Aren't They Beautiful?

The outside world is locked in winter around here still, and we have a new ground cover of white just this morning. But inside, things are buzzing with thoughts of Spring. Now I'm studying the seed catalogs to plan the garden layout for the next year's growing season and drawing up plans for a chicken house.

We attended a Garden Show and seed swap last weekend and a friend brought me these beautiful eggs. I've had chickens here many times over the years, from my first batch of 100 chicks we raised for meat, to long lived small flocks of a rooster and a few hens for eggs. We found a home for our remaining hens a couple of years ago when we were planning extended travel and couldn't care for them. Now we need to get our own chickens again. Just a few, for fresh eggs and for the fun.

I've always loved the sound of contented chickens scratching in the dirt and having those fresh beautiful eggs was always a treat. There's such a difference between the eggs you buy in a store and those grown in a healthy farm setting that it's hard to believe they're the same thing.

The first difference is color. These shells are a riot of color and texture, from the smaller pale brown one, to the green of the araucana, they all have their own character. Some shells are speckled or rippled, and some are more rounded. The insides are different too, with the yolks of these a rich vibrant orange color and they stand up full and round when you break the egg too, not just lay down and drool all over the pan.

We love to travel, but really miss the chickens when we're home, so we'd decided our next batch of chickens will be just a few hens, in a house so well designed that they'd be safe from varments and well fed and watered even when we're gone for a few days at a time.

With the new urban chicken movement, the internet is filled with all kinds of chicken house plans, including some space age looking pods, that we could probably strap onto the top of the motorhome and take with us if we chose to! I'm studying sturdy little buildings, with extended eaves to shelter the chickens and give them some shade in summer, little trap doors to open on the side so we can gather the eggs without having to climb inside the coop, and automatic feeders and waterers.Now, we'll only want 4 hens at the most this time, and no roosters to chase the grandkids, and I have to decide what kind to get. There are so many breeds out there. Rhode Island Reds are probably my favorites, plump, easy maintenance, and they lay brown eggs, and so pretty with their chestnut red feathers. But there are also Araucanas, who sometimes have silly topknots, leg feathers and lay green or blue eggs.There are over 60 breeds commonly available, and the decision is tough. I love the old barred rocks, with their speckled black and white feathers, the sprightly little bantams, with their punk rock colors and self sufficient manner, and the big golden orpingtons. I guess I have a while to decide. Coop first, then chickens. Hopefully one of these days I'll post a picture of our own eggs in beautiful living color.