In which we witness an egg being "birthed" and Chubby gets a cheer

Today Lexi and I got to witness the coolest thing. Well, "coolest thing" being relative to whether you like this sort of farm "event" or not. I was opening the egg doors to collect eggs this morning and noticed one of our Buffs, Chubby, to be exact) was standing up inside the nest box with her rear end facing me. I won't gross you out by describing exactly what I saw, but a midst all the fluffy rear plumage that our Buffs are so blessed with, I knew in a split second that Chubby was about to lay her egg! Standing up! Is this common for chickens? Maybe it was too hot in there to sit or something, I don't know.

Anyway, I am beyond thrilled (because I really love this sort of thing - why I have lived my entire life in the big cities - with the exception of a five year jaunt in Capron, IL- and don't live on a real farm I am still trying to figure out) and call Lexi to come see what is happening. I tell Lexi to be super quiet so we don't scare Chubby while we crack open the egg door and peek in.

And slowly, a little at a time, and much like giving birth (almost exactly, actually), the egg starts to emerge from the ovum. "MAMA!!!!" Lexi whispers excitedly (it's actually more like whisper yelling, but hey, she tried), "THE EGG IS COMING OUT!!!!!!"

And then it plops out all at once and hits the floor of the nest box with a small commanding thud. Lexi picks it up. "IT'S WET!!!" she squeals and puts it down. We wait three seconds while it dries and then she picks it up again. "OOOOOOOooooo, IT'S SOOOoo WARM! THANKS FOR THE EGG, CHUBBY! GOOD JOB LAYING IT!"

And the moral of the story is, everyone needs a cheerleader. Even chickens. ;-)

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