We're currently getting about four or five chicken eggs every day, and every now and then we get an unusual egg. The other day Dan brought this one in from the chicken coop.
He wondered if it was uncomfortable to lay while I thought it must have been easier! Several days later he found another just like it. So then we had
And a couple days later he found a third.
Since all three eggs are the same elongated shape, I can't help but wonder if they were laid by the same chicken. We'll never know!
In other egg news, M.O.M. has been setting a clutch of duck eggs.
I'm not sure how many she had initially, but it was almost more than she could manage. The other day we noticed that it was quite a few less, and then found one broken open, as if it had been eaten. Yesterday morning that egg was gone and when we went out to do morning chores, we saw two opossums making a getaway through the back of the pasture. Needless to say this weekend we're going to try barbeque 'possum for the first time. Even so, I'm not very hopeful that she'll actually hatch anything since we lost our drake earlier this spring,
13 comments:
They say that breed of duck is h_ll on mosquitoes; maybe you should get some more.
I've had possum before a long time ago back when wild game suppers were common but I no longer remember what it tasted like.
Years ago when we had chickens, we often got some unusual looking eggs that would show up in the same box every day or two so I'm assuming it is okay to assume one chicken is laying them.
As I recall from early childhood, possum is very fatty. Don't remember how it tasted. We're all still here to tell the tale, so it certainly didn't hurt us.
I have one hen that lays that torpedo-like shape in varying sizes. I always wonder if they are distantly related to cliff-dwelling birds. My neighbor told me they saw a opossum the size of a corgi waddling across the road towards my place. I'm glad I have the hens fairly well locked up!
Possums are such a pain! Especially when they get tired of eggs and start killing birds.
my daddy didn't do a lot of talking but when he did you remembered it.
once someone said something about a possum and daddy suddenly said, 'possum! greasiest meat i ever ate.'.
i was amazed. i didn't know they were edible.
i always said that the first sign of spring in west virginia isn't the robin, it is the first dead possum on the road.
Gorges, come to think of it, we haven't had much problems with mosquitoes since we got the Muscovies. I also know they are good at catching flies! They are wildly prolific, although not without a daddy duck. :(
Ed, I'll take that as meaning it wasn't so bad that you swore you'd never eat possum again! LOL. Odd eggs are part of the fun. :)
Sue, I have to say that there wasn't much fat by the time Dan got through with it. He did mention that there was quite a bit of fat under the skin, which we didn't keep. Fat from wild animals usually seems to have a stronger flavor.
Susan, interesting thought about the eggs! As far as wild critters, it seems that anytime one has livestock, the critters show up too.
tpals, that's the real concern, that the kill the ducks. Or at least M.O.M. because she's nesting right there on the ground. The chickens are all in at night and our 2nd Muscovy roosts on top of the chicken coop, but M.O.M. is vulnerable.
Deborah, I'm glad to hear that! About the meat, not dead possums on the road. :)
I am sorry M.O.M. lost her eggs. I don't even like the looks of possums. Those are really unusual eggs. I have never seen them like that before. Nancy
I have on occasion found oddly shaped eggs. Those that are "decorated" with swirls of extra thick shell are of interest also. Almost as if the hen responsible had an overload of calcium and deposited it in a lump sum.
I haven't seen possum on our property now. Nor on the farm before. However I found them often on our first farm that was the smallest of the lot. Wondering why ? Perhaps climate or water sources close by? Have seen multiple critters caught out during mating season who didn't make it across the road in a timely fashion.
I've had 'possom once. It was cooked over a fire with seasonings. Not bad either. I just haven't tasted raccoon yet. Every raccoon we've had to shoot here was sick.
Funny looking eggs!! Poor mama duck...hope she can lay some little ones. Enjoy your opossom! I'm interested to know how it tastes and what the texture is!
Nancy, the teeth on possums are enough to scare anybody!
Goatldi, I hope you don't ever see a possum on your farm! Animals do tend to migrate from time to time though. When we first moved here we were told no one had seen a coyote or a black bear in nearly a decade. Now coyotes are getting fairly common to sight. Hopefully the bears will stay higher up in the mountains!
Kristina, We've had raccoon, but not opossum (yet). The coon was really quite good. Dan smoked it and I finished cooking it in broth. Made excellent smoked stew.
Rain, I feel sorry for Mama Duck but we've actually been thinking about giving our last two Muscovies away anyway. We think they need a better set up than what we have at the moment.
I kind of like finding the weirdo eggs - they taste the same to me though. We have fat brown hens this year for the first time, and brown eggs. I must say that I am finding these brown girls much calmer than the white leghorns I've had until this year.
I can't WAIT to hear about the BBQ'ed possum -- please, please let there be pictures!!
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