Hen and Chicks in Eggs

I just couldn't resist doing this.  I saw on the cover of an old Better Homes and Gardens how they had planted "hen and chicks" in egg shells and had them in an egg carton.  A friend gave me this cute Terra Cotta chicken as part of a gift basket for my birthday and I have been wanting to combine the two ideas.  So here you have it a hen with her chicks coming out of the eggs. 

Breakfast for Chickens

  Here is a quick picture of my chickens enjoying their breakfast of scrambled eggs and shells.

When I first got my chickens they were eating each others feathers so I did a little checking around and found out they needed protein. So I spoiled them and let them out of the coop to eat bugs.  That worked well in the summer when there was bugs to eat but what they really go crazy for is chicken scraps, eggs, shells and elk meat (I'm sure any red meat).  Now I am not going to give them good food, but the part of the chicken I won't eat or the egg left over from making french toast, or the left over roast I never got around to re-using.  It makes them happy, saves their feathers and makes bigger eggs.

Aren't they beautiful?

I am still in my first year as a chicken owner, and although the cold weather has not made caring for chickens as enjoyable as it was in the summer I wanted to show off how proud I am of my hens.  I have five chickens and I was told they would slow down in the winter, which they did with all the snow keeping them stuck in the coop, however in the last few weeks we have had some warm days so they have been out eating up all the grass and what ever it is they find.  The Result:  five to six eggs a day for weeks in a row!  This is tons more than in the summer, so I am a happy chicken owner.