Eggcellent

We have four hens. Lately, it's been warm, sunny, perfect egg-laying weather. The rooster has been doing the humpity bumpity with them, so eggs should be happening... right?

Wrong. Well, at least that's what we thought. Every day I scan our 'chicken area'. Even though they're free-range, they tend to stay in an area of shrubs and bushes up front. Every day, for the past week or so, we haven't seen any eggs.

Until today. As I was scanning, I heard the 'cluck cluck' of a chicken. But I don't see a chicken. So I start looking more throughly. Finally, I find that the sound is coming from a big, huge, clump of TALL grass. More like bamboo shoots than grass.

I part the tall grasses, and look what I find:



Eggs. 20 of them, to be exact. And the chicken in question, Lily, who was in the process of egg-laying when I so rudely interrupted her.

Now, these eggs have come from at least three of the four hens... You can't really see it in the picture, but they're all slightly different colored. Who knows how long they've been out there. My question is, are they fertilized? I would assume so, since Roostie has been busy. If so, how long has it been since they've been laid? Are there baby chicks forming?

I don't want to crack an egg and have a chick spill out. I'm sorry, that's just not my idea of a good breakfast. But if they're fertilized, and the hens actually take care of them, they could become baby chickens, which could grow into big chickens. So do I leave the eggs there, in hopes the hens will take care of them? Or do I pick them up?

I have to say, the ladies picked an excellent job of hiding places. Yes, indeed, they did.