The Golden Fruit

A riddle for you: In a marble hall white as milk, lined with skin as soft as silk. Within a fountain crystal-clear, a golden apple doth appear. No doors there are to this stronghold, yet thieves break in to steal its gold. And another: A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.

It’s an egg, of course! 

When I was a young girl I wanted to raise chickens so I

ordered 500 baby chickens from a catalog. They came

 and in three days they all died. I was disappointed 

but determined. I ordered 500 more baby chicks and 

would you believe, they all died within 3 days too? 






I gave up on raising chickens but I never did figure out

 what I was doing wrong. I was pretty sure though that

I was either planting them too deep or too close together.
I’m pulling your leg with that old joke--I have kept chickens for fresh eggs since I was about



nineteen years old. It seems like there has always been a flock in my life. A contented \

clucking in the chicken pen, delighted squawking when an egg has been laid, and yes, even 

the noise of a rooster indicate that all is as it should be in life. 


My first chickens were white Leghorns that we bought for a dollar each. They had been 



cage chickens sold when they were past their peak laying time (these were about 18 months
old) and they had no idea of how to roost, scratch or do any other chicken-y kind of thing. 

Their claws were so long they curled back and their combs were huge and floppy. After a 

few weeks in their new home they learned to scratch in the dirt, to nest in boxes and their 

claws quickly wore off to a more reasonable length. They laid lots of eggs, defying the logic

of the commercial breeders that they were not economical to keep.


It wasn’t long before I wanted brown-egg hens, so we added big plump Rhode Island Reds 



that did not lay as well, ate a lot more but were calm and gentle, something that could not

be said for the Leghorns. As years passed we raised many other varieties—Buff Orpingtons, 

Araucanas, Americaunas, Domineckers, Silver-laced Wyandottes, White Rocks, Golden 

Comets and others. I love getting different color eggs; some years our egg basket would be 

filled with white, buff, blue, green, brown, tan and even lightly speckled eggs. Who needs 

to dye eggs at Easter when they come like that straight from the hens?


I have heard many superstitions about eggs and chickens over



the years. For example, did you know that some people will put an egg shell in their
coffee grounds when the coffee is perking? They claim the coffee tastes better
that way. Others will bury egg shells next to certain plants in their gardens
to provide more calcium for the growing vegetables. One lady told me that
witches will use empty egg shells for boats and go sailing around in them, so I
should always break a hole in an egg shell in the shape of a cross, or crush
the shell, to prevent that from happening. 
Finding a double yolk egg means either someone you know is getting
married soon or will be having twins.  It
might also be interpreted as a sign of good luck coming your way, or financial
improvement in your life. An egg with no yolk at all is very bad, however—a
certain bringer of bad luck.



This year we'll be getting baby chicks again, I

 think. Our hens are three or four years old 

and slowing down. What kind will we get? I'm
hoping for some Aracaunas, and maybe a few

Barred Rocks, and some Golden Comets. 

We'll see!













For more chicken riddles, check out this older blog post!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed 
without attribution to Susanna Holstein.