The Abundance of Easter

There seems to be a lot of conflicting messages surrounding Easter, what with plastic orbs hidden in planters and underneath back porches, hard boiled hen eggs festively colored and stacked in glass vases in upscale resort restaurants (by the way, Martha colors hers with nature’s own hues), chocolate eggs wrapped in foil and hung from white Manzanita branches, and chocolate shaped Easter bunnies with big ears and round tail--all juxtaposed with Easter lilies on alter steps, the clanging of church bells and girls and boys in the First Communion suits.

Easter is a big time here in the Valley of the Sun, with visitors escaping the last of their winter for a few days to golf, take in a Diamondbacks game, spa, sun and enjoy Easter tables laden with luscious cuisine. We know some lucky year-round residents in the Scottsdale area of palm trees, always-green grass and the easy resort lifestyle. They would like you to know that they do not appreciate the homage to the Easter Bunny. They do not believe in the Easter Bunny and know exactly where Easter Bunny eggs come from. Next year we plan to have an Open House around Easter and spring so that all those who are curious about where Easter eggs come from and all the other questions we get – will be able to visit and gather up some answers and a few eggs along the way.

Charlotte Druckman covered this egg-rich season in the Wall Street Journal last week. She reminds us that it is “easy to take eggs for granted. They’re always on the supermarket shelf when we need them, ready to do their part when a morning pancake craving or hangover-sandwich hankering hits.” (Or, in our case, when we ladle batter onto a hot waffle square or choose a brownie recipe which calls for three eggs.) She listed five amazing egg recipes from talented chefs.

But if you keep chickens, eggs are not taken for granted. They are each a perfect miracle of nature. Our Lizard Twins now lay every day – with a day off maybe once a week. (It’s called a “clutch” -- the number of eggs laid by one hen on consecutive days, before she skips a day and starts a new laying cycle.) Before these big Rhode Island Reds started laying, I was a hoarder. I didn’t offer eggs for breakfast very often and would never consider an omelet. With Mona still on some kind of egg sabbatical and Baby the only producer in the yard, we were rationing the few precious little white eggs we were given. All that changed when the Lizard twins cranked up the production schedule. Sometimes at 6 a.m. when I am opening the door to the roosting box, one of them meets me in the coop. “I can’t wait,” she says. “I don’t care if you are here or not, let me up there.”

We hope you’ll stay with us on the blog as these hens mature and begin to provide us with a steady stream of eggs. By this summer we should be getting four eggs most days. My friend Sue got a four-pack for Easter and I owe Debbie and Judy a fresh-egg breakfast. Ron's on the list for the new Cackle Doo compost -- which we never run out of.

As our table scrap vacuum cleaners would say on this special weekend, “Happy Eaters!”

An Early Easter Egg Greeting

Here is an early Easter greeting from all the chickens we know.... Click here: The Chicken!

Brown is the new white this season.

Spring colors took a different turn today, with the discovery of a beautiful brown egg. “It’s all the rage,” spectators commented.

The egg’s designer made the announcement, but no one was there to applaud, except Mother Nature, whose time clock is dialed in to perfection. The Lizard Twins were six months old on March 29.

The arrival of the new spring color changes more than a palette. The twin who produced first, once she reveals herself, does not get to go to Disneyland, but she has finally earned a name. She will be ONE, and her sister becomes TWO by default.

This brown hue is the perfect shade for a pair of soft leather sling-backs with a kitten heal and flat bow on the toe, don't you think?

A Touching Story

I'm sharing a wonderful story caught on the news and sent by my sister, Joyce, who says that this is our special smile for the day. It's about a goose named Maria and her boyfriend, who, having known her, no longer eats poultry. Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61WkeY9Jcvw Watch how she looks at the man when he speaks to her. I know our chickens know who we are. When I am in my bathroom, even if the blinds are tilted, our chickens stretch their necks SO tall so see if they can catch a glimpse of a human in the window. So sweet. But really they just want attention and food, unlike Maria, who is all about love.

Mona's Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break here. It felt more like summer, though, with the temperature up to 95 degrees. When chickens are stressed a little, they quit laying. Changes in weather can do this, so when we saw a little reduction in our egg production, I thought maybe it was the weather. To get ready for Mark’s highly-anticipated Spring Break party and do a little spring cleaning, we put Mark in charge of power washing the back patio so we could move his weight rack outside. For three days the loud buzzing of the power washer droned on (when he wasn’t “taking a break”) and the chickens were not happy. They moved their base of operation around the back of the coop, in the Outback, as we call it. Not a comfortable spot for chicken feet, rocks and warm pavement and all. Mona quit laying. Baby took a few days off, too. On the day of the party, a dozen 15 year-old boys arrived early to start the party. They zip lined over the pool. They threw each other into the pool and beat each other with pool noodles. They were loud, and their pool toys flew over the chicken yard fence.

“Chickens don’t like spring break. No eggs today,” we said.

Then the girls arrived, and the party moved to the hot tub. The chickens tiptoed along the side of their coop, like burglers, one at a time, hoping to go unnoticed. The girls squealed, “Chickens!” The hens waited until after dark – unheard of for a chicken, to go to bed. The following day it was business as usual in the chicken yard. It was a breezy day and all the noise was gone. Baby laid an egg. Mona seemed to be on strike. I read about a woman who gives her chickens milk in the afternoon to provide them with calcium. We gave them a pie pan of milk and the chickens didn’t know what to make of it. A completely white dish. Where’s the food? The meal worms? What are we looking for? They circled the pan nervously, so we added some layer. Ah, there’s the food – and with that, they became milk lovers. They all pecked at the layer and then tilted their head back and drank the cool milk. “This will surely get Mona back on schedule,” I said. But no egg. My sister Joyce told me that horses are afraid of two things; things that move and things that don’t. Chickens are afraid of everything, but like horses, they don’t like change unless it is their idea. I started thinking about why Mona was not laying. Maybe it was because we haven’t changed the hay in the roosting boxes. Now that the Lizard Twins have been taught not to roost in there, we don’t need to change it very often. Maybe Mona needs fresh hay? I walked around the Outback to the tarp where we keep our bale and lifted the corner. There were three Mona eggs. Mona hadn’t been on strike. She had just left home for a few days. She was on Spring Break.