animal kingdom / DAILY FARM LIFE / IN MY KITCHEN / life on thomas run

cause for celebration

I feel like a proud mother. Or maybe a proud mother hen. We've been waiting for this day since September. And lately, with all the spring-like weather, and rooster hanky-panky, I had a feeling it would be happening soon. We even gave them a freshly cleaned out coop and fluffed up those nesting boxes, just as a little encouragement.

Someone else in this house has been anticipating this day even more than me.

So when I woke up Friday morning to, "MOM!!! WAKE UP! You are going to scream your pants off!" I knew what was coming before I even opened my eyes.

(And yes, Emma does wake up before me some times. And she sneaks downstairs and does things like burn toast and set off the smoke alarm (Thursday), or sit and draw pictures at the kitchen table, or bring all the outside barn cats into the mudroom for "snuggling". )

On Friday, she must have sensed it was THE day, because she got up, got dressed and went to let the chickens out and check for eggs, very early.

And she was right!

cause for celebration

EGGS!!! WE HAVE EGGS, people! Three of them, in fact. And two of them later in the day–because, you know she checked almost hourly. That's one egg from every hen.

I feel so proud.

chick chart

And we're keeping track–the official "chicken chart" has been placed on the kitchen wall and a tally system is in place. So far, we've collected eight eggs. And Dan, to the shock of our children, fried up a few of those eggs Sunday morning. The girls, apparently, are on an egg strike.

And when I went to the grocery store on Sunday afternoon, I walked right on by those shelves of eggs. There's nothing like the feeling of producing your own food, even just a little bit.

Gets me excited for this year's garden.

And makes me want to give these hens a day at the spa or something…for all their egg-laying work.

I feel like a proud mother. Or maybe a proud mother hen. We've been waiting for this day since September. And lately, with all the spring-like weather, and rooster hanky-panky, I had a feeling it would be happening soon. We even gave them a freshly cleaned out coop and fluffed up those nesting boxes, just as a little encouragement.

Someone else in this house has been anticipating this day even more than me.

So when I woke up Friday morning to, "MOM!!! WAKE UP! You are going to scream your pants off!" I knew what was coming before I even opened my eyes.

(And yes, Emma does wake up before me some times. And she sneaks downstairs and does things like burn toast and set off the smoke alarm (Thursday), or sit and draw pictures at the kitchen table, or bring all the outside barn cats into the mudroom for "snuggling". )

On Friday, she must have sensed it was THE day, because she got up, got dressed and went to let the chickens out and check for eggs, very early.

And she was right!

cause for celebration

EGGS!!! WE HAVE EGGS, people! Three of them, in fact. And two of them later in the day–because, you know she checked almost hourly. That's one egg from every hen.

I feel so proud.

chick chart

And we're keeping track–the official "chicken chart" has been placed on the kitchen wall and a tally system is in place. So far, we've collected eight eggs. And Dan, to the shock of our children, fried up a few of those eggs Sunday morning. The girls, apparently, are on an egg strike.

And when I went to the grocery store on Sunday afternoon, I walked right on by those shelves of eggs. There's nothing like the feeling of producing your own food, even just a little bit.

Gets me excited for this year's garden.

And makes me want to give these hens a day at the spa or something…for all their egg-laying work.

31 comments on “cause for celebration”

  1. Oh there is is nothing like that feeling, when your little girls begin to lay!Hooray for the hens and the proud parents too!A couple of our girls have stopped laying for a while (moulting) and mine LOVE to eat the eggs their gals make, so I had to buy store eggs for the first time in a long time.My oldest, loyal chicken man that he is, refuses to eat them. He says, “I’ll wait for my girls, mama. No store eggs for me.”

  2. Wow your own eggs. I would love to be able to keep chickens, but we can’t where we live. I love that feeling of providing without having to get it from the supermarket – like the veg patch, can’t wait to start planting mine up.

  3. This is very amusing! But I think the day at the spa should go to whoever gave those hens their fresh coop, and lots of encouragement all these months! Well done!

  4. Too much fun! The chickens are always the big attraction at great-grandma’s house. I know our little ones would love a few!Great job with that encouragement… agree about the coop freshener getting the spa day!

  5. How fun! Love your enthusiasm – I think if we had the land, I would want sheep and chickens. I also like your homeshooling math project too. 🙂

  6. My grandma keeps a couple hundred at all times and she says that they must pay for there own feed so she puts all the money she gets for the eggs she sales in a jar and a few times a year she will go and buy a bunch of feed and scratch with the egg money, her chickens never go hungry, she will get 100 baby chicks next month when it warmer, I can’t wait.

  7. i know exactly how you feel… when my hen laid her first egg i was soooo happy and excited and proud! it is awesome to think you can control even that much more of your families food intact. i love it! we still have to buy eggs because we are a family of 5 and the one egg a day from our little hen isn’t enough… but we fight over who gets her egg. congratulations! and i love the tally sheet.

  8. There is nothing better than fresh eggs from your own little hens. A friend of mine has hens and at a certain point each year she is over run with eggs from her girls. She shares with us. Just wait until your girls are producing like crazy and you have more than you know what to do with.

  9. I miss homelaid eggs. My dad used to keep them in the backyard until our neighbour complained of them smelling, which if it rained was a bit smelly but other than that it was pretty clean and non stinky. The eggs they laid used to taste so nice and the yolks were always so yellow too. I remember we used to get excited when there was a double yoker in them as well. The chart looks as though they are keeping you supplied pretty well and I think the hens would be sad if the kids didnt like their eggs.

  10. oh man- i remember that first day we got eggs! my husband found them first and brought them in. and i cried. just a little. because i wanted to find them. am i 8 or what?our girls have just started laying again after a few months off for molting. hallelujah!

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