EGGS!!

The first eggs are here. Wednesday December 5th, 2007. I suspected it was CindyLou as she was sitting rather low in the nestbox when I checked on the chickens at 9:30ish that morning. She got up and made some unusual squawks and I thought "This is the day. The Guide said the chicken would be laying low in the nest."
When I got home that night, there it was: small, slightly speckled, brown egg. It was cold and I hoped it wasn't frozen. When I took inside, I gave it the spin test* and it proved to be unfrozen. I took pictures (of course) and then put it into one of the bejeweled cartons Bridget has made for the eggs. Another egg the next day another after work. The third day, I got home around noon and found a very warm egg. Three eggs in three days. I blew out the first eggshell, and cooked it with the other two as basted eggs. Mmm-mmm.
By this time I'm sure it is one of the Red Stars, but just not sure which one - Marjorie Sue

or Cindy Lou

. Saturday I watched the clock, and at 11:30 announced "I'm going out to see if I can watch an egg get laid." Bridget jumped up and we bundled up to face the 15 degree weather. Careful not to slip on the ice that covered everything, we walked to the coop, looked through the window into the hen house and there was Cindy Lou sitting in the left nest. She stood up and there was another small light brown egg. We took turns holding it in our cold hands. It was almost hot.

*The spin test is how you tell a boiled egg from an uncooked egg. You spin the egg on it's side like a propeller, stop it and immediately release it. If it is raw, it will start spinning again due to the centrifugal force of the liquid inside the egg spinning when you stop it and then transfering that motion back to the egg when you let go. Boiled (and frozen) eggs just sit there. Try it!