In case you didn't know, Korey and I own 11 hens and 2 roosters--turns out that one of the original dozen "hens" we bought back in May happens to have been born a boy! Long story short: he's found himself now. He and BC (our actual rooster) are starting to be at odds with one another...you know, kinda how two pimps would be fighting over 11 hoes. Well, anyway, we've been waiting what seems like forever for eggs. This particular breed of chicken, we were told, is supposed to lay around 310 eggs EACH per year, starting around age 6 months. When we purchased them in May we were under the impression that they were already 4 months old. You do the math: that means in only 2 months time, I'd be in egg heaven, right? I've safely deduced that my hens were NOT that old when we bought them. As a matter of fact, the actual rooster we purchased separately was supposed to have been the same age and the hens. He started crowing a good 2 months before our other rooster came out!
Where am I going with this, you ask? You'll see...
Tuesday afternoon I go out to their house to let them out to roam around and THERE...like a shining nugget that had fallen straight from Heaven, a small, lonesome egg shone in the corner of the chickens' house. I swear to you it had light beaming off of it like a pot at the end of my long awaited rainbow. Keep in mind, this is now the end of September! These hens had been getting threats from me to be put on the spit for a couple of months by this point if they didn't get to producin'!
Back to my egg! Of course, being married and somewhat skeptical about whether or not my husband was tyring to by "funny," my first thought was, "This better not be a trick Korey is trying to play on me because I will certainly kick his ass when he gets home!" Then rationality kicked back in and a huge smile came across my face; I was elated--just like a new mommy (well, as close to one as I could have gotten at that point)! I brought in the treasure, took a picture and sent it to everyone that I thought may give a smidge of a damn and would be happy for me. Everyone was! And yes, I'm a HUGE DORK. I realize this.
What's next? Well, one of the chickens has laid at least one more egg, yesterday as a matter of fact--this one slightly bigger than the first. In a way I'm a little sad because we have to break the news to the "egg man" that we buy our eggs from locally. We typically buy 3 dozen from him and his wife every Sunday (Korey and I are egg-ivores if there were such things--we go through a TON each week).
The point of this little story isn't to allow you to see just how darn domesticated I am. The point is to discuss the value of being able to have things that are given to you by nature, organically created, and tended to with nurture and care. All of the attention, money, you name it, has gone into the creation of not just that first little jewel but into the creation of many a meal, snack, hors deuvers--all from 20 yards away from my front door. I know what goes into the chickens, how they are allowed to roam around as they wish and I know that the eggs they eventually give me will be 1000 fold more nutritious than any egg purchased at any grocery store. Even the "organic, omega-3" eggs can't hold a candle to these babies!
Now for the nutrition part...
There are few things on this planet that are more nutritious than an egg. Egg's have gotten such a bad reputation over the years via conventional wisdom and doctors telling us not to eat them if we wanted to keep our cholesterol down. That evil yolk of deadly saturated fat quickly became the target of much criticism. So society's answer: cut eggs of your diet and if you dare eat anything resembling an egg, it must come from a carton in the form of a liquidy jelly-like substance, colored with yellow number 40 to trick our minds into thinking we're consuming an egg.
An egg is a solid source of protein, easily digested protein for that matter (unless you're allergic to them, that is!) and contains all nine of the essential amino acids. Guess what? There is no significant like between egg consumption and cardiovascular disease! So, doc, you can take that and shove your theory on dietary intake of cholesterol you know where. Eggs are great for your eyesight since they are high in lutein and zeaxanthin. The choline found in eggs is a powerful nutrient to help the body protect itself from damage to the brain, nervous, and cardiovascular systems. Eggs (the yolk mainly) is one of very few sources of naturally occurring vitamin D. Speaking of the yolk, EAT IT! Yes, it's the FAT in the egg, and YES it houses the cholesterol. If you remember nothing, try to remember this: there is no actual length between dietary cholesterol intake and serum cholesterol levels (the level you have tested each year during your annual exam)! Repeat that to yourself and REMEMBER IT! The yolk is a source of healthy fat and is also crammed with all sorts of vitamins and minerals. Just a factoid that goes right along with this discussion: No you don't need a rooster for hens to lay eggs (I've gotten this question a LOT). However, if the egg is fertilized by the rooster that increases the nutrition of the egg that much more. I don't want to know the source or the mechanism that makes it that way (probably am safer not knowing) but it's true. How do you tell: when you crack the egg, there will be a tiny red dot on the yolk. That's all I'm going to say regarding the nutrition.
I can't think of many better ways to start off a day other than with some fresh, organic, freely-roaming chicken eggs. I look forward to the umpteen hundred I'll get yearly from my brood! Note: I'll have PLENTY to go around...keep this in mind if you'd like to give home-grown eggs a try, I may need some folks to help get them off my hands!
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