These beautiful little eggs are from my great nephew’s Phoenix hens. They’re maybe half the size of a large supermarket egg. But they’re twice as flavourful. I think that has more to do with the fact that the hens live a normal chicken life instead of being in a small cage in a battery chicken farm. These hens live in an outdoor coop with a run so they can move and peck and do normal chicken things.
I’ve seen hens like this at chicken shows but never in a backyard coop. That’s because they are considered show birds not laying birds. I asked why they didn’t have a rooster. The answer was that the roosters have enormously long tails and they’d have to build the coop higher to accommodate him. And yes, what I read online is that you do need extra tall perches for the roosters.
It’s from the length of the tail feathers that the breed was given its name. The roosters look like the Phoenix bird of myth. The hens, at least those with this plumage, to me look like they’re wearing necklaces. That’s what I’ve always called them, the necklace hens.
Phoenix Eggs in Fried Rice
Googling them, I read they’re not prolific layers. But these five hens usually each give an egg almost every day. What more could you ask for? And they’re perfect eggs: good hard shells, deep yellow yolk and lovely taste.
I scrambled three eggs, cooking them until they had just set, then put them aside on a small plate.
I stir-fried some broccoli, then added leftover cooked rice to heat through. Lastly I put in the cooked eggs and lightly folded them in until heated. The eggs turned leftovers into a whole new, and delicious, meal.
When I get a chicken coop built, some Phoenix hens will be living in it. I read that they aren’t noted as particularly friendly, but the ones I met were. Came right up to me and let me scratch their heads and pet their feathers. No running away or pecking at me, just inquisitive and friendly little birds. Little birds who lay lovely eggs!
