Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Here’s my egg basket.  Those chickens fill it up faster than I can use or give away the eggs.

Notice there’s a giant egg and a tiny little egg right next to each other?  Here the are by themselves.

The big egg weighed almost 4 ounces.  That’s huge for an egg.  Large eggs usually weight about 2.7 or 2.8 ounces.  I didn’t weigh the little egg but it’s tiny!  I know what they’re called .. don’t say it!

Here they are cracked in a bowl . .

Big difference, huh?  The little egg just wasn’t right.  The yolk wasn’t formed very well.  I dumped it .. all that work for nothing.  Sorry whichever chicken laid that egg.

The big egg . . I’m sure it was Ruby because . . .

She left me a flower on the end!  Such a sweet and thoughtful girl she is! 

My chickens know that when I walk outside, I always have a treat for them.  Sometimes, it’s strawberry hulls, sometimes it’s yogurt, sometimes it’s flowers from whatever might be blooming.  If there’s nothing I can find for a treat, I’ll grab a hand full of milo and throw out to them.  They love that! They get so excited when they see me coming.  They run from one end of the run to the other, back and forth, waiting for me to get there with their treats.

Unless, one of them has dug the perfect hole.  Then she will not get up!  She will miss out on a treat because she knows, if she gets up, someone else will get her hole.

She lays there, not even caring that she’s missing out on the treats.  Then she rolls around.  Sometimes she’s on her side, sometimes she’s almost on her back, sometimes her head is in the dirt.

Every few seconds, she scratches to get fresh dirt, which makes the hole deeper.

And finally, she gets up.  And, she’s filthy!  She’s dusty and there’s no telling what she’s been laying in.  You know how chickens are about their bathroom manners!

And as she’s walking off, I think she’s saying . . Can’t a girl get any peace and quiet around here without that darned camera catching my every move?

Chickens are such dirty creatures.  I already knew that because . . well, Helen told me so . . but I love my girls anyway!  Maybe we need to install a shower in the chicken coop!