For the last calendar week or two , I ’d been noticing that my chickens were n’t lay as many eggs . I ’d find one a day in their coop as opposed to the two or three they usually laid . They were eating normally , acting normally , and the one good afternoon that I really did find three eggs in their nest , I had n’t let them out to ramble the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. before .
I had a grow distrust that perhaps they were laying elsewhere in the pace , but all their premature scalawag nest — on the compost , in the leaf pile , under the oleander — turned up nothing .
Walking down to the coop one good afternoon , I point out a wimp miss : Kimora , my Barred Rock , who ’s always the first to move up and recognize me . I called out for her and checked a few of her favorite sunbathing place , but still no Kimora . The other two girls started calling out for her as well ( what they usually do when one gets drop off ) and suddenly I heard a sound come from the trees .
There , tuck in between a cluster of banana tree tree and hidden from view , was Kimora … and it looked like she was sitting on one , two , three , four?!eggs …
When she spotted me she thirstily hopped off her nest , hop-skip for a handful of mealworm treats . But as I tend in closer , I let out a slight gasp .
In that small square pes area , the girls had carve out a makeshift nest on a pile of dried and shredded banana leave-taking , with nearly a XII eggs stashed away ! Turns out , Kimora and Iman had been hiding most of their eggs from me !
I soon realized that I ’d inadvertently disturbed Kimora from her egg - lay pole . After a square bite , she hopped back in to her cornucopia of a nest and made herself cozy again .
Though this video picture just the 3 minutes before it all happened , the entire testis - laying process acquire at least 30 proceedings from the time the chicken starts contraction to when the egg finally comes out . ( turn over that a chicken ’s daylight only survive about 12 hour , that ’s a lot of prison term to pass in labor ! )
Now , I ’d always hear my chickens gloat and caw from the house , and I ’d always assumed it was the wimp pushing an egg out . But after watch a dyad of my girl in action this yr , I ’ve realized that it normally is n’t add up from the laying hen at all … it ’s come from her girlfriends , who stand up beside her giving moral sustenance !
The most fascinating part is that the other two are comparatively quiet during the initial contractions , but about a minute before the ballock pops out , they pop piping up and cheering her on ! The only phone coming from Kimora is a constant little groan , but that feisty Iman , specially , is gloat out “ Breathe ! Breathe ! push button ! Push ! ” ( I can even get word in my head what her voice would vocalize like if she were human ! )
Watch the video in full - screenland mode and you ’ll even see a film of mucous secretion on the egg as it slides out ; that ’s known as the bloom , and it ’s a natural protective coating that dry within seconds . It ’s nature ’s manner of screen the testicle from bacterium and preventing release of wet . ( And it ’s thereasonbackyard eggs do n’t need to be refrigerated . )
The next time we see at an egg , let ’s not forget what it ingest to reach our plate and why we should cherish it for being the little miracle it is !
