What came first . . . ?

Young Chang

People eat chicken for dinner, go to sleep, wake up the next

morning and have scrambled eggs for breakfast. But they rarely

connect the dots between the chicken and the egg, said Ann Raia,

small animals supervisor at the Orange County Fair’s livestock

department.

“They know the eggs come from chicken, but they never think about

it,” she said.

The 85 chickens at the fair’s Egg Laying Contest/Exhibit show

passersby what really happens.

It’s simple, actually. The average hen lays about one egg a day.

The eggs drop into a rail lining all the hen cages. They are

collected by Raia at the end of each day in egg cartons.

Hens with red flabs of skin around the ear lobes lay brown eggs,

the ones with white flabs lay white eggs and a streaky breed called

the Americanas lay blue or green eggs. They taste the same as other

eggs, Raia said, but have a yolk that is a brighter yellow.

The eggs are usually warm

when they’re first laid. Raia sometimes

picks them up from inside the fence that separates the hens from

the visitors and lets children reach

through the railing’s holes to feel the warmth.

Cross-bred hens are said to lay better, so the mix offered at the

fair ranges from brownish Rhode Island Red Crosses to white-feathered

Leghorn Crosses to even a breed called the Americana Crosses, which

sport the tiger-like streaks.

Darlene Castanon, witnessed the intrigues of each chicken for the

first time on Friday.

Her sister told her about how her chicken was laying blue eggs.

“I had never seen one until now,” she said, pointing to a light

blue egg on the rail.

The 80 some chickens lined up in pens were actually laying eggs as

part of a contest. Future Farmers of America children, as well as

members of 4H, were competing for the most eggs laid.

A chart detailing each group’s progress showed, on Friday, that

the Yorba Linda Cloverleafs 4H #2 were winning, with 32 eggs laid

from the beginning of the fair to 11 p.m. on Thursday.

“People are always surprised to hear that a chicken lays one egg a

day,” Raia said.