After writing the post about the new rain shelter the other day, I went over to Chicken World to collect the eggs and give the chickens their daily treat of a good scoopful of corn .... and look what I found in one of the nest boxes ....
.... a tiny egg.
They are commonly known as Fairy eggs or Witches eggs .... I know which I prefer to call them!!
They can be laid by any hen at any time and is usually caused either by a disruption of the hens laying cycle or just by her body not producing a yolk, thus the incomplete 'egg' whizzes through her reproductive system with the white getting a coating of shell. The Fairy eggs are usually a paler color than the hen would normally lay, as because of its small size it speeds through the last process which is where the color is added to the shell, so I can't tell which of my hens laid me this cute little gift.
I will be saving it as I don't have any at the moment, we have given them away as fascinating keepsakes to folk that ex[pressed an interest in them, and I have none for me at the moment.
They do keep forever and don't develop a bad egg smell as the white evaporates over time and the eggshell hardens. I think I'll start a collection of them in a jar in the kitchen.
Sue xx
