Eggs

Ten days ago Nellie, my Araucana hen, laid her first egg. It was a blue/green egg, which is why a nick name for her breed is "easter egger". The day prior to the egg laying, I saw Steve mount her. This was not the first time he mounted one of my hens.

One day Joseph and I were talking outside and were distracted by some squawking in the chicken run. We turned in time to see Steve climb directly on top of Janice.

Startled and intrigued, I ran to the coop.

"Leave them alone, they're having sex!" Joseph ordered. Sex or not, I needed a front row seat. Despite telling me to leave well enough alone, Joseph followed closely on my heels. As we approached we could see that Steve appeared to be biting Janice's comb (the red thing on top of a chicken's head. Fearing that he was harming her, Joseph hit a stick against the chicken wire. Steve dismounted.

I was terrified. Why was he trying to eat her comb? Did he succeed? Had her comb always looked so cropped? Why hadn't I taken any pictures recently to have on hand to compare? I entered the coop and snooped around for red pieces of Janice's comb. I couldn't find any. The tension level in the coop was high and Joseph ordered me out. This time I listened not wanting any of my other girls to get injured.

If Steve had bitten her comb and was going to terrorize my hens, I'd kill him! With my bare hands! But, I'd miss him too. He's really perfected his cock a doodle doo.

The next day at Tractor Supply, I asked one of the workers if roosters perform a pulling of the hair/comb with their mouths during intercourse. (I had this conversation as Waldo attempted to get a job at Tractor Supply less than 10 feet away.) Turns out this behavior is completely normal during chicken sex. I also confirmed this with a nurse I know who raises chickens.

A couple weeks later, I saw Steve mount Nellie. The next morning as I opened the coop to let the crew out into the run, I saw several of the hens sniff one of the laying boxes as they walked by. I let them file out and looked into the box. It was a beautiful blue/green egg.

      To top it off she even laid it in the designated egg laying spot!

I left the egg in place and ran to the house for my camera. Like a fool I tripped and fell in the yard. I felt like young Timmy running to find Lassie. I found my camera and took a picture of my perfect specimen.

I picked it up and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not covered in chicken poop! I'd seen special egg washes at Tractor Supply and had recently found out that chickens only have one hole for pooping, peeing and laying eggs. I was kind of grossed out and had been bracing for the worst. On first sight I decided that this egg was definitely appetizing.

I then ran with the egg to Mike's house. Jospeh was still sleeping. After running around and taking a million pictures I decided to pay homage to the egg by eating it.

                                      It had a double yolk!

                      Joseph and I split the delicious twins.

Since then, she's been laying every other day. The two eggs she laid after this one also had double yolks. It's a weird experience to eat something only when another creature decides to give it to you. I like it.