As I opened the last side door to examine the nests...WHAT DID I SEE??? An egg! I looked around and confirmed, YEP, I was all by myself! I found an egg ALL BY MYSELF! It's my egg I tell you --- MY EGG! hahahah (evil laugh).
And I was all set to do a happy egg dance in the backyard; Howdy was carefully watching me and contemplating his next move. If I'm happy, he's happy.
I love Howdy.
Little did I know, I was about to experience more of God's grand sense of humor. I do believe God is the ultimate prankster; I'm living proof of this theory in action.
Anyway, just as I was in a mental and emotional whirl of excitement at finding my first egg, and I could immediately tell that this egg was LARGER than the rest -- BINGO!
However, the elation soon faded as I began to process the critical fact that the egg looked as if it had been attacked or trampled or partially pecked or simply was laid as a "problem egg."
I let the side door slam down as I frowned and had a two-year old moment.
So, it turns out that the first egg I get to find on my own has turned out to be a rather humorous experience. All of the thrill I had anticipated was in crumbles as I realized the egg's insides were nearly bursting out of the damaged parts of the shell.
Still, I ran to get my camera, took a few shots of the egg laying in the nest, then carefully carried it inside for more pictures and refrigeration.
Once Deputy Dave got home, I could tell that the daily question about whether or not I was capable of finding any eggs was looming large, so I quickly told him, "Hey, I found my first egg today."
His face lit up, "You did? Well, where is it?"
I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the plate that held the egg; the pitiful egg that was barely able to hold itself together, "Here it is...the first egg I found!"
His smile melted into a warped expression of confusion as he stuck out his neck to get a better look and said, "What the heck happened to that egg?"
I shrugged.
Then, he tried to find the positive angle, "That egg sure is a lot bigger than the other ones we gathered. You found the first big egg. Way to go Babe!"
I looked down at the plate with the mangled egg and said, "Thanks."
7 comments:
That first pic of you with the egg on the plate... Bwahahahah! Lmao!
Poor mangled egg. I can only imagine some of the goobered oddballs we'll find. At least your first "found" egg is a memorable one!!! :)
I'll go along with Deputy Dave and Rae and say your first egg, although not the first found, is the largest and will be the most memorable.
I'm sure there's an explanation, but what? Hope that's the last one of those you find!
I know weird things like that are possible/probable when chickens first start laying.
I would say be sure they have enough calcium?
But still, overall I do believe things are looking up!
Good luck finding more eggs this weekend!
Hello Lana, I was chuckling reading about your egg find. How sad it wasn't a perfect, gigantic, ultra-colossal egg! But hey, it's still an egg.
We have been raising laying hens here for years now, I guess if I count my long-ago childhood, it's been all my life. Right now our flock consists of nine chickens. A dear friend of mine gave me four fertilized eggs in May and our broody hen hatched them all out into fine, fluffy chicks. Unfortunately, two of the four are definitely roosters, so they'll be going back to my friend. I only keep hens as the roosters are way too mean with the 'girls' and with poor ol' delicate me, lol! So, I guess we'll be down to seven chickens in a bit. Anyway, have any of your hens gone broody yet? They refuse to come off the nest and sit all day long, only hopping out to drink a little and then right back to the nest to try to hatch out their eggs (or any other hen's) even if they aren't fertile. I have to take the broody hen out and put her in a wire cage in the sunshine (with a board over the top for shade) all day and all night for up to two weeks to get her out of her 'trance' that she is in. They'll even try to hatch golf balls, they get so goofy.
This comment is getting way too long....sorry. The egg you found isn't uncommon, as long as you're providing oyster shell supplement to the feed the shells should be formed better in the future. We also have some tiny banty hens of mixed breed who lay the cutest little eggs, almost three required to make one large store bought egg, but oh so delicious.
Rae --- I even had to laugh at the picture myself. I think my eyebrows were confused about which direction to take. haha
Mike --- thanks! The egg was definitely memorable. I was okay, as long as the damage wasn't caused by a snake!
Charade - It seems like the shell itself wasn't strong enough. Each egg we find has a stronger shell. That's a good thing, especially if you'd like to enjoy the good stuff that supposed to stay INSIDE the shell.
Linda --- we were closely watching the shell health and ready to make changes in the diet, but everything is okay. The problems were due to the chickens scratching all of the cushioned hay away from the bottom of the nest. We just keep putting hay back.
Karen --- I've thoroughly enjoyed your comment. I think that it is SO COOL that you had a surrogate hen lay an egg from another farm! Our chickens aren't staying in the nest for too long...I think the weather is just too hot here in Texas. They usually go to the coop to lay, then hop back down to head for a shaded part of the garden for the rest of the day. But, I don't think our chickens have gone fully "broody" yet. It will be interesting when they do.
If they eggs show any sign of being weak, we will definitely add the oyster shell supplement. I always appreciate the comments and the suggestions --- this is our first flock of chickens --- it's been so wonderful!
LOL well the eggs can be very interesting for sure! Our Girls (chickens) are a bit over 2 years old and what do I find in a box not long ago, a egg the size of a grape tomato... what a hoot...
My honeyman is from Houston, Native Texan and he also calls me babe, is that a Houston thing? I am not from Texas, but have lived here mannnny years. But I like he calls me that :O) its sweet I think.
Your cabin sounds wonderful, stick to your guns on size. We so over built when we moved to the country, honeyman is in commercial construction and kept telling me its not that big. uh huh.. 3000 square feet later...
If we ever build again I am sticking to my 1200 sq feet! Thats all I wanted LOL. Its only the two of us for petes sake, We never did the litte person thing. So will only ever be the two of us.
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