Bakers Dozen

Thirteen eggs. There would have been more, but I dropped one. And two were laid with thin shells and were broken (but not eaten) when I found them. One broken one was laid in the nesting box. The other on the floor of the coop. (Maybe the hen didn't know what was happening and it just came out ?)

Here are the eggs compared to a store-bought, extra large white egg and a penny. The egg right below the white egg was laid yesterday by our first layer. Her eggs are definitely increasing in size in the nearly two weeks she's been laying.

And remember the very first egg? The long and skinny one? When I cracked it open last night, the freaky thing had two and a half yolks. Two and a half! I was quite a surprise to see a yolk growing off another one. The kids enjoyed looking at it.

And see that little spot on the half yolk? I freaked out a bit, but learned that the spot is perfectly normal on fresh eggs. It's a blood spot and does not indicate the egg has been fertilized. There is a spot in all eggs, but it gets diluted as the egg gets older. Which is probably why I never noticed it in my store-bought eggs.

And the quiche that I made for dinner. Bacon-cheese cheese. Yum.

And waste not, want not. I had read that you can bake the egg shells, crush them and feed them to the chickens for a little extra calcium. (We have been giving them crushed oyster shells as well to prevent more thin shells.)

There's controversy over whether or not to feed egg shells to chickens because the chickens may develop a taste for it and crack their own. We'll see what happens. I'm not sure if chickens are smart enough to know that the stuff I feed them comes from them.

[All six kids spent the night at my mother's house last night. This morning Joe and I went on a 10-mile bike ride before he went to work. Then after he left, I went for a short run. It was my first run in nearly two weeks (knees again and always -- 35 years worth of knee problems). It was hot, humid and a little slower than I normally run that distance. (It also felt slower compared to biking because I can cover twice the distance on bike than I can by foot.) I'm not sure if it was because I didn't rest enough between the bike ride and the running or if the biking wore me out more than I expected it to or if it's been too long since I ran or if it just felt like I was moving slower because I was slower than the bike. Either way, it was good to be out.] And now I need to go pick up the kids ... It was good while it lasted.