Tour De Coop

I follow other blogs and the one that I enjoy the most is Tilly's Nest.  She has been asking followers to link up with tours of our coop.  What better way than with a video!  

I certainly can't take all the credit here.  Scott built all of this with plans he drew up in his head.  He's so talented.  Thank you honey.

The smallest egg!

This little small brown egg in the middle is the smallest egg so far.  Even smaller than the first egg. 

I can't help but call this an egg fart.  It's so cute!

What's going on?

I'm confused.  We have 9 chickens.  Six that lay brown eggs and three that lay green eggs.  Today and this past Wednesday our chickens gave us a total of 9 eggs, which is great.  Now here is where I get confused.  Each day we had 7 brown eggs and 2 green eggs.  What could be happening?  Do we have and Easter Egger who should be laying green eggs now giving us brown eggs?  Do we have a brown layer giving us 2 in one day?  I've read that chickens have 2 ovaries but one is usually dormant and that only one will be in operation. Maybe we have a chicken who is using both ovaries? An egg takes 21-25 hours to develop.  

Today's loot.

Here is how it happens

The first thing that forms is the yellow, or yolk, of the egg. This is formed within the reproductive organ of the bird or ovary. The yellow breaks out of the ovary and enters the upper end of the reproductive tract. Here, the white of the egg is added. It then travels down to the lower part of the tube where the membranes and the shell are applied around the yellow and the white.  It takes about 20 hours for the egg shell to form. If the hen lays brown eggs, the brown pigments are added to the shell in the last hours of shell formation.  The color is dependent on the breed.

I still find this so fascinating!

What do you think?

Pumpkin

See what happens when I place a pumpkin in the chicken run.

First no one really cares about it...

Then they get curious....

Then they get a taste.....

 Georgia gets her beak way inside searching for the tasty seeds.....

In action.....

Brownies

All of our chickens are now laying.  So that means we are getting 6-8 eggs a day!  Now is the time to use up eggs and/or give/sell some to family and friends.  There is no school today and I have a budding baker on my hands who wants to bake something besides cookies. She decided on brownies.  I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen, a new obsession of mine, and they look amazing and call for 4 eggs (and a lot of butter!).  We better get crackin!

 

Jumbo Fudge Brownies with Perfect Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:



• FOR THE BROWNIES:
• 19 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• ¾ cups Dark Cocoa Powder
• 4  Eggs
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1-½ cup Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• FOR THE FROSTING:
• 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 2-⅔ cups Powdered Sugar
• ½ cups Dark Baking Cocoa
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ¼ cups Milk

Preparation Instructions

To make brownies, preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.



Cool slightly and stir in cocoa powder until combined.



In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until combined.



Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into the egg mixture and stir gradually to combine. Pour in the vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture and stir until combined.



Spread into a greased pan and bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely.

To make the frosting, in a clean mixing bowl combine butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla and cream until smooth.



Add milk a little at a time until desired spreading consistency is reached.



Spread over cooled brownies, cut and enjoy.

Ouch!

This whopper of an egg is nearly 3 inches long and weighs 3 ounces!  I'm betting that there are 2 yolks inside there.  I'll wait til breakfast to find out.............

Meanwhile here is a brief explanation of how this happens...

Double-yolk eggs occur when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk becomes joined with another yolk. These eggs may be the result of a young hen's productive cycle not yet being synchronized.  Some hybrid breeds of hens also produce double yolk eggs by default.  Although heredity causes some hens to have a higher propensity to lay double-yolked eggs.  Usually a double-yolked egg will be longer and thinner than an ordinary single-yolk egg.

Sure enough!  Our first double yolker.  I wonder who laid it?  I can certainly relate to her because I'm also a mother of twins. 



3 Pepper Zucchini Quiche

If you know me at all then you know I LOVE to cook and bake.  Now is the time of the year that you will find me in the kitchen more than usual.  We have a bumper crop of everything from the garden.   Now that we have a good supply of eggs, that will only increase in the next few weeks, I'll have even more opportunities to be here.

My Dad turned me on to quiche when I was about 14.  His were in the form of a frozen crust and the quiche mix came frozen in a paper milk carton. Thaw, pour, bake, and serve.  They were ok but I always think I can do better. Which made me a self-taught cook.  I've made many quiches over the years and not one has been the same.  I always think of my Dad when making them and wish he could taste my creations. Especially cookies. Tonight it was a 3 Pepper Zucchini Quiche.

I started with a crust I found on Tasty Kitchen/The Pioneer Woman. It makes 3 crusts. Prepare one crust in a pie dish and freeze the other two balls of dough.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a pan saute together for about 10-12 minutes:

1 TBSP olive oil

1/2 an onion thinly sliced

1 cup total of diced peppers (any color combo, I used red, yellow and purple)

1 cup of shredded zucchini

Then add 5 pieces of pre-cooked crumbled bacon and turn the heat off.

In a bowl whisk together:

5 eggs

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of sour cream

1/4 tsp of garlic powder

Fresh ground pepper

 A generous pinch of dried parsley

Place the veggie/bacon mixture in the bottom of the prepared pie crust and sprinkle 1 cup of shredded cheese (whatever you may have on hand - I used a combo of feta, mozzarella, and cheddar) on top of that and then pour on the egg mixture.  Place the pie dish on a pan and loosely cover the top of the quiche with foil and bake for an hour (or a bit longer til the eggs are set) at 400 degrees.  Let it cool about 10 minutes before cutting.