to lay for the rest of her egg laying years. As with any newly laying hen, she'll also lay pretty infrequently over the next few weeks; though I suspect she may lay infrequently for the next month or two until we emerge from winter.

Belle's egg is on the left. On the right is an egg from Pouncey, one of our other girls.

She's the only hen we've raised so far who's started laying in the middle of January. Our other hens held off until spring. Maybe she'll be a super layer. I've seen Marans described as medium layers, but I've also seen some of the other breeds we have listed as medium layers and they lay tons of eggs. Egg laying seems pretty relative to your situation and particular birds in my experience, so I'm hoping Belle will be like our other girls and lay eggs like crazy. We feed them enough deliciousness to keep them happy that they ought to lay plenty of eggs.

Her one tiny egg is pretty promising, but when you're in the days of only a few eggs a week, a new layer is monumental. Add in the awesome new egg color, and we're suddenly in egg heaven. My husband couldn't help himself and fried up that tiny egg this morning. Apparently it was delicious on toast. Too bad it wasn't wrapped in actual chocolate like those Cadbury eggs. I could go for one of those every now and again. I'd probably get sick of them after getting four or five a week for six months, so never mind on the chocolate. I'll stick with the chocolate-colored ones.

The Chicken Year in Review

Our girls are enjoying a quiet New Year's Eve huddled together on the roost. I closed them up just a little while ago and could hear their little coos as they nestled in for the evening. 

My husband and Beast, before he left for his new home

Our year in chickens has gone pretty well. We got our Marans eggs and hatched two beautiful healthy babies, one rooster and one hen. We've bid farewell to the Roo, Beast. He went off to live in a coop full of Marans and Ameraucanas. He's going to be a handsome boy. The hen, Belle, is figuring out her place in our flock. She's a bit of a loner, but she makes out just fine doing her own thing. She has beautiful feathering and she's turning into a fat biddy like her "mama." Her comb is starting to redden up, so we're on the lookout for a chocolate-colored egg. I'm so excited that I can't stop eyeballing her. She thinks I'm a crazy stalker. I kind of am. 

The pretty Belle

Everyone has had a fine year. Ocho seems to feel secure with her place in the pecking order, so she's stopped being so evil to Belle. She spent most of the fall chasing Belle around and making mean clucking noises. Pouncey still doesn't like people to touch her. She's not very trusting, but she's still my favorite. I love her beard (How many women can you say that about?). Bossy continues with the perpetual stink eye and Erickson's as fat and juicy-looking as ever. So all is well in the flock. 

For Christmas they got a head of lettuce - chickens are a pretty cheap bunch to buy gifts for. Maybe they'll get some scratch on New Year's Day. We've gotta keep those girls happy. We've been in an egg drought for the past two months, so every little bit of happiness helps. They've only been laying a few eggs each week. It's sad and pathetic. But I refuse to buy eggs, so we spread those babies as far as we can. They seem to be picking back up though because we've gotten a solid two eggs every day for the past few days. Hopefully, that chocolate egg will be added into the mix pretty soon. 

I'm betting 2013 will be just as good for the girls as this past year. I'm already thinking about eggs for Erickson's annual broodiness. More Marans? Silkies? Easter Eggers? Maybe something in an olive egg? There are so many choices! It just can't be something I love so much that I can't get rid of them. That's the problem. I want to keep them all and I'm pretty sure my hubby won't build any more additions to the coop. Maybe the answer is a second coop. Hmm. Now there's an idea.


From our flock to yours, Happy New Year! 

Ghosts, Goblins, and Naked Neck Chickens

It's November 1st and we're full on into what I'll call "winter production." By "winter production" I mean one egg a day. It looks like we only have one of four eligible hens laying (number five is still a pullet and too young to be laying yet). Erickson's pulling her weight by laying an egg a day, but that's only because she molted quite a bit after hatching eggs in July, so she isn't using all of her energy right now growing new feathers. Not to mention, we're a few days away from clocks falling back an hour and we're having such short days. Shorter daylight, fewer eggs. Oh, well. That's chicken keeping for you. 

They're in serious molt mode right now too. One of our chickens, Ocho, is looking like a Naked Neck. If you haven't seen these scary chickens, please do a quick Google search. They freak me out. She has almost no neck feathers right now. She looks like we've prepared her to be culled or something. It's pretty sad looking. Then there's Pouncey who likes like she has a mean case of the mange. She's a hot mess. This picture is from two weeks ago, so you can imagine what she looks like now. She's usually much more robust and fluffy.

Besides the diminishing eggs supply, now is also a bummer of a time to be a chicken keeper because it is freaking cold outside at night. When the temp drops we start closing the door to the actual coop at night to try help keep the chickens a little warmer. I know what you're thinking. Chickens have been living outside for a thousand years. They won't freeze to death when it's not even below freezing. You are a crazy woman. I'm well aware. But they're my chickies and I can't help myself. They're spoiled babies. If my two years of chicken keeping have taught me anything, it's that a happy chicken is normally a more productive chicken, so I try to keep them happy. Even when they aren't all laying me delicious eggs. I've been cursing them a little bit while walking out to the coop in the dark at 6:15 am, but I still love them. They'll make it up to me later.

They're currently all nestled together in a pack on top of the nesting boxes. All six of them. Not a single chicken is on the roost. I wouldn't be on the roost either if I was molting and my ass was naked. Can you imagine the draft? 

Happy Halloween, everyone! 

Love, my pumpkin-devouring mangy chickens.