Chicken and Egg - Janice Cole [46]
Some chickens molt quickly, which is scary the first time it happens. You open up the hen house one morning to find it covered in feathers, as if a huge pillow fight had happened during the night. Molting can also happen slowly, over a couple of months. Hens that lose their feathers quickly usually grow them back quickly. Those that take their time also take their time getting the new growth back, which means they don’t start laying eggs again for a long time. Mine molt lazily, dropping feathers around the yard for months, and seem to enjoy their lengthy break from egg laying.
It takes about twenty-five hours for an egg to be formed. The process starts with the yolk, which is either fertilized or not, depending on whether a rooster was present at the critical moment. The white forms around the yolk. The thin membrane around the white is formed next, followed by the shell and color. Finally, the protective layer, or bloom, is added just before the egg is released. The process usually starts up again immediately. It’s truly amazing more things don’t go wrong in this intricate process that plays out daily.
One of the problems I’ve encountered is soft-shelled eggs. One fall, Lulu consistently laid either soft-shelled eggs or eggs with no shell at all. No one knew why.
We routinely gave crushed oyster shells to the chicks to supplement the calcium in their diet so their shells would be hard. Lulu had plenty of calcium, and the other two laid perfect eggs, so it wasn’t their diet. Lulu’s eggs were strange. They looked like completely developed eggs minus the shell. Or they had a shell that could be poked and prodded with a finger into any shape, as if they had been soaked in vinegar for days in a school science experiment. A vet was stumped since Lulu continued to act perfectly normal in every other way. Eventually we decided it was the stress of her having her first molt. Instead of stopping her egg laying completely, Lulu continued to lay eggs for quite some time during her molt. It’s just that some of them weren’t quite perfect.
There were many times when the nest box was empty. I should have been disappointed, but it’s not always about the eggs. Sometimes it’s about the chickens themselves. I once sat on the deck and heard a sound like chanting. It was the girls. Picture monks in feather robes kneeling in reverence as a guttural sound rises from their throats in unison. It seemed to come from their hearts and grew in intensity, becoming higher in pitch but keeping the same tonal quality as a chant. It was similar to the chants the Orthodox priests sang in my grandmother’s Ukrainian church. A strange, beautiful sound in a language I couldn’t understand, and incredibly peaceful.
Greenmarket Scrambled Eggs in Ciabatta
Looking for a way to use up the small bits of vegetables that gather in the refrigerator by the end of the week? This egg-and-vegetable-stuffed loaf is the key. It’s great for breakfast, lunch, or a light supper. Vary the vegetables and herbs according to what’s in season and, if you like, substitute your favorite cheese.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the bread from the inside of each half of the ciabatta, making a shell for the eggs. (Reserve the bread for another use, such as bread crumbs or croutons.) Place the halves side by side on a baking sheet. Brush the inside of the loaf lightly with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in large nonstick