I have been lucky this week and have been collecting eggs in the coop when a hen was just finishing up laying. I have a high rate of certainty of who laid the egg when I reach under the hen and the egg is still clinging to the feathers! However, my hypothesis on egg color corresponding to the chicken is shot.

Seashell (who is very easily identified because she is the only hen with a black beard) laid two different colored eggs about 27 hours apart. Now here is an interesting part: I have heard both that eggs will darken over the hen’s lifetime, and that eggs start out dark and will lighten over time cyclically with the seasons. So I will keep collecting data and see which category my hens fall into. Or if they have their own category entirely. How interesting.

Yay! We have enough eggs to run a batch through the pressure cooker to make hard boiled eggs.

The eggs are on the small side and slip through the circles on the egg holder, so I had to set them in sideways. It worked fine, though. The eggs came out beautifully. The shells peeled away easily, and the yolk is perfect.

I put a cup of water in the bottom of the pressure cooker pot, load the eggs in the egg holder (I can do 14 at a time), run my pressure cooker for 5 minutes on high, and manually release the pressure. I use tongs to put the eggs directly into a large bowl of ice water.

Holy smokes are the egg shells strong on the eggs coming out of my chickens! The chickens apparently think the whole coop is a safe place, and I find eggs everywhere. I found one with the sole of my foot. Yikes! What was amazing is that it didn’t break. I didn’t put my full weight on it, but I did feel it through my shoe.

I also scared Sunrise off the nest when the egg was out, but still stuck to her tail feathers (she did not appreciate me recording video (click here to see video) with a bright light while she was busy!) The egg fell from her feathers as she left the nest and fell over 18” to the floor below. Of course the pine shavings had been carefully shoved away from that spot, so the egg hit the plywood floor and the shell broke, but the shell membrane stayed intact! Whoa. I did then have egg drop soup for lunch. It seemed appropriate.

I’ve had a bit of a learning curve cracking open the eggs as well. I’ve found that I need to consciously pierce the shell membrane after I crack the egg or I have a terrible time with shell bits in my breakfast. Store bought eggs pour out of the shell as soon as it is cracked. Not so with these!