It takes about 25 hours for a hen to produce an egg. The process starts in the ovary, when an ovum gets layered with yolk. Then it is released into the oviduct. As it travels down, it gets coated with egg white, wrapped in a membrane, and sealed in a shell. Usually, a hen produces a uniform product, although it can be unique to the hen. Ginger, for example, lays eggs that are pointy on both ends!

Sometimes, though, something goes awry. Yesterday, someone, I think one of the Australorps, laid a teeny-tiny egg. Here’s a picture of the eggs collected on Thursday. Note the small dark one in the center:

Sometimes, small eggs don’t have yolks. But this one did.

My little puppy, Scooter, who at 12 weeks old is only 5 pounds, ate that egg for breakfast.

(Notice the blood spot. Sometimes a speck of blood attaches to the egg as it makes it’s way down the oviduct. Unsightly, but edible.)