Who's Responsible for This?

We knew this would happen eventually. We've been waiting now for almost two months, anticipating, watching for signs. Last week we suspected it was close to happening and we were right!

Two little pullet eggs, each weighing 1.3 ounces.

We came home on Saturday evening from a one night stay at the trailer in Matagorda to find two small almost identical eggs in the nesting box. What a beautiful sight! But, who's responsible—one chicken or two?

Princess Lay-a exiting the nest box.

The nest box in the coop has been closed for a time because the chickens were getting in there and making a mess of things, but we opened it last week when we noticed Princess would squat when we approached.

This submissive posture is a signal that a chicken is close to laying. She is the only one in the flock that has displayed this behavior, so we were confident that she was responsible for at least one of the eggs...but both?

Princess Lay-a looking more and more like a full grown hen.

We checked for eggs on Friday at noon before we left for Matagorda and there were none. Since it takes about 24 to 27 hours for a chicken to produce an egg, it's possible she could have laid both eggs in the time we were away if she laid one late in the afternoon on Friday and the other late in the afternoon on Saturday.

So yesterday when we found another egg in the nest late in the afternoon, it confirmed to us that Princess is indeed solely responsible.

Princess Lay-a high stepping and strutting her stuff.

Three eggs in three days! Way to go, Princess Lay-a, you are living up to your name. Queenie and Duchess, you're next.

P.S. The eggs were delicious, by the way. We ate them fried (one for me, one for John) with toasted English muffin bread and bacon.