Glorious Day!

It's been such a glorious day...it's warm and sunny, my birds are foraging in the lawn, I baked, and I feel great. Macaroni laid her egg in the nest box this morning. On the right are the duck eggs and on the left are two chicken eggs.

Since I had read about the benefits of baking with duck eggs I wanted to try them out in a cake recipe. I cracked them into a bowl alongside two chicken eggs. I could immediately see a difference in the whites. The chicken egg whites (on right) are a pale yellow next to the clear whites of the duck eggs! The yolks appear to be similar in color, however. I could also see that Macaroni's eggs were fertile, as evidenced by the pale "bulls-eye" on each yolk. The shells were incredibly thick and actually difficult to crack.

Lanny reminded me last night that duck eggs are also more nutritious than chicken eggs. If you'd like to read a comparison of chicken and ducks eggs, click here. After reading that, I'm thinking I might not sell any of my duck eggs after all. In fact, I'm considering hatching some out under a broody hen so that I can increase my number of laying ducks! I just have to wait for one of my hens to go broody. If you've ever hatched duck eggs under a hen, please share your experience in the comments.

Whenever I fire up the oven to bake, I try to get the most out of it. Alongside the "Vanilla Rich Chip Cake" (recipe here), I baked this weeks' worth of honey oatmeal bread. I love baking days. The smells coming from the oven are heavenly.

After the baking was done I went outside to enjoy the wonderful weather. I sat on the deck steps and watched the chooks foraging in the lawn. Betty came and sat on my lap for a long time and even dozed off briefly in the warm sunshine. The Australorps became very sleepy and fell asleep in a pile next to the foundation. Don't they look like they've died?


The ducks are also enjoying this beautiful day. They've been switching between napping on the lawn and swimming around in the pond. They stop occasionally to feed along the edge of the pond.