Egg On My Face

Ok, it was ACTUALLY on the TOP of my head.....

It has finally warmed up enough around these parts for the hens to come out of "henopause" - that yearly adventure we have with store bought (things CALLED) eggs.
The hens stop laying when the weather turns cold, and don't start up again until spring.

This pause in production usually lasts from about December 1st until mid February, depending on the forecast.

One problem we have in the coop, is a hen with a deadly beak. Whoever she is, she likes to hop into a nest after another hen gets out, then "spear" the first hen's egg. I haven't been able to catch her in the act, but I've seen the evidence - a neat little "puncture wound" around a 1/4" in diameter, poked in the end of the egg. Nothing so bad as to break the egg open but, just bad enough to make the egg unusable for anything but dog food.

*** Now, before we go any further, I must ad a disclaimer - I've been sick with a pretty good cold for the past few days, and I'm not TOTALLY over it ***

After I bring the eggs into the house, they are hand washed, individually, and inspected closer for any "hen pecks" I didn't find while outside. Some get used for dog food, and others I see how far I can chuck them into the yard.

This morning, it was the later choice.

Normally, I would step out onto the patio, then heave them toward the garden. However, this morning it was raining.

Remember - I'm in recovery from a cold....

I stood inside the open patio door about 2 feet, wound up and tossed an underhanded egg out into the side yard. I actually got pretty good distance in my cold-weakened condition, so I would up another, and chucked it about 10' further then the first.

I had ONE egg left, so I thought "I'm gonna wind up, and toss this thing half way up that hill"!

Unfortunately, the egg was thinking SLIGHTLY different thoughts.

I wound up, got a grip on that egg, and took an underhanded swing for the door, and let 'er rip...

The next thing I heard was a "SPLAT" a whole lot closer then I had planned. My first thought was I had hit the eave outside, so I stuck my head out to look. I was almost TO the door, when I felt something land on the top of my head.

Looking up, to my chagrin, I saw most of an egg stuck to the kitchen ceiling....

I went running over to the sink to get a wet wash cloth, and hurriedly wiped up (or wiped DOWN) the evidence. Unfortunately, though, Deb heard me from the other room, and asked me what was going on. Also, unfortunately, I forgot to wipe the yolk off my head before she spotted it.

The bad part is, about an hour later we found dead egg yoke in our dinning room, about 10' away from where the egg hit, and more running down the wall behind a plant stand in the kitchen.

It's amazing how far egg innards can fly when you really wind up before the pitch....