Extra Large, Farm Fresh

When we sent the old birds to freezer camp last fall, I kept one of the Marans mutts with fingers crossed that she would lay enough to get us through the winter. As luck would have it, shortly after that we had a power outage that threw the coop light timer out of whack. That timer is out of my reach so I had to wait for DH to come home to reset it. Needless to say, by the time he did get home (a few weeks later) the poor girl was in a heavy molt so she decided to take the winter off. The two Silkies never took a break except for when they went broody (every other day or so!) but I can't complain- that's exactly why I got them so....  I've been buying store eggs (blech) for my baking and trying to be patient for "farm fresh" eggs.

 I've learned a lot about store eggs, though. For example, they aren't cheap anymore. And the store can jack the prices up even higher if the box says "cage free" "brown" "free range" or "vegetarian." Huh? Vegetarian chickens? I don't understand why someone would pay more for "cage free" (less cruel) and then pay even extra for "vegetarian" (more cruel.) I can't imagine how unhappy a bird would be who couldn't scratch for bugs and worms. Surely it must be kept on a concrete floor to prevent that from happening. Or maybe there's a chicken nanny following the poor girl around..."spit that worm out right now young lady."

 Anyhow, I just bought the plain old Extra Large, Farm Fresh anemic eggs. Now my girl is back to laying regularly and I'm amazed at the difference in size...

Top left, Silkie egg. Top right, actual "Farm Fresh/Extra Large" egg.

Bottom, 4 store bought "Farm Fresh/Extra Large" eggs.

While we're on the topic of "Extra Large/Farm Fresh," guess who is going on a diet??

"Does this shed make my gut look big"