複活節的綠雞蛋

Do you like
green eggs and ham

I do not like them,
Sam-I-am.
I do not like
green eggs and ham

一定都還記得給孩子朗讀“Green Eggs and Ham”的情景吧？ 每每小兒忽閃著眼睛，好奇地追問：“綠雞蛋好吃嗎？”我總是反問道，“你敢不敢嚐一嚐？”其實，我心裏也在琢磨，Dr. Suess也夠挑戰孩子們的想象力的，那裏會有綠蛋呢？

誰想，複活節前，同事James給大夥兒送來了一份驚喜---一個盛滿雞蛋的Easter Basket，最令人稱奇的是其中那幾枚光潔圓潤的綠雞蛋！

來，瞧瞧芳容。左側白白胖胖的是從超市買的雞蛋。這些市場經濟的產物，如同克隆一般，個個標致無暇，遺憾之處也便是它們的過於完美。右側的雞蛋便是來自James家的hobby farm。盡管它們大小不一，形態有別，顏色各異，卻充滿個性，自然有趣，尤其是那些點綴著小雀斑的蛋更是惹人憐愛。

敲開蛋殼，我們再來看看廬山真麵目吧。令我大鬆一口氣的是，It’s not green insideJ。左邊的是James捎來的蛋，和超市雞蛋比較，蛋黃金色如滿月，蛋清比例少些。此外，蛋殼明顯地硬。
 

我特別向James谘詢了這綠蛋的來龍去脈。原來，產青綠蛋的雞叫Ameracauna, 個頭不大，羽毛或棕黃夾雜，或黑裏帶金，外形並不出眾。然而，正是這些“醜小雞”給我們奉獻了美麗而可口的綠蛋。怪不得Dr. Suess要這樣大聲宣告：

I like green eggs and ham!
I do!! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat!
And I would eat them with a goat...
And I will eat them in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
They are so good so good you see!

對了，還做了一份Easter應景飾物，當然，一定少不了那玲瓏的綠色雞蛋的。

I have to send you a message tonight about my egg production. I think I have shared with you that I now have only nine hens actually laying hens at this point in time since I culled. Five are Cream Legbar (the rare breed that lays blue/teal eggs--not like the Easter Egger or Americanas that I have had in the past who also laid blue/teal eggs because they were cross bred to do so--Cream Legbars actually by nature lay blue/teal eggs); four are French Black Copper Marans (the rare breed that lays dark brown eggs). Well, since I culled I have had such excellent egg production from these nine hens. It is easy to track because of the small number and the distinct coloring. They have been laying per their biological clock every 21 hours, which from what I have read is the most least amount of time a highly productive hen needs to lay an egg. Today after work I collected eggs and had 6 blue eggs (I have 5 Cream Legbar remember). I had checked them this morning and no eggs--not surprising because it was quite early and I typically do not have eggs in the morning before I go to work. This means that one of my Cream Legbar laid TWO eggs during a ten-hour period. In my mind's thinking, this would be biologically impossible. I investigated on line this evening and found that when a hen is very comfortable and stress free, she can in rare occasions lay two eggs in a shorter amount of time. The Cream Legbar are smaller hens and were most likely the bottom of the pecking order. I wonder if they have gotten so much more comfortable since the culling of the other hens that they now are increasing their productivity. Also, yesterday I had three blue eggs so was expecting only two this evening. Low and behold--I had SIX! I am quite interested in this phenomenon and so want to track some data on it more formally, but I do not know who would be interested in it or if it worth my time. But anyway, I wanted to at least share it with you. Though I will have fewer cartons for you, the ones I do have promise to be very beautiful since the dark brown and blue/teal are making for lovely cartons of eggs and the richness of each yoke should come through in the contentment of each hen. Waxing sentimental this evening over my hens, Mom