first egg!

I went out to the barn in the evening as I always do, but found this little lady slumped awkwardly in the middle of the walkway. She didn't seem to be able to walk and her mouth was wide open, so I brought her inside and Jason gave her a once over.

In the meantime, I amply filled a large plastic bin with fresh straw, anticipating that she would be staying the night (or nights) in the downstairs bathroom, as all our healing chickens do, and placed in on the kitchen rug.

As soon as we put her in the bin, she gripped her head over the side and got into a hardcore egg-laying position. I know what it looks like; I have watched many of my hens as they lay their morning eggs. She strained for a few minutes and then out popped a soft, shell-less egg. No wonder she was having such a hard time; that would be much harder to lay than a hard-shelled egg!

By this time, both Ollie and Jude had come over to sit quietly with Jason and I, curious, and so they got to witness what I think was the birth of this Easter Eggers' very first egg (: In our kitchen, no less! It was pretty special. Afterwards, they ran off to play and I petted her. She closed her eyes, the poor little lady. I took her out of the bin to make sure she was alright to stand and walk, and she was. She drank a ton of water and ate a bit of grain and then I took her back out to snuggle up with her friends in the coop.

When you are raising animals, you never know when a sudden event will make time stop, or at the very least, slow down. They add an element of wonderful, earthy realness to your days that is just the best. I can't remember what I did all the time before I had these lovely chickens, sheep (and Talulah the goat) to care for!