Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide! BOOM BOOM! Okay that was far from im-peck-able. You could say it was egg-stremely bad! But how can I resist an egg-cellent yolk to introduce our new series of posts dedicated to the chicken and the egg!
Okay, that was pretty fowl… I’ll stop now.
With backyard chickens making a serious comeback we’re having a look at poultry at our houses – not just for the table but the exotic, carefully tended breeds kept for show – and of course eggs.
“There ‘aint nobody here but us chickens…”
Farm manager Lawrence with his chicken entourage at Rouse Hill House and Farm. Photo Scott Hill © Sydney Living Museums
No visit to Rouse Hill or Vaucluse House is complete without saying hello to the chickens (and the 2 goats, 4 ducks, 2 horses and 9 cows).
At Rouse Hill we have Davros the rooster, and a hen-house of shiny black Australorps, striped Plymouth Rocks and creamy Suffolk Whites. Our Isa Browns – the staple of the modern backyard hen-house – recently made the move to Vaucluse House to join that house’s menagerie. You may have seen the short film of gardener Anita introducing the eccentric Vaucluse farmyard. If not, here it is. It’s a (wait for it) cracker!
We’ll also be looking at the dining paraphernalia associated with eggs, with egg-cups, egg-cruets and egg warmers from our collections. We’ll be preserving eggs and making sweet omelettes, snow eggs, souffles and the perfect boiled egg for breakfast.
Eggcup at Elizabeth Bay House. Image courtesy Country Threads Magazine © Express Publications.
Oh okay, one more.
Why does a chicken coop have two doors? Because if had four doors it would be a chicken sedan. Thankyou! I’m here all month, try the veal.
Davros the rooster and the Isa Brown chickens at Rouse Hill. Photo Scott Hill © Sydney Living Museums
