Kimler Adventure Pages (http://randsco.com)

Double the Fun

Laying Frenzy: Our chickens are now up to laying speed. All four are laying and most days each bird will lay one egg. They've laid nearly 3 dozen eggs, so far and three have been double yolk eggs. (One such egg is in this photo). _{Randsco Newswire}

Chicken Coop West - The Hutton House hens have been laying eggs now for nearly two weeks. They've finally gotten into the groove and since they began, we've collected nearly three dozen eggs.

Alex has really gotten into gathering eggs. She is eager to let the hens out of their coop in the morning, feed them table scraps and scratch and check for eggs.

We have a bit of a game in the morning, playing "guess the number" game, where we try to guess how many eggs we might find in the nest (so far, all the eggs have been laid in only one of the two nests. Superstition or habit?)

This morning, Alex was the winner. She guessed four eggs and sure enough, she was right.

Double Yolk Egg: Here's the double yolk egg that was pictured above, cracked into a plastic bowl. Double the fun! _{Randsco Newswire}

Actually, the number could be FIVE, if you're counting yolks. (One of the eggs gathered this morning, was a double yolk eggs).

We've had three such "monster" eggs, so far. They're HUGE and you've gotta figure that they hurt like crazy to lay!!

After a bit of research, we learned that double-yolk eggs are common among hens that are new to laying. Their internal reproductive system is mis-timing a bit and they're ovulating too rapidly. If this is the case, then the number of double-yolker's should diminish, over time.

Interestingly enough, there's all manner of egg laying oddities: eggs within an egg, eggs without yolks, eggs with multiple yolks (the most being 9 yolks in one egg) and odd-shaped eggs. There's pictures of many of them at this "odd eggs" website.

For now, we're enjoying our farm-fresh eggs (they do taste better and the yolks are much more yellow than store-bought).

Rachel thinks the double-yolk eggs would make great soft-boiled eggs. Alex isn't as interested in the eating, as the gathering.

The other day, when checking for eggs, Alex accidentally let the hens out of the nesting boxes, into the yard at large. She didn't panic. She led them all over to the dog run and closed the gate. (Rachel, who witnessed the "chicken escape", said it was hilarious, as Alex ran across the yard, a hen ran right behind her).

Now Alex says, "I their Mom!"