复活节的绿鸡蛋

Do you like
green eggs and ham

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

一定都还记得给孩子朗读“Green Eggs and Ham”的情景吧？ 每每小儿忽闪着眼睛，好奇地追问：“绿鸡蛋好吃吗？”我总是反问道，“你敢不敢尝一尝？”其实，我心里也在琢磨，Dr. Suess也够挑战孩子们的想象力的，那里会有绿蛋呢？

谁想，复活节前，同事James给大伙儿送来了一份惊喜---一个盛满鸡蛋的Easter Basket，最令人称奇的是其中那几枚光洁圆润的绿鸡蛋！

来，瞧瞧芳容。左侧白白胖胖的是从超市买的鸡蛋。这些市场经济的产物，如同克隆一般，个个标致无暇，遗憾之处也便是它们的过于完美。右侧的鸡蛋便是来自James家的hobby farm。尽管它们大小不一，形态有别，颜色各异，却充满个性，自然有趣，尤其是那些点缀着小雀斑的蛋更是惹人怜爱。

敲开蛋壳，我们再来看看庐山真面目吧。令我大松一口气的是，It’s not green insideJ。左边的是James捎来的蛋，和超市鸡蛋比较，蛋黄金色如满月，蛋清比例少些。此外，蛋壳明显地硬。
 

我特别向James咨询了这绿蛋的来龙去脉。原来，产青绿蛋的鸡叫Ameracauna, 个头不大，羽毛或棕黄夹杂，或黑里带金，外形并不出众。然而，正是这些“丑小鸡”给我们奉献了美丽而可口的绿蛋。怪不得Dr. Suess要这样大声宣告：

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!

对了，还做了一份Easter应景饰物，当然，一定少不了那玲珑的绿色鸡蛋的。

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