Production has doubled!

We have a new lady on the block who's earning her keep, y'all.

Checkers has started laying smallish, buff eggs which appear to be slightly speckled. At first Mr. Baker thought R.E.D. had just laid an unusually small egg. When we had two eggs in one day, we knew it was Miss Checkers. Welcome to womanhood, girl!

Yolk tales...notes on food

When I created this blog, it was not only to showcase the buffoonery and hilarity of raising chickens. Yolk Tales is also and more importantly driven by the hunger for tasty, tasty eggs. The original impetus for getting chickens was heavily based on a desire to have fresh, organic eggs. Alas, as time marches on, they've become a delightful part of my life and my precious pets. But let's not forget that they need to earn their keep (sorta), and that my obsession with cooking and my desire to know exactly where some of my food comes from is the point of all this. That said, I hope to make food-related posts a more regular fixture here.

A few weeks ago, I decided to use our fresh gifts to make baked eggs. I found an easy recipe here, and it came out pretty darn tasty. Thanks R.E.D!

The Bakers' Dozen

We reached a milestone today folks.

Our thirteenth egg!

Bathing beauties

I know many of you lie awake at night pondering the age-old question...how do chickens get clean? Cats use their tongues, lizards shed their skin, and dogs require significant hosing and scrubbing. Surprisingly, hens use dirt to wash those men right outta their hair, er feathers. Some chicken keepers employ dust boxes, but here at Fort Baker we force the ladies to get creative.

Here we see Garuda and Checkers rolling ecstatically in a small dirt pile they extracted from the corner of the yard through much scratching and bug-hunting.

This picture of Garuda is especially amusing. I think she looks like quite the dino-chicken.