Eggs-asperating

##Eggs-asperating

I’ve been trying to get hold of some Brahmas for about a year now. Brahmas are very large chickens with feathery feet. They’re magnificent. I was all set to buy some last autumn at one of the many poultry shows that take place at that time of the year, but an outbreak of avian flu saw a lot of shows cancelled. Well, the poultry part was cancelled – pigeons weren’t subject to the ban, so they were there in force.

Eventually, this summer, I saw some fertilised Brahma eggs being sold on Le Bon Coin. This is a classified ads site that we’ve got a few things from over the years, Tobi, our alleged Borador, being one of them. The vendor offered Faverolles and Wyandottes as well, and delivery by post, so I ordered half a dozen of each and anxiously awaited their arrival. And waited. Unfortunately the eggs were rather slow coming, and I’m convinced spent a heatwave weekend in a delivery lorry somewhere, slowly cooking. They were also being smashed to pieces. The vendor hadn’t packed them at all sensibly. I’d anticipated them being packed in eggboxes within another box. These ones had been inadequately wrapped in a bit of bubble wrap each with some sheets of paper filling other gaps. The box they were in wasn’t marked with ‘Fragile’ or ‘This way up’ (French version of), or indicated that it contained eggs. Not surprisingly this is what I discovered.

There were ten survivors, which I immediately popped into the waiting incubator. Of these only four showed any signs of life when I candled the eggs, but that dwindled to one. This little stalwart made it to hatching day and chipped a small hole and then nothing else happened. I eventually – it should always be the last resort – gave him a helping hand, but this poor little thing wasn’t properly developed. He didn’t have a chance. So, I’m still Brahmaless, but won’t be bothering with buying fertilised eggs again. It was a learning process. Possibly I should have complained to the vendor about the poor packaging, but he’d just have blamed La Poste for being too rough with the package and taking too long to deliver it, and if I’d complained to La Poste, they’d have blamed the vendor. I couldn’t see the point of all the inevitable unpleasant mud-slinging. I shall just have to wait a bit longer for my Brahmas.