The Elusive Egg-Bug

Brief funny story: Yesterday I was working on the chicken coop, moving the curtains inside the doorway and adding a hinged door to the outside. One of my Golden Comets came over and flew up beside me to the door level, hovering there (as best a chicken can hover) and scratching at the wood like she wanted to get into the coop. I told her to just be patient, that I’d be done in a few minutes and then she could go inside and lay her egg. By that time, she was back on the ground (chickens can’t hover for very long, it turns out), and she walked away. I went back to working on the door. About two minutes later, I heard all of the chickens start clucking and carrying on like crazy right behind me. I turned around and saw 16 chickens chasing a rolling egg. Apparently that Comet tried to keep her legs crossed but just couldn’t hold it in. She laid the egg at the highest point in the run, so as soon as it hit the ground, away it went. The rest of the chickens obviously thought it was the biggest bug they’d ever seen. I ran in and grabbed it (egg-eating is not a good behavior for chickens to learn), and from that point until I finished installing the door, I let anyone into the coop who seemed even remotely interested. Lesson learned, ladies. Lesson learned.