Egg Laying & Harvesting

Water Glassing and Freezing Eggs

Every spring my coop turns into a tiny egg factory. One week I am begging neighbors to take a dozen, and the next week I am standing in the kitchen in November wishing my girls would please, for the love of omelets, lay just one more egg. The good news is you can “move” some of that spring...

Blood Spots and Bullseyes: Are Your Backyard Eggs Fertilized?

The first time I cracked an egg from my own hens and saw a tiny red dot, I froze like I had just discovered a chicken-keeping scandal in my mixing bowl. Spoiler: I still made breakfast. If you keep backyard chickens long enough, you will eventually meet the whole cast of characters: the mysterious...

The Chicken Egg Laying Lifespan

I still remember my first “real” dip in egg production. I had three Rhode Island Reds, one makeshift coop, and exactly zero chill. One day I was collecting eggs like I ran a tiny breakfast factory, and the next I was staring into empty nesting boxes like they had personally betrayed me. If you are...

The Backyard Egg Hunt

If you have free-ranging hens, sooner or later you will step outside with your coffee expecting a nice, polite egg in the nesting box and instead get… nothing. Meanwhile your girls are acting way too pleased with themselves. Hidden nests are one of those classic backyard chicken mysteries. The good...

How to Break a Broody Hen Safely

If you have ever reached into a nesting box and been met with a dinosaur growl and a peck aimed straight at your knuckles, congratulations: you have a broody hen. Broodiness is normal, and some breeds are practically built for it, but it can slam the brakes on egg production and turn your sweetest...

Decoding Abnormal Eggs

The first time I found a weird egg in my nesting box, I did what most chicken keepers do: I stared at it like it was a tiny alien artifact and immediately wondered if my hens were okay. The good news is that most abnormal eggs are a one-off blip tied to stress, age, weather swings, or a small...

Keeping Hens Laying in Winter: Supplemental Coop Lighting Pros and Cons

Every fall I watch it happen like clockwork. The garden fades, the mornings get darker, and my egg basket goes from “omelet abundance” to “who took my eggs?” If you are a new chicken keeper, this drop can feel personal. It is not. It is biology. Hens are designed to ramp up laying when days are...

Stop Chickens From Eating Their Own Eggs

If you have ever walked into the coop expecting a warm egg and found a suspiciously clean nesting box instead, welcome to one of the most frustrating chicken keeping milestones: egg-eating. The tricky part: this habit can start for a very innocent reason (a thin shell, a bumped egg, a curious peck)...

Troubleshooting a Drop in Egg Production

The day your egg production drops off a cliff always feels the same: you do the usual coop walk, you reach into the nesting box with confidence, and… nothing. Maybe one lonely egg. Maybe a whole lot of judgmental hen side-eye. I have been there. More than once. And the good news is that a “sudden”...

To Wash or Not to Wash: Cleaning and Storing Fresh Eggs

The first time I pulled a warm egg out of a nesting box, I had two thoughts: (1) wow, this is oddly magical, and (2) um, there is definitely poop on this one. If you have chickens, you will eventually stand at your kitchen counter holding a questionable egg and asking the timeless backyard...

When Will My Chickens Start Laying? 5 Signs Your Pullets Are Ready

If you have pullets in the awkward teen phase, you know the feeling. One day they are fuzzy little peeps, and the next they are full-sized birds eating you out of house and home while contributing exactly zero eggs. I started twelve years ago with three Rhode Island Reds and a wobbly DIY coop that...