Egg Prices at Wildflower are going DOWN! Mainly cuz we keep chickens for eggs for our own use and we don’t sell them.

The sky is a beautiful shade of blue today. Held up on the skeletal arms of our woods. The ground is still barren, as if winter were still hanging on. Clinging to the earth for dear life. New England spring is a phenomenon to experience. The wind carries something sparkly this time of year. An almost glitter that speaks a promise of green things growing and fun in the sun. The suspense hangs out for quite some time, laughing at us, mocking us and our prayers for the green lushness we lose all winter. It laughs in our face, as it promises spring and nature continues to make us wait. Then…. Finally… We wake up one morning, and there it is! The buds are on the trees. Spring grass is in the air. The gardens are calling and the early wildflowers have broken out their best colors shining up proudly at the sun from their home on the ground by the edge of the woods. There is a build up that you can feel in every fiber of your being, and then it explodes. As if it were a bomb full of green, flowers, singing birds, and fireflies glowing magically at the edge of the woods….. I have been all over this planet. I have been so gifted to be able to see so many beautiful place…. This magically explosive spring is quite unique and intrinsic to a true experience of New England. The grey we were experiencing appears to be a thing of the past.

 

Incubator


Outside the little world of the farm, all kinds of things are happening. Schumer, is throwing away all credibility. Trump is disappearing people. There is a stupid tariff war (sorry Canada.) The stock market has mostly been crashing like the Titanic… And prices at the grocery store continue to go up. The nice thing about being on a homestead is, we produce a lot of our own food. So costs at the grocery store have less impact on us than on most others. For the most part life here continues as it always has. We are doing the early spring work. Starts are going strong now in the greenhouse growing till they are ready for outdoor planting. The every day animal feeding is happening as always, the dog is enjoying the woods, while I clean up, spin, knit, and manage the greenhouse.

Eggs in the incubator


One of my favorite spring activities, is hatching eggs. This year especially. While everyone is voting for lunatics to make eggs cost less, I am here at my farm, creating new chickens, who will lay eggs for me soon enough for the cost of left over table scraps, and some chicken feed. Turning on the incubator is one of my favorite things every year. Watching the eggs rest, as they prepare to peck their way out of their shell prisons. and take their first tottering steps cheeping ragefully and plaintively that the world grew so suddenly. The cheeping starts even before they escape their shells. It’s odd about a day or so before hatching begins the cheeping starts. Sometimes the eggs even begin to move on their own a bit before hatching. Hatching takes about 24ish hours. During which they start by pecking a hole in the egg that they then enlarge, and finally crawl out through. Once they dry inside the incubator, they get fluffy and are soooo cute! Eventually they get moved to a brooding box where they have a heated area and they learn to eat food and water. This is then followed when large enough, by being put still in their box into the chicken coop so no big chickens can get in.  They are left that way for about a week. Then one evening after dark, we go out and put them on the roost next to the other birds. In the morning everyone wakes up and they don’t notice there are many new ones. Which helps massively in keeping the peace in the coop. The next step is simply waiting 6 months for the first eggs.

Eggs placed in the incubator


First however, we will get to enjoy monitoring their gradual development inside their eggs. Periodically we will “candle” them. Turn off the light and look at them with a flash light pressed against them. The egg will become less opaque. We will be able to see every nuance of development. Starting with some veins that run throughout the interior of the eggs.

Anyway, this is just a fun spring process and it is always full of excitement. So I wanted to share my wealth with everyone. Cuz we all know, eggs are worth more than gold these days.

Thank you for reading
Amanda of Wildflower Farm