Monday Harvest -- the Double Yolked Edition

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At the moment, only one of our four chickens is laying eggs. Harriet stopped when she got sick, and the two Easter Eggers do not seem to have started. Say what you will about Anne Elliot's bossy character traits. That hen is an egg-laying machine.




Twice now, she's laid an especially large egg. Which is to say, that those particular eggs were significantly larger than her regular eggs. She's still a young bird, and the eggs she's laying are smaller than what you'd buy at the grocery store. The "big" egg was about "normal" grocery store size.




And, unsurprisingly, these gigantic eggs have double-yolks. When I was little, we used to vacation on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and would often stop at farm stands along the drive. I was always delighted by the eggs we bought there, because so many of them were double-yolked.

Other than eggs, our backyard harvest consists of kale and chard and a few beans and strawberries. I chopped back our enormous lemon verbena bush, because it was starting to block access to our garden gate. We'll make lemon verbena ice cream some time this week.

I totally failed to start seeds for the autumn garden, and instead bought some beautiful starts at a local nursery. I'll be putting in a couple of kinds of kale, napa cabbage, chard, onions and some chickory.

If you want to see what other gardeners are harvesting, mosey on over to Daphne's garden blog.

Comments

Lynn said…
Hi Lisa- I wondered over to your blog from Ravelry and have really enjoyed checking in on your posts - but today I have to ask about that ceramic tray you have your eggs in - very cool- could you share where you found it? Lynn
Michelle said…
Interesting that your bossy bird is the best layer, it's the same with my girls. The boss lays regularly and she pops out an extra large one fairly regularly, one of them was a huge 3.8 ounce double-yolker - ouch.

Did you see Pam Peirce's article in yesterday's SF Chronicle, she did a great piece on growing cool season crops in the Bay Area.
Mary Hysong said…
Sounds like a great week for you. I currently have 3 hens, but only 2 are laying and one of them not every day. The other is molting. Have 4 pullets that should begin laying in Sept.
Susan said…
I remember getting a lot of double-yolked eggs when I was a girl. How fun!
Stoney Acres said…
A great harvest week. It's funny our hens have been laying for about a year now and we have yet to get a double yoked egg from any of our six hens. I guess some hens are just born to lay double yokers.
Kate said…
We had some hand-me-down chickens a long time ago when our girls were little. They loved them. I look forward to having them again one day- maybe in a few years. I'm glad your sick chicken pulled through so far.
Erin said…
I just found your blog through a picture on Pinterest. I am thankful. I LOVE your blog. Next weekend I'll read your archives. I have added your blog to my List of blogs i follow.
Erin
Jenifer said…
I just started reading your blog last week :).
We are new backyard chicken raisers and gardeners too. Your blog entry today could have been written by me with just slight variations. Last week my only layer laid a double yolker and this weekend I cut back the large verbena that was starting to blog our garden gate. Too funny!
Jenny Rottinger said…
Very nice eggs for young hens, congrats. Love when you get double yolk.
Stefaneener said…
Wonder if there is a trick to getting more double-yolks. Thank you for not starting fall veggies on time. I feel less of a loser. Where did you get your starts?
Sarah said…
Getting a double yolk egg is such a fun surprise!
It generally happens with young hens who are still maturing because their system is still figuring out the right "timing". Although it can also be a hereditary thing with some hens.

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