crackhead chickens and egg-cessories

 all the chickens have laid an egg every day since thursday. 15 eggs in five days! way faster than i expected them to pile up.

 i'm still stockpiling them like a neurotic depression-era grandma. i'm more excited to give them away to all the people on my waiting list than to eat them myself.

 i had saved up over a dozen by the time my relatives got here the weekend before last, and on saturday i made an all-homegrown/home-raised/foraged brunch for everyone:

 biscuits with rosemary and basil;

 roasted squash and onions with herbs;

 mixed tomato salad with green and purple basil, olive oil, salt and pepper;

 scrambled eggs;

 and blackberries. that morning i went down to the river and foraged 4.5lbs of plump, perfect berries.

 after brunch kelly and i made our traditional brownies, with eggs, and ate as much batter as we could scarf down.

 she did the lion king with potato! my little latke barely used his legs the entire weekend while my family was here. (latke is my new favorite nickname for him. he's my potato pancake.)

 i got my chickens hooked on crack. they love it. and i loved it enough to pay a ridiculously inflated price for the cute packaging (i'll refill it with cheap bulk scratch when it's gone). they prefer tomatoes though, especially the white currant ones that they can eat in one bite.

 the ladies only lay eggs in their nesting boxes if they're in their coop. if they're out and about they have other preferred spots.

 minnie chose a corner of the outdoor counter, right next to the back door.

 wynnie copied her, and the other day i saw them try to use it at the same time. minnie got muscled out, so she went in and laid in her nesting box. prinnie is even more creative:

 she made herself a nest out of dead leaves under the wheel well of the old trailer shed.

 i only discovered this on saturday, so there were already two eggs in her hidden clutch.

 prinnie's mohawk is beginning to lose its structural integrity. her semi-flaccid comb gives her a cute morrissey look.

 i've begun collecting tchicken tchotchkes.

 this may turn unhealthy.

 antique stores and thrift stores are loaded with the stuff--i never noticed before.

 cam gave me this wonderful ceramic egg carton!

check out "interesting facts about chicken eggs," from the backyard chickens site. some of my favorites:

The typical interval between eggs laid is about 25 hours, so a hen that lays an egg every day will lay a bit later each day.

Often a hen will sing “the egg song” before or after she lays an egg. Some will sing during the process of laying. It is a cheerful song that seems to be a proud announcement.

An eggshell has a protective coating that prevents bacteria from entering the egg. To retain this coating, eggs should not be washed until just before use.

If you aren’t sure how old an egg is, you can submerge it in water. The freshest eggs will remain at the bottom of the container, while old eggs will float. Floaters should either be discarded or opened far from your nose.