I have a lovely sister in law Anneli who a few months ago acquired three Rhode Island Red chickens. I knew she was going to provide them with the nicest life possible for a chicken and it’s true, they’re gorgeous chickens (and I usually find chickens a bit odd). Like your most devoted puppies, all three follow you around and love being patted and played with and love to “talk”. They’re given free range of the entire backyard – and it’s a sizeable one, and climb up in the Lantana bushes to sleep contentedly at night.
Adorabelle
Where they lay their eggs, 1 per chicken per day
Esmerelda
Princess Fluffy bottom was a name bandied about…
Anneli helps an Indian Myna bird baby stay out of trouble
Naming them proved a conundrum, they’re all girls so the first thing that came to mind was the Sex and the City characters but who would you leave out? What about the famous female trio: Destiny’s Child? No, I don’t really listen to their music. How about the Playboy mansion girls Holly Bridget and Kendra? I love the show but the fact that Holly and Kendra recently flew the Playboy Mansion coop didn’t bode well for these three chickadees.
Anneli with Persephone
So with little to work with we gave them the names that were perhaps too unwieldy to name your own children: Esmerelda, Adorabelle and Persephone! All providers of the most gorgeously free range eggs.
The Free Range egg yolk on the left, the Cage egg yolk on the right
Anneli mentioned Jamie Oliver’s comment that if a chicken is happy, their egg yolks will be a deeper yellow bordering on orange and it seems to hold true with the Free Range yolk being a vivid blazing orange whereas the Cage egg was a lighter orange tending more towards yellow. The eggs that Anneli gave me were super fresh, either from that morning or the day before and I could collect a supply every week of these precious eggs!
Off to bed in the Lantana bush
With Jamie Oliver’s words about the sunny yolks in mind, I thought the best way to compare the eggs was with Vegemite toast soldiers. I also love making boiled eggs because of the adorable egg cups that we have.
Free range eggs on the left, cage eggs on the right
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, Vegemite Soldiers are a way Australian parents got their kids weaned onto Vegemite, that peculiar yeast extract spread. If you’ve ever had Japanese Natto, it’s a similar reaction, the Japanese love it but non-Japanese have a gagging reaction to it. Australians just love the stuff and expats can be heard to ask for massive jars to be despatched to them. And never, ever get into a debate about Vegemite versus Promite or Marmite. Vegemite supporters are vocal, numerous and dare I say quite unreasonable about their allegiance to the darker than dark spread. I know this because I love Promite but my husband loves Vegemite.
Soft boiled Free range egg
Soft boiled cage egg
If you’ve ever cracked open an egg and seen an anemic looking yellow yolk, apparently that’s a sign of an unhappy chicken. So I was fascinated to see how the egg yolks compared between our Free Range friends and some Caged chickens. I soft boiled some eggs and cracked them open and the Free Range eggs were a vivid orange inside. To their credit, the Cage Eggs weren’t too badly coloured but they were paler with more of a yellow yolk than an orange one. I’ve seen much worse in my life and I am never disappointed that a Caged hen isn’t deeply unhappy. Also unhappy chickens are said to not produce an egg a day. The other differences we found were that the shell on the free range egg was much harder to crack than the Cage Egg and in terms of the taste, the Cage egg had a much stronger metallic taste whereas the Free Range egg was mild and creamy. My husband refused to finish one of the Cage eggs as the taste was nowhere as nice as the Free Range egg.
Free range yolk on the left, Cage yolk on the right
Vegemite Soldiers with Free Range versus Cage Eggs
Do I really need to provide a recipe for this? Perhaps just for the sake of those unsure about how to make a soft boiled egg (as opposed to a hard boiled one).
- 2 eggs
- 2 slices of toast
- butter and Vegemite (or salty spread of your choice, let’s not debate it)
1. Put a small saucepan of water onto the boil. When boiling, gently lower an egg on a spoon into the water. Pop an unstruck matchstick into the water (if the shell breaks it will stop the egg from swirling about too much in the water). Set the timer for 5 minutes if the egg was in the fridge or 3.5 minutes if it is at room temperature.
2. Meanwhile heat the grill and toast bread and then when done on both sides, spread with a lot of butter and as much Vegemite as you wish. Cut into 3 or 4 vertically.
3. Run the boiled egg under some cold water for about 10 seconds.The carefully using a sharp heavy knife, slice off the top. Dip each toast stick into the yolk.
If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?
What is NQN up to now?
NQN on Facebook
RSS
37 Comments | Add your own
I got my first taste of vegemite on our recent trip. I’m sure it would grow on me if I’d had it as a young one. Your egg holdler is adorable!
I love your egg cups
And there’s no doubt, even if free range didn’t obviously taste any better, there’s no way I would buy caged eggs over free range. By the way, didn’t realise chickens liked being patted!
Even the caged eggs you get there look much better than the “freerange” eggs we get here. I think the yolk color has a lot to do with what they’re fed.
What gorgeous chickens – love the names! We occasionally get free-range eggs straight from a farm but from your own backyard is a whole other plane of goodness.
And I think I recognise that crate
Great idea!
I too was stunned when cracking open legitimate free range eggs for the first time. I thought the colour meant they were off at first!
Oh-oh. I think my brain has left me. At 10am no less.
If they are all females,….how do you get eggs every day?
i’m an organic-free range egg purchaser through and through. and if i’m somewhere with only caged eggs on the shelf, then i won’t buy. i’d rather go without. i just can’t stomach the idea of tucking into them.
lovely, LOVELY pictures Lorraine – what an idyllic life they paint!
I love ur egg cups…super cute !!!!!!
now I want eggs for lunch!
Carolyn,
hens always lay eggs. It’s when there is a rooster that the egg is fertilised and that egg will actually grow into a baby chick. I hope that makes sense.
NQN I love those egg cups. I only wish i liked vegemite more. that meal looks delicious.
you’re lucky that you tried genuine free range eggs. there was a newspaper article that came out about free range chickens that are still caged up. i guess in the end, how do you know for sure when eggs are really from free range chickens? best way is to do what your sister in law did, keep real chickens
I’ve found that the shells on my ‘free range’ supermarket eggs are very thin, almost see-though and break easily. Wonder if they are really free range. But hopefully they are from happy hens (a good egg is a happy egg!).
I don’t generally like eggs unless they are scrambled…I used to eat soft boiled eggs growing up but I just don’t like the taste of yolk anymore…but your photos look so delectable that I just might have to give soft boiled eggs another try…
great post – and love your chooky pics!
We had a chooks and a chookhouse when I was little and I mostly remember the horrible smelly chookhouse, climbing on the roof of it and collecting warm eggs – unfortunately I have never liked eggs so never appreciated the taste – but I do love cute eggcups like yours
BTW have turned from vegemite to promite in adulthood – still can eat vegemite if it is all that is at hand! My mum used to put it in mashed veg and I do that occasionally still
This looks like the perfect breakfast, I love the photos of the chickens
I love the way the chickens are outside roosting in the lantana. Maybe it’s too dense for foxes.
when i lived in England, i knew that any egg that was Certified Organic, had to meet very strict guidelines regarding how the chicken was kept, that it must not be given antibiotics and a host of other strictures that meant i felt certain that i was purchasing either a chicken or an egg that had been kept humanely.
i guess i assumed that Organic here meant the same?
I didn’t know chickens followed you around, how cute! Love your egg cups too – adorable.
This is quite awesome, nice and simple meal with the Vegemite soldiers too!
Interesting comments about the yolk colour too, atleast your eating a happy chook
Ooh lucky youuu and those free range eggs definitely look healthier and tastier than the almost-fluro yellow caged egg.
Haha everyone mentioned this already but your eggs have very cute feet
I have no idea what Vegemite tastes like… how different is it from Marmite? (I just can’t bring myself to like Marmite unfortunately).
That said, I love the adorable egg holders! They make breakfast taste a whole lot nicer I bet.
Makes me want to get some chickens now, just have to wait til we get our own home with my own back yard and vegie patch!
Such good looking chickens your sister-in-law has. I can only imagine how wonderful those eggs were
The Projectivist, It is the same for Organic food here too in Australia. It has to be “Certified” and pass stringent tests too.
But there is a difference between something that is Organic and one that is Free Range. Because Organic is by default free range but Free Range alone does not have to be Organic. Get it?
So free range chickens can sometimes just mean they are free to roam in a big barn, not necessarily outside and not necessarily with enough room per chicken.
The safest bet of course is to buy Certified Organic, because then you can be sure the chickens are happy!
Hi Barbara-Used sparingly it’s quite nice. I remember seeing Rob Lowe slather it on like peanut butter on tv and he was, not surprisingly grossed out!
Hi Y-They always make me laugh
I don’t know if all chickens like to be patted but these three definitely do! They’re dogs dressed as chickens…
Hi Marc-That’s no good!
Oh really? So Jamie was selling us on the romantic notion of a happy chicken? Ah bummer… but I guess it means that they get better feed if free range chickens all have deep orange yolks?
Hi Helen-Thanks! I got naming rights and I love over the top names
Haha yes the crate! As soon as I got it I thought of the eggs…
Hi Christine-It’s quite a surprise isn’t it! I was brought up on cage eggs (I don’t think free range was even available) and I was surprised too
Hi Carolyn-If there’s a rooster or male chicken he will fertilise the eggs to make a baby chicken but if it’s unfertilised then it’s an egg that they lay. Or for a better explanation, please see Virginia’s answer
Hi the projectivist-I saw Oprah yesterday about cage vs free range animals and 5% of Americans are said to buy free range. I wonder what the figure is here? Hopefully it will increase as time goes on and people become more aware. Thankyou! If I were a chicken, I’d like to belong to my sister in law too. They do have such a nice life there
Hi Bean Sprout-Thanks, they are cute, the Red shoes are for me and Blue shoes are for my husband
Hi Reemski-Haha with Vegemite soldiers?
Hi Virginia-Thanks for the much better explanation than what I had said!
Yeah I’m a Promite girl myself but sometimes I just want the egg and the toast
Hi obsessed-It’s true, you never really know and some places do both cage and free range. I feel so much safer eating her chicken’s eggs and “knowing” the chickens
Hi belle-Oh interesting! Perhaps it’s the breed of chicken that also determines that? These are Rhode Island Reds so perhaps they have tougher shells
Hi Alexandra-They always feel a bit comforting to me but I admit sometimes I cannot eat much egg and if I do I feel a bit nauseous. It’s very strange!
Hi Johanna-Thanks so much!
The smell of several chickens isn’t great I admit. I suppose since there’s only 3 of them and there’s no one central area for them then it’s not bad there. Ah interesting tip about vegemite in mash, I must try that! And Promite is my choice too 
Hi Meridith-Thankyou! I like waking up to a sunny bright orange yolk, it reminds me of the sun
Hi Arwen-I think it might be too dense for the foxes and so far there’s no sign of any foxes which is good. I love their little Lantana beds
Hi the projectivist-I think it’s the same here. These chickens aren’t given organic feed but they aren’t given injections or anti biotics. They’re also not partial to vegetables as Anneli has learnt
Hi Christie-I really think they used to be 3 puppy siblings reincarnated as chickens
Hi Howard-That’s about all we can muster up in the morning I have to admit and I do like the idea of a happy chicken
Hi FFichiban-Thanks! Happy chickens, bright yolks and funny eggcups are a good start to the day
Hi Su-yin-I haven’t tasted Marmite yet but I think it would be similar I’m afraid :S
They certainly do, I love those chubby little legs
Hi Maria-Now that would be just gorgeous! They’re rather stunning specimens aren’t they! I love their pretty brown and white feathers
Hi Esz-Ahhh ok so the rules to be labelled organic it needs to be free range too? I didn’t realise that. Seeing the egg aisle in the supermarket is very daunting as there are just so many kinds!
why did you pop a matchstick into the water? what purpose does it serve? love your blog btw
By looking at the lovely photos of Anneli’s happy chickens, I am missing our beloved white and fluffy Chinese Bantam chickens Snowball and Snowflake. They were originally our children’s pets but I became very fond of them as they talked and answered to me with their sweet voices and they were happy to sit on our laps and to be cuddled. They made small eggs which our dog loved to eat.
I love all 3 …’mites! I grew up with both Vegemite and Marmite (story of my life – growing up as a Pom in an Aussie suburb!). But I’m now a proud Promite girl myself.
Hi jen-I do that so that if the shell breaks the white doesn’t swirl about in the water and it contains it a bit. I read about it in a Nigella book. Thanks so much
Hi tuulikki-Ah yes you little chickens, they were rather cute! They’ve definitely got little personalities which I didn’t really think chickens had.
Hi Karen-Aha so you’ve tried all 3! Haha me too Promite all the way
What gorgeous photos! Pincess fluffy bottom is a great name. Incidentally, I am a Promite lover too – it is much milder and little sweeter, so more to my taste (although in adulthood, I have come to eat Vegemite as well).
Oh my… I have to rub my eyes twice. First I saw these bread and was thinking is that a blackened bread? Turned out these are bread with vegemite. Secondly, I saw a big chicken butt again? *rub rub*
I always boil my egg using cold water for egg straight from fridge as to not break the egg while boiling and always took 15 minutes. If I put the egg from fridge, after the water already boiled, usually I will break the egg shell during cooking.
Forgot to tell, 15 minutes for hard boiled egg.
princess fluffy bottom–oddly enough, that was my nickname for awhile.
i’m loving your egg cups, by the way.
Hi Cakelaw-Yes I think that’s why I like it, Vegemite is stronger and saltier whereas I like the relative mildness and sweetness of Promite. Thankyou so much!
Hi Lilia-Haha you don’t think I’d serve burnt toast do you? I don’t think you’ll break the egg if you lower it down gently into the water, I haven’t broken one yet. And for me, 15 minutes in the morning is a bit too long to wait for breakfast.
Hi grace-Haha really? I bet there’s a story to that! Thanks, they never fail to provide a chuckle in the morning
Not sure if someone has already posted this, but cage eggs are actually white or almost colourless. They inject yellow dye into them. Very sad.
I had soft-boiled eggs growing up (in Russia), and have continued making them now. The way we do it is a bit different.
1) Put 2 eggs (from fridge) in a small pot and fill with just enough water to cover eggs.
2) Put on burner to high (though not so high if flames will go around edges of the pot (my stove has a smaller burner that works perfectly)
3) Add a small teaspoon of salt, allegedly to contain the egg contents if it cracks (never heard of using a match before).
Optional: Set aside a bowl filled with cold water and some ice (or just stick bowl into freezer). This is to put the eggs in after.
4)Once you see a rolling boil (big bubbles, usually right from under the eggs) set a timer for 1 minute. That is enough time for most of the egg whites to be cooked, I’d prefer under vs. over done. Using the same pot, stove, and large size eggs the ideal time for me is 70 seconds.
5) Put eggs in cold water. Either I use a large spoon to scoop them out, or I run them under water and use hands. Leave them in the cold water for about 30 seconds (I really don’t know). The cold water will stop the cooking and make them easy to peal.
6) Put eggs big-side down into egg-holders or substitute (shot glasses worked well for me for a while!). Use back-side of spoon to crack the top section all over, then peel off the shell.
Wow that was long, first time ever writing the method out.
Lucy – You should include a reference when making such a declarative statement. Injecting dye I can’t believe; seems impossibly impractical, costly, and unhealthy(sticking a needle into an egg, hitting the yolk, getting the dye to spread through all of it evenly…) All I found was that some places feed the chickens food coloring to alter the egg yolk color, but even that doesn’t seem common (at least here in the US). Naturally-more-orange yolks are definitely better in taste and I think health as well. A site mentioned it’s from being in the sun, but I also think it may be diet related.
Hi Lucy-Very sad if that is true. But would it be a lot of trouble to do that for every single egg?
Hi Buendia-Interesting, I will try the salt and see how that works. The match trick seems to work quite well too.
Strangely enough, I bought some free range eggs and the yolks were very pale. So I wonder if Jamie’s comment was true or if they were not happy/not free range eggs? I’d love to know!
I know this is 11 months after the last post.. my sister point me to this blog just today..
Loves the picture of your chooks..
I am new to chicken keeping (4 little one) still waiting for my first egg.
Been doing a lot of research since..
and this is what I learn…
Chicken get thin or soft shell if they don’t get enough calcium in their diet.. happen to a lot of back yard chicken..
The color of the yolk is definitely diet related. Free range eggs get lots of grass , hence orange yolk.. but if you feed cage egg lots of grass, you will get the same result.
I wish there is more aussie keeping back yard chicken..
Post a Comment