Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I am going to place my bets on the chicken. If you had told me 5 years ago, that I was going to raise chickens I would have laughed at you. At that time I was busy pursuing my MBA while raising 4 kids and working full time as a sales manager. My focus was in moving up in the organization and life in general. I lived for meetings, my blackberry and the things I thought made me “important”. I worked and commuted to Downtown and I loved the rush of the business life. Where in the world would chickens fit into that?
Fast forward to 2008, we had settled in to the farm house the previous summer and had a few horses and cats. My friend and hay supplier asked me if I would be interested in hens he was giving away. Having no prior experience with chickens, I immediately thought that this was a great idea, to try out a few older hens and see what we thought. I believed that chickens were brainless birds and that there was a small risk in taking on this new animal. I was comfortable with the idea that if things went badly and there was casualties, that I could handle a few old broads dying versus cute Easter chicks.
My husband went over to pick out the hens as I was previously occupied. Carrying a big cardboard box, he carefully selected 4 ladies. I would come to understand that 2 were jersey giants (I named one Gertrude), 1 was a barred rock (her name is Margo) and 1 was a silver laced Wyandotte
In the morning, I was to discover the first of many things I needed to know about chickens. A hen does not lay everyday. It took a good week for me to start to get 1 egg every other day. But I was so excited when there was an egg! I thanked my ladies for their gifts and gave them scratch grains in return for their efforts. I would cradle the egg in my hand and upon returning to the house I would rush to find my husband and share a viewing of my new treasure. We saved these eggs for our special meals, ones that would showcase their amazing yellow yolks.
One morning I happened to stumble upon Agnes laying her egg. You must know that I will never look at eggs the same again, and not for the reasons you may assume. As I watched her lay, I realized the similarities between her delivery and the birth of a child.
Since then, we have added 16 more hens to our flock and I have had the pleasure of watching several hens lay. I still marvel at these ladies. Some of the chickens actually pace, like I did at the hospital, before they lay. Some are very quiet, while others take after me in the birth of my first child and seem to be screaming their heads off. Some spend their time prior to delivery scratching in the dirt for a morsel to eat, some sit in the nesting box and prune the bedding around them. Since chickens tend to lay their eggs in the same area as one another, some are waiting patiently for their favorite space to open up, while others are busy telling the hen in front of them to hurry up! Each hen is different and has a different personality.
The egg, when laid, is pliable and instantly hardens when oxygen hits the surface of the shell. Within a matter of moments it is hard and able to be handled. After the egg is laid, some of the hens will scurry off to find some food, while others will sit on their egg until someone or something makes them move.
I have several hens that are incredibly smart and actually move their nests around as soon as I locate them. I am forever trying to find where they are laying. It has happened where I struggle for days to locate any of their beautiful blue-grey eggs, but then I will stumble upon a clutch of 20 eggs weeks later in the most random of places. Some days I stalk them to try to see where they are going to lay, but I know they are on to me and typically walk me all over the barnyard until I tire of the game.
Each egg can take several hours to be ready to come out of the hen. Several hours! Can you imagine spending several hours laying an egg almost every other day? Sounds like the true definition of “labor” to me. The process their body goes through and the effort they expend in order to provide for us one of the simplest of kitchen staples, truly amazes me. I really thought that chickens just sat down and egg came out. But it really is SO much more to it.
Now, please understand that I share these thoughts with you not to keep you from enjoying eggs, but in the hopes that as you learn about the process, that you appreciate the gift that has been given to you. That you understand that the action of laying an egg, is a birth of sorts and as the consumer, we need to appreciate the effort and the providers.
So the next time you come upon a chicken, at a farm or perhaps a county fair, take a moment to appreciate this amazing creature, to look into her eyes and let a moment of silence pass between you two. Maybe even utter a small word of thanks to the hen and to the creator of this amazing gift.
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