Harvest Tally - February 2013 - Easter Egg hunt in February and foamy eyed duck

Freckle's nest

The breed of bird we have is called Ameracaunas amongst other names. Some people also refer to them as Easter Eggers. Recently, with the cold weather, we didnt expect them to lay all too well.

However, one fine day, I am searching for one of the ladies and I find her in the middle of my geranium, clucking up a storm. Typically, they do this, to let everyone know ueber-proudly, "I laid an egg! I laid an egg!". So, I pull the branches aside to pick up Freckles (the chicken) and I couldnt believe my eyes. That silly gal was sitting on THIRTEEN beautiful eggs.  Whow, she really is an EASTER EGGER.

A word about storing eggs: If they are from a trustworthy source, one can leave them un-refridgerated for up to three weeks.

No wonder, we dont get any eggs. It's spring (according to this silly broody birdie's glands) and she wants to have babies.  Of course, this upsets my daughter Aurelia, who declares, we need to find her a boyfriend. Needless to say, hubby doesnt quite agree with this rooster-idea. Although we just learnt that fertile eggs have a way higher protein content.

As it seems, my birds have developped a fancy for laying their eggs in scented bushes as geraniums and lavender. The hen house is not good enough any longer.  So, I snip branches of the nice smelling stuff and make them nest-potpourries. One can easily say, there are no chickens or ducks that are more spoiled than mine.

Speaking of ducks, Biggie - our lame duck - got one of her eyes infected. We saw that one of the chickens was standing over her, pecking at her eye. Initially, we concluded that this is bad behaviour (and that the eye got infected as a result of pecking)  and Aurelia immediately stormed out and chased that chicken around.

Later, Roberto found out that it is a virus that causes the eye to turn foamy and the other birds pecking off the foam is actually helpful. I figured it was a good lesson in false human projection. Of course, we washed the eye with camomille tea and it is slowly recovering. That poor bird. As if her disformed leg wasnt bad enough.

So, what did we harvest in Febuary?

10 lbs of arugula  

5 lbs of swiss chard 

1/2 lbs of parsley

8 gallons of Kombucha

4 lbs of yoghurt

1 lbs of creme fraiche

2 lbs of buttermilk

 34 chicken eggs

 17 duck eggs

"Nature never says one thing and wisdom another." Decimus Junius Juvenalis