Why Does the Chicken Cross the Road?

To lay an egg. My daughter and daughter-in-law, who live in a pretty little brick house in the tiny rural town of Wolflake, Indiana, had told me about their neighbor's hen, but the story didn't really take, until I saw it for myself, while visiting with grandchildren. I had thought it was a one-time occurrence, but turns out it happens daily, and has been going on for more than a month.  Some time during every day, the hen escapes her own fence, marches across the street into Hannah and Lisa's yard, settles into the same corner against their house, and lays one enormous egg. Deed done, she cackles and marches back home. So far, she has given them over three dozen eggs, for which their good neighbors will accept no payment.

 

 Why DOES she do this? She has a perfectly lovely place for laying eggs in her own yard, which seems to suit her yard mates just fine. Is she smarter or not as smart as the other chickens? Is it simply that she, like me, craves silence and solitude in a busy chaotic world? Perhaps to seasoned raisers of laying hens this is not unusual behavior. Still, it is a remarkable thing, made more so by the size of her eggs. 

Too large for standard egg carton

One egg, double yoke, fills entire ramekin

It's a surprising and special phenomenon for my city grandchildren, too. When ten-year-old Makayla collected one of the eggs immediately after it was laid, I thrilled to hear her catch her breath and whisper, "It's warm."

The neighbors haven't named their hens, but Hannah and Lisa call this one Red, after the cook on their favorite TV show, Orange is the New Black, who said in a memorable episode, "All I wanted to do was eat a chicken that was smarter than other chickens, and absorb its power."

I'm hoping to absorb Red's creative energy, having eaten her eggs. dkm